RESidENcy PROGRAM Scholarly and Community Medicine Projects

Community Medicine Project: Healthy Habits for Preschool Children
Jill Klemin and Kate Porter worked on a project to bring health education to preschool children. Our goal
was to introduce them to concepts of healthy living. No child is too young to learn about eating right and
being active. The earlier a child forms healthy habits, the easier it will be to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
We contacted area preschool education centers to see if they would be interested in the program we
designed. The response was excellent. The preschools that we visited included Kids Express Learning
Center and La Petite Academy. We also have plans to visit other area preschools in the near future.
Prior to our educational meeting, we prepared reward charts for the children to take home and share
with their families. The charts included healthy food options, hygiene, and exercises. This was done in
hopes that the parents would see healthy eating and living as behaviors that deserve rewards. We also
purchased the book, “Oh The Things You Can Do That Are Good For You,” by Dr. Seuss. At the end of
our meeting, this book was donated to the classroom.
We met with the children at their school. We began the encounter by asking them if they could name
any foods they thought were healthy. This was followed by asking them what they like to do for
exercise. We read them the Dr. Seuss book “Oh The Thing You Can Do That Are Good For You.” This was
followed by a poster presentation of children their age doing healthy habits. We talked through each
poster and asked the children for their thoughts or ideas to expand on the concepts displayed in the
posters. The presentation ended with some fun with fruit stickers. Each child was sent home with the
reward charts and a sheet of star stickers. Each child was also given 2 healthy recipes that are kidfriendly
to make and fun to eat! The handout also included goal setting for each family to consider, in
hopes that each family could take steps forward in health living.