Healthy Snacks and Physical Activity At Y Afterschool

Improving the Nation’s Health and Well-Being

You may have noticed some changes at Y Summer Camp recently. Are your kids talking about different snacks? Have you heard about CATCH?

New snacks, the implementation of CATCH physical activity and nutrition activities, and a move toward meeting the YMCA of the USA’s Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards are three changes we’ve made to help keep our kids healthy, happy, and active.

We promise to provide healthy snacks during afterschool. This means low-fat, low-sugar, and low-salt snacks. While our snack options are more limited now, they are also healthier. We firmly believe that healthy kids = happy kids.

CATCH

Many area schools already partner to deliver CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) physical activity lessons and now, so does the Y. In our Afterschool program, Y staff is now teaching CATCH Kids club games and activities daily. This curriculum has 25 years of university led research and has been shown to have statistically significant and positive impacts on child health behaviors including: increase in moderate to vigorous physical activity levels, improvement in self-reported food choice habits, positive family impact, and reduction in childhood obesity levels and risk factors.

We invite you to stop in at any point during the day and join your child. Pop in for a snack with them or participate in an activity!

As you will see, the Y is committed to nurturing the potential of every child, improving the nation’s health & well-being, and giving back and providing support to our neighbors.