HKC Resource Partners

SPARK provides a coordinated package of curriculum, training, and equipment that has been proven effective in increasing student MVPA (moderate to vigorous activity). In addition, SPARK content and methodology strive to increase activity minutes throughout the school day and create direct links to maintain movement in both home and community environments. Participating teachers and staff receive lifetime consultation and support, a monthly E-newsletter, a monthly webinar series, a SPARK Blog to post their thoughts, and a password giving them access to a SPARK family Web site that will provide video clips of activities, standards alignment tools, and other valuable resources. For additional information visit www.sparkpe.org. Learn about the HKC-SPARK IGNITE Workshop! 

Action for Healthy Kids® is the nation's leading nonprofit and volunteer network fighting childhood obesity and undernourishment by helping schools become healthier places; teaching kids to eat right, be active every day, and be ready to learn. A collaboration of more than 67 organizations, corporations and government agencies supports grassroots efforts by thousands of volunteers nationwide. in 2009, Action for Healthy Kids® reached nearly 4 million students in 8,000 schools. To access school-based wellness resources to to www.ActionforHealthyKids.org.

The Kansas Center for the Book at the State Library of Kansas is a state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. The mission of the Kansas Center for the Book is to stimulate public interest in the educational and cultural role of the book; authorship and writing; literacy; and the promotion of reading and libraries. Each year a book is selected and promoted during a week in November for the Kansas Reads to Preschoolers initiative.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Kansas author Bill Martin, Jr., was the selection for the 7th annual Kansas Reads to Preschoolers, Nov. 13-19, 2011. For more information and previous Kansas Reads to Preschoolers projects visit http://www.kcfb.info/. 

Thanks to a grant funded by the United Methodist Ministry Health Fund, Healthy Kids Challenge collaborated with community libraries across Kansas to support preschoolers with reading, healthy eating and physical activity. 

The Kansas Parent Resource Information Center also supports simple solutions for healthier Kansas kids.

The Home Baking Association (HBA) connects with youth educators in and out of school, at-home, on-line, at day and residential camps and community programs to provide resources to promote the benefits of baking. HBA has the tools and knowledge to perpetuate future generations of home bakers.

The Veggiecation Program, a curriculum based nutrition education program, introduces young students to the delicious world of vegetables while teaching them the importance of health and nutrition.

Veggiecation provides teachers with standards-based, adaptable lessons and supporting materials that can be seamlessly integrated into existing lesson plans. With its educational and interactive student-centric activities, Veggiecation incorporates kid-friendly vegetable preparations into each lesson and empowers children to discover new foods while simultaneously improving their nutritional status. To learn more about this innovative (and delicious) approach to nutrition education visit: www.veggiecation.com

Annie’s (www.Annies.com) launched Root 4 Kids in partnership with the National Farm to School Network (www.FarmToSchool.org) to inspire 1 million kids to dig and plant new veggies through harvest 2011. Caring adults sign up to “Root 4 Kids” at www.Root4Kids.com/ to join and commit to helping at least one child in their life dig or plant a new veggie.

The Root 4 Kids site includes resources and tools for teachers and parents looking to teach kids about the benefits of growing and eating healthy foods; organic gardening tips and information on where to find seeds and garden resources; fun veggie recipes and information about farmers markets; and educational games, coloring pages and veggie quizzes for kids. Root 4 Kids members can create profiles, including photos, quiz results and videos, as well as create “share your story” pages where parents, teachers and kids can learn from and share their experiences with others throughout the nation. Root 4 Kids brings to life Annie’s wish to nurture kids by inspiring families to eat more real food together.

In 2000, Healthy Kids Challenge became a partner with this leader in forging a strong and effective partnership alliance committed to seeing that children experience the fundamental resources they need to succeed – the Five Promises (caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, an effective education and opportunities to help others) – at home, in school and out in the community. Having these essentials in their lives dramatically increases the likelihood that students will succeed academically, complete high school and be prepared for college, work and life.

Johnson & Wales University's leadership in career education, a focus on experiential learning, and bachelor of science degree in culinary nutrition, foodservice entrepreneurship, foodservice management and food marketing, make the university an exceptionally remarkable partner for the Stirring Up Health™ Recipe Contest.

Learning ZoneXpress has award-winning innovative classroom videos, posters, games, tablets, incentives and more. Owner, president and former FACS teacher, Melanie Nelson's commitment to developing creative materials for teachers and students brought Healthy Kids Challenge and Learning ZoneXpress together to develop several interactive kids' activity books.

NourishInteractive.com is a completely free Web site devoted towards making nutrition and exercise fun. NourishInteractive.com provides fun, interactive online games for kids that are designed to teach through animation, exploration, and decision-making. Nourishinteractive.com is the first web site to create “matching” nutritional tools, one for the parent and one for the child. These innovative tools send similar messages to both the parent and child, so the entire family can work as a team to establish good nutrition at home. It also has a complete nutrition educator section full of nutrition lesson plans, printable worksheets and Healthy Family Tip sheets. It was developed by nurses and dietitians. The site is available in English and Spanish.

Nutrition for Kids is sponsored by 24 Carrot Press, founded in 1995 by Connie Evers, MS, RD, an award-winning registered dietitian who has dedicated her career to promoting the nutritional health of children and adolescents. 24 Carrot Press publishes books and materials that take a positive, fun approach to the more serious issues that affect children today, including obesity, eating disorders, poor eating habits and inactivity.

The OrganWise Guys is an award-winning program teaching the valued fundamentals of proper nutrition and exercise. Teachers, parents and children enthusiastically applaud this age-appropriate, science-based instruction. Healthy Kids Challenge Director and Assistant Director are nutrition content editors and since 1998, have partnered with The OrganWise Guys to help support the development of healthy eating and physical activity habits.

Relish for Kids aims to helps parents and kids cook together, eat together, and plan better meals together seven days a week, three meals a day, one bite at a time. The Cooking How To and Healthy Recipe sections help educators and parents teach and inspire healthy cooking. 
Relish for Kids has a seasonal downloadable magazine just for kids!

Designed for healthcare professionals in a school setting, this company has been providing schools with health related products for over 5 decades. School Health Corporation offers more than just band-aids and thermometers. School Health Corporation has one-stop shopping for over 7,000 products and is a leader in introducing new technology to the marketplace.

Visionary thinking of how to take school wellness policies from words on paper to actionable steps that can make a healthy difference for kids has brought HKC and School Health Corporation together. Healthy Kids Challenge® activity booklets are included in the School Health catalog but more importantly, we’re looking beyond products in working together to develop wellness solutions for schools.