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Food & Nutrition Programs
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Summer is a perfect time to use local vegetables and fruits in your child nutrition program!
Michigan’s shorter growing season means summer is the best time to source and serve Michigan produce! Increase your participation by purchasing and promoting local produce into your menus.
Focusing on fruits and vegetables in your summer program is also a great way to teach healthy habits! Check out the weekly planning guide and the additional resources listed below to make your Farm to Summer Week great!
MONDAY
Featured Produce: Strawberries and Carrots
Marketing Slogan: Savor Summer Strawberries and Crave Colorful Carrots!
Featured Learning Activity: MI Vegetable Council Word Search Pages
Featured Recipes:
Carrots: Gingered Carrots USDA Recipe for Family Child Care – CN Recipe Box (theicn.org)
TUESDAY
Featured Produce: Blueberries and Celery
Marketing Slogan: Burst into Blueberries and Crunch into Celery!
Featured Learning Activity: What’s the Difference Between Fruits and Vegetables? - YouTube video
Featured Recipes:
Blueberries: Fun Fruit Breakfast Pizza USDA Recipe for Child Care Centers – CN Recipe Box (theicn.org)
Celery: Waldorf Fruit Salad USDA Recipe for Schools – CN Recipe Box (theicn.org)
WEDNESDAY
Featured Produce: Cherries and Lettuce
Marketing Slogan: Lettuce Moves and Cheers for Cherries!
Featured Learning Activity: Powered By Cherries Coloring Book.pdf
Featured Recipes:
Cherries: Apple Slaw with Dried Cherries - Healthy School Recipes
Lettuce: Strawberry, Spinach and Chicken Salad - Healthy School Recipes
THURSDAY
Featured Produce: Raspberries and Sweet Peppers
Marketing Slogan: Raging Raspberries and Plentiful Peppers on your Plate!
Featured Learning Activity: MI Agriculture Activity Book (Bundle of 30)- Michigan Ag in the Classroom (mybigcommerce.com)
Featured Recipes:
Raspberries: Berry Chicken Salad - Healthy School Recipes
Sweet Peppers: Hummus & Feta Sweet Peppers - Have A Plant (fruitsandveggies.org)
FRIDAY
Featured Produce: Beets and Mixed Berries
Marketing Slogan: Turnip the Beat with Beets and Mix it up with Berries!
Featured Learning Activity: FitBits™ Activity Breaks for Children and their Families •FitBits™ YouTube Playlist
Source credit language: This content provided by SNAP-Ed at Michigan Fitness Foundation.
Featured Recipes:
Beets: Fresh Pickled Beets - Michigan Harvest of the Month (mi-hotm.recipesMixed
Berries: Banana Berry Smoothie - Michigan Harvest of the Month (mihotm.recipes)
Credit: These recipes provided by Michigan Harvest of the Month™, courtesy of SNAP-Ed at Michigan Fitness Foundation.
Meet Up and Eat Up SFSP Turnip the Beet Award
2022 Turnip the Beet Overview and Nomination Form
Turnip The Beet 2022 One Pager
Aren’t sure where to find local produce or know what is in season now? Looking for inspiration for your menus? Or maybe you need educational materials or physical activity ideas to keep children learning, fed and fit! Check out the resources below!
Michigan Produce Seasonality Information
Use charts to plan your menus using what is in season now!
MSU Center for Regional Food Systems Michigan Produce Availability Chart
Discover Michigan Farm Fun: U Pick Information and more!
Discover Michigan Farm Fun’s webpage contains information to locate local farm markets, u-pick farms, educational farms and more by region. They also have a directory to download for free. Michigan Farm Fun - Michigan Agritourism Association - Michigan Farm Fun
Taste the Local Difference Michigan
Taste the Local Difference’s webpage lists local food and farms, and several directories to assist you in researching local purchasing decisions and options available nearby.
Taste the Local Difference - Marketing Local Food in Michigan
Michigan Farmer’s Market Association (MIFMA): Find A Farmers Market Tool
MIFMA works with and for farmer’s market organizers, managers, farmers, and vendors to create a marketplace for local food and farm products. Use their online search tool
to assist you in finding a farmers’ market near your program.
Department of Defense (DoD) Fresh Produce and Fun Produce Fact Sheets Now Available!
Michigan has received almost $5 million in DoD entitlement to be used by September 30, 2022. This funding helps your school's child nutrition programs provide fresh produce options and gives MDE’s DoD Fresh supplier an opportunity to connect with Michigan farms to provide more local produce through the summer. If you are participating in the Ten Cents Grant Program, these products contribute towards your match!
While DoD purchasing is limited to schools, everyone can use the DoD fun fact resource sheets as part of your marketing and nutrition education. They make great posters!
Questions on DoD can be directed to Jaime Malnar, malnarj1@michigan.gov, and Deidra Tyrrell, tyrrelld1@michigan.gov. You can also contact your USDA Foods consortia leads for ordering instructions.
Ag in the Classroom Diversity Book List
This resource is from the Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom program. It provides a link to books on culture in agriculture and can provide a list of enjoyable and educational summer reading, Celebrating diversity in Children’s Ag Literature.pdf (agclassroom.org)
Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: Michigan Agriculture Facts and Figures Booklet
Michigan leads the nation in the production of several crops and is second in diversity of crops grown only to California. We invite you to learn more about our state’s agriculture
production and to enjoy all the bounty and beauty Michigan’s agriculture industry has to offer. Michigan Ag Facts and Figures
The mission of Michigan Fitness Foundation is to inspire active lifestyles and healthy food choices through education, environmental change, community events, and policy leadership. We support and build collaborative partnerships to affect change in communities and improve conditions where people live, learn, work, and play, and strive to improve access to education in an effort to improve the overall health of Michiganders.
