Jump Into Foods and Fitness!


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4-H Youth Development Michigan State University 160 Agriculture Hall East Lansing, MI 48824-1039 USA Phone: 517-432-7575 Fax: 517-355-6748 Email: msue4h@msu.edu Disclaimer & Indicia

4-H Health & Well-Being

Jump Into Foods & Fitness

About JIFF | Families | Staff, Educators & Volunteers | Youth

Staff, Educators & Volunteers

The JIFF program team welcomes volunteers, educators and MSU Extension staff to Jump Into Foods and Fitness!

Helping children make better nutrition and physical activity choices can positively affect their long-term health and lifestyles.

As the obesity rate among children rises at an alarming rate, it is important for children to choose nutritious food and increase their physical activity. Obesity has been linked to increasing rates of type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes, premature heart disease and cancer.

You'll find links to information on this page designed to help you promote, facilitate and evaluate a JIFF health education program for children aged 8 to 11 (grades 3 to 5). The Jump Into Foods and Fitness curriculum (JIFF) involves children in eight "kangaroo jumps" or sessions of fun with foods and physical activities. JIFF can be adapted to older and younger audiences. It can be used as a basis for a eight-week program as well as eight sessions.

Linking JIFF to School-Based Health Education

In 2004, the Michigan State Board of Education adopted the “Policy on Comprehensive School Health Education,” which stated that “all students should be taught the essential knowledge and skills they need to become ‘health literate,’ making the healthiest choices available, and avoiding those behaviors that can cause damage to their health and well-being.” For more information, see the "Connecting Jump Into Foods and Fitness to the Michigan Health Education Content Standards" document.

Linking JIFF to Workforce Preparation

JIFF helps young people build career development skills through interactive nutrition and fitness activities. Hands-on nutrition activities help children to develop critical thinking skills, encourage cooperation through group work, and build stronger decision-making skills. Physical fitness activities help youth learn teamwork skills, develop leadership abilities, learn how to positively deal with stress, and develop planning and implementation skills. Employers tell us that all these types of skills are necessary for success in the workplace.

Sample JIFF

JIFF includes activities and lessons based on four topic areas: nutrition, physical activity, food safety and family education in the form of a newsletter. Each session of JIFF includes:

An overview of the lesson including the objectives and life skills
Background basics for fitness and nutrition
Icebreakers and "Attention Getters"
Learning activities to teach children nutrition, food safety and physical fitness
Snack suggestions
Take-home family newsletter

To learn more about JIFF, you can download the following three sample activities (documents are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software):

Reproducing Handouts From JIFF

You can download any of the materials from Jump Into Foods and Fitness that are designed to be reproduced for youth participants and their families. These documents are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

Kangaroo Jump 1: Pyramids for Health:

Kangaroo Jump 2: Go the Distance With Grains:

Kangaroo Jump 3: High Five for Health:

Kangaroo Jump 4: Moooving & Motion:

Kangaroo Jump 5: Power Up the Day:

Kangaroo Jump 6: On the Go:

Kangaroo Jump 7: Choices for Good Health:

Kangaroo Jump 8: Celebrating JIFF:

Providing Training for JIFF

You don't need to be a nutrition or fitness expert to teach a JIFF session. On the JIFF Training Materials page you'll find everything you need to train yourself or your staff to become JIFF facilitators — from sample training agendas to a certificate of completion for facilitators.

Promoting JIFF

A “Join the JIFF Team!” brochure is available for Michigan State University Extension educators to use for promoting JIFF educational experiences to young people and their families. MSUE staff can also use this brochure for getting parent or guardian consent to have children complete JIFF evaluations. Others interested in promoting the program may want to download and adapt the brochure. A JIFF promotional flier is also available.

Documenting the Impacts of JIFF

Many people who offer programs like JIFF to children are very interested in learning whether their programs have an impact on the attitudes, knowledge and behaviors of the program participants. The JIFF guide includes a pre- and post-survey that can be used with program participants, along with an alternative evaluation method suitable for younger children. Michigan State University Extension staff can use the on-line data entry program by going to http://eisevaluation.msue.msu.edu/jiff/login.cfm.

Additional Resources for Staff, Educators & Volunteers

The following list of links will lead you to a few of the many good nutrition, physical activity and health sites on the World Wide Web.

American Academy of Pediatrics (http://www.aap.org/) —
This site contains information dedicated to children's health topics.
American Heart Association Children and Exercises http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3007589) —
Visit this site to learn about heart healthy nutrition and recipes, physical activity and many other topics. (Link to Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart projects.)
Berkeley Center for Weight and Health (http://nature.berkeley.edu/cwh/lit/) —
The articles on this Web site are organized by topic and focus on children's and adolescents' nutrition, physical activity and weight.
Fight Bac! Keep Food Safe From Bacteria (http://www.fightbac.org/) —
'Fight Bac!' is a public education campaign focused on safe food handling with the goal educating consumers on four simple steps they can take to fight bacteria and reduce their risk of illness. The program is sponsored by the Partnership for Food Safety Education.
Food and Drug Administration (http://www.fda.gov/) —
This federal agency regulates products such as food, human and animal drugs, medical devices