Using cutting-edge technology and research-backed curriculum to deliver better health outcomes for Head Start Children and families with high-quality, long-term nutrition programming.

The Academy at NHSA and the Dr. Yum Project have partnered to provide Head Start programs with the opportunity to participate in a cutting-edge, comprehensive approach to improving the overall health and wellness of Head Start children and families through evidence-based nutrition education and programming and technology that will provide local flexibility to meet parent and community preferences. This program will: 

• Normalize BMI in Head Start Children
• Reduce childhood obesity and support healthy growth trajectoriesPromote healthy eating habits from the start, including reducing food fussiness and increasing food enjoyment
• Provide hands-on, inclusive nutrition education for children and families*
• Address feeding development challenges, including those tied to trauma, disability, or food insecurity
• Advance school readiness through alignment with 85% of the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes and the Head Start Program Performance Standards
• Create localized nutrition programming that considers specific community and parent preferences and needs

Course Information:

• Start Date: On-demand
• Course Level: Beginner
• Requirements/Prerequisites: None
• Target Audience: All staff/nutrition staff
• Course Meeting Times: n/a
• Completion Timeline/Duration: 45 days to complete the course and 60 days of access

Topics:

• Introduction and Laying the Groundwork
• Creating a Culture of Wellness
• Sensitive Eaters and Other Challenges
• Circle Time and Extension Activities
• Preparing the Recipe
• Extending the Adventure Beyond the Lesson

Learning Objectives:

• Explain how learning to eat or feeding is a developmental process, outline ways in which you can enhance and support a child’s process of learning to eat, and summarize how the Dr. Yum curriculum works and the resources included through the program.
• Assess the ways in which you can adjust your language around “trying” new foods to “practicing” new foods and explain how you can encourage children to continue practicing new foods by celebrating small victories and cultivating a team-based classroom culture.
• Outline how feeding disorders develop and the three elements involved in the learned development of feeding, identify feeding red flags for infants and older babies as well as toddlers and school age children, and evaluate how you can minimize gagging through Coach Mel’s three step process.
• Explain the lesson structure of the Dr. Yum Food Adventure, including how you can engage your students in circle time to make friends with food and collect extension activities which you can incorporate into your food adventure, including but not limited to art, story time, music and movement, science, community connections, and explorations of international food.
• Prepare your classroom and students to participate in Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure by collecting the proper ingredients and equipment and analyze how cooking with children improves their fine motor skills, math skills, language skills, and social-emotional development.
• Collect strategies for how to involve parents in the Dr. Yum Food Adventure, including sharing the parent manual, feedback sheets, and a monthly newsletter in addition to encouraging parents to volunteer with lessons and examine resources in the Dr. Yum Family Toolbox found on doctoryum.org, including the Meal-O-Matic, Dr. Yum Blog, recipe page, and meal planner.

Head Start Alignment:

This course supports programs in meeting the 1302.44 Child nutrition requirements of the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) in which programs must “design and implement nutrition services that are culturally and developmentally appropriate, meet the nutritional needs of and accommodate the feeding requirements of each child, including children with special dietary needs and children with disabilities.”

Level Up Head Start Nutrition:

Level Up Nutrition is included with purchase of the Level Up Head Start Nutrition package. This program is housed in Academy+ and includes the following resources and benefits:

• Unlimited access for parents and all staff to the Academy+ learning management system
• Additional learning content including but not limited to:
  • Nutrition Basics
  • CACFP Basics
  • GrowMore Good – Gardening Basics
  • Early Childhood Health Basics
• Unlimited access for all Head Start children to Dr. Yum’s Food Adventure, an interactive, multi-sensory, nutrition curriculum, proven to help children enjoy more fruits and vegetables and reduce BMI.
• Full resource kit for each classroom
  • EZ-PZ Happy Mat to present foods at Circle Time
  • 6 Kuhn Rikon kid-safe “dog knives”
  • 6 colorful mini cutting boards
  • Yum Scores for kids to use to talk about how food tastes
  • Parent Manual (English and Spanish version PDFs)
  • Parent feedback sheets for each lesson in English and (Spanish version available as a PDF)
  • Monthly e-letters for teachers and parents
• AND MORE!

To schedule a personalized demo to explore how Level Up Head Start Nutrition through NHSA’s Academy+ can tailor nutrition-based professional development for your Head Start program with ease, click the link here!

Course Author:

Dr. Nimali Fernando, MD, MPH

Dr. Nimali Fernando, MD, MPH (known as “Dr. Yum”) is a pediatrician and founder of the Dr. Yum Project, a nonprofit organization that helps children and families build healthy eating habits through practical nutrition education. For over a decade, she has led developmentally informed culinary nutrition programs for early childhood settings, schools, and healthcare providers. The Dr. Yum Project offers evidence-informed curricula, hands-on recipes, family engagement tools, and classroom resources that reduce picky eating, support food exploration, and promote joyful mealtime routines. Their multidisciplinary team of child experts collaborates with Head Start programs, feeding therapists, educators, and researchers to make nutrition education accessible, inclusive, and easy to use. Through this partnership with National Head Start Academy+, The Dr. Yum Project equips instructors with simple, ready-to-use strategies that help young children become confident and curious eaters.