Eat Well in a SNAP
Eat Well in a SNAP is website with companion social pages designed to connect you with support and inspiration for healthy recipes, resources, and conversations about food for the community you serve. The website and companion social media pages offer tips for shopping, cooking, storing, and ways to eat healthy. You can use the tips on the website to inspire learning and share content from the social media pages to reduce your workload.
• Eat Well is all about the kitchen. Here, we curate healthy and delicious recipe resources, as well as cooking and money saving tips you can share with the families you serve.
• Be Well is about enhancing one’s well-being. You will find practical tips and links to resources to help people stress less.
• Table Talk is filled with information and resources covering topics such as good food, food security, and food systems.
• Farmers Market Food Navigators help families using SNAP maximize their food dollars while purchasing fresh, healthy food at their local farmers’ market. It is a great resource/service to share with the families you serve.
Source credit language: This content provided by Eat Well in a SNAP, courtesy of SNAP-Ed at Michigan Fitness Foundation.
Healthy Choices Catch On
Healthy Choices Catch On is a statewide social marketing campaign promoting physical activity and the consumption of fruits & veggies. The campaign is managed by SNAP-Ed at the Michigan Fitness Foundation. The website and companion social media pages offer tips to eat healthy and move more. You can use the tips on the website to inspire learning and share content from the social media pages to reduce your workload.
• Credit: This content provided by Healthy Choices Catch On, courtesy of SNAP-Ed at Michigan Fitness Foundation.
Michigan Harvest of the Month™
Michigan Harvest of the Month™ (MIHOTM™) is a Michigan Fitness Foundation nutrition education program delivered in community settings and schools using the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. MIHOTM™ features a companion recipe website that provides easy, affordable meals and side-dishes using Michigan grown fresh fruits and vegetables. Participating Farm to Summer Week sites are welcome to share links and use images from the website to promote healthy eating. Be sure to use the following credits (with hyperlinks when applicable) when sharing MIHTOM™ content.
• Credit: This recipe provided by Michigan Harvest of the Month™, courtesy of SNAP-Ed at Michigan Fitness Foundation.
• Credit when a recipe is modified for any reason: Adapted from Michigan Harvest of the Month™ courtesy of SNAP-Ed at Michigan Fitness Foundation, accessed (date).
FitBits™ Activity Breaks for Children and their Families
Designed for classroom teachers to get kids moving, FitBits™ are 7 to 10-minute physical activity breaks that simultaneously teaching nutrition concepts. At the same time, FitBits™ reinforces nutrition and health concepts that are aligned with USDA MyPlate, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and grade level National Health Standards. Created by Michigan Fitness Foundation SNAP-Ed partner educators, we recommend using the videos to support physical activity in your programming and feel free to share the video links with the families you serve to inspire physical activity at home.
• FitBits™ YouTube Playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd3xVq6Ae68a4_y-YAP2cwr7o9Kq7SxYN
Source credit language: This content provided by SNAP-Ed at Michigan Fitness Foundation.
For questions about the above resources/programs or for additional information email: Resources@michiganfitness.org
Books
Michigan Fitness Foundation recommends the following children’s books. Books are sold in packages of thirty for $30 per package.
To help you save money, use the discount code below to save $5 per package.
• To order, visit https://michiganfitness.org/program-materials/take-home-books-for-children
• Discount code: f2s22
• We Like to Eat! - This book teaches children to eat a variety of foods from the five MyPlate food groups. Includes four pages of MyPlate activities to do at home and five kid-friendly recipes.
• We Like to Eat Fruits and Vegetables - This book provides real-life photos of fruits and vegetables to enjoy in every season. An activity sheet asks children to identify fruits and veggies they like and ones they want to try. Includes a recipe to get kids involved in creating a delicious salad.
• We Like to Eat from our Gardens - This book describes many types of gardens, including ones for small spaces. Tips to plant and care for gardens are shared. Includes four kid-friendly recipes.
Monday
You do not have to have a hard work out to be physically active. Try going for a walk or go out and play with friends and family in your backyard or local park.
Tuesday
Explore your community for no cost/low-cost places to be active. Check out your city’s summer recreation activities and programs, explore a local museum, visit a nature center, or take a walk on a local trail.
Wednesday
Rainy days can disrupt summer fun outside. Try bringing activities inside like musical chairs, the floor is lava, and hide and seek for fun ways to be active indoors.
Thursday
Did you know doing chores around the house that get you up and moving count as physical activity? Pitch in and help with raking the yard, weeding the garden, planting flowers, sweeping the floors, or vacuuming.
Friday
Looking to create a new, healthy tradition? Sounds like the perfect time for a family dance party. Ask your family to help you create a playlist with everyone’s favorite songs and get moving!
Optional tip: A little movement goes a long way to help improve your health. If you have not been active in a while, start with 5-10 minutes of movement each day and add more time each week as you establish a routine. Start slow – it is the way to go!
Tips by Text
For a series of text messages from Michigan Fitness Foundation to inspire families to eat healthy and move more, text BeWell to (517) 210-9200.
