Page Contents
Overview
Target Behavior: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity
Intervention Type: Direct Education, PSE Change
Intervention Reach and Adoption
Setting: Childcare
Target Audience: Preschool age
Race/Ethnicity: All
Intervention Components
- Classroom curricula consisting of interactive nutrition and garden-based lesson plans and activities.
- Structured physical activities provided digitally or in a CEC PA Box.
- Family education including tips for parents to incorporate nutrition and physical activity into home routines.
- Coordination Kit with simple activities and promotions for creating healthy preschool environments. The Coordination Kit was developed in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is available for free download at: https://shop.catch.org/products/catch-early-childhood-coordination-kit
Intervention Materials
The CATCH Early Childhood Kit includes:
- 9 nutrition-based and 10 gardening-based classroom lessons to encourage healthy eating behaviors
- Over 500 activity cards with music aimed at promoting PA
- Parent Tip Sheets that provide a coloring activity, additional nutrition and PA information, and recipe ideas for parents
- Extension Activities aimed at promoting repetition of nutrition messages
- Curriculum Connectors to extend lessons into other learning centers such as language, math, and science
- An adaptive learning component to meet the needs of children with physical or learning disabilities
- A list of Spanish and French translations of “key words” from lesson plans to expand children’s knowledge and facilitate instruction in bilingual classrooms
Intervention Costs
Hard copy pricing (via School Specialty): https://www.schoolspecialty.com/catch-its-fun-to-be-healthy-teachers-manual-hand-puppets-and-cec-physical-activity-box-2125941
Evidence Summary
CEC was implemented in three Head Start sites in Harris County, TX as part of the Head Start on Health Living project. Participants were primarily Hispanic and African American and all were low-income. Results:
- A statistically significant increase in the time spent in Level 5 PA (fast moving such as running and jumping) in the intervention group compared to the control group.
- A statistically significant increase in the intake of fruits and vegetables among intervention and control groups.
- A 4% decrease in overweight and obesity in the intervention group (38.1% vs. 34.1%) and no change in the control group, although the difference between groups was not statistically significant.
The CEC PA curriculum was implemented for 10 weeks in 4 small childcare centers located in Vermont. Three of the 4 centers experienced positive trends in the time children spent in moderate to vigorous PA (34.5% vs. 39.3%) from baseline to follow-up.
CEC was implemented with low-income children in two Head Start centers in Harris County, TX for 6 weeks. There were positive trends in fruit, 100% fruit juice and vegetable intake and mean minutes of PA at school pre-to-post intervention, however these increases were not statistically significant.
CEC is currently being implemented in over 50 JCC Early Learning Centers nationwide. Evaluation results suggest that CEC has been effective in reducing the intake of whole milk in favor of lowfat or skim milk, increasing time spent in PA, and increasing the serving of fruits and vegetables during snack time.
For more information and references, see https://catchinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1-19_CEC_evidence-summary.pdf.
Classification: Research-tested
Evaluation Indicators
Readiness and Capacity – Short Term (ST) | Changes – Medium Term (MT) | Effectiveness and Maintenance – Long Term (LT) | Population Results (R) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Individual | ST1, ST3 | MT1, MT3 | LT1, LT3 | |
Environmental Settings | ||||
Sectors of Influence |
Evaluation Materials
Additional Information
CEC program specific webpage – https://catch.org/program/early-childhood/
Contact Person(s):
Amy Moyer
CATCH Global Foundation
Director of Educational Partnerships
Phone: 855-500-0050
Email: info@catch.org
*Updated as of October 8, 2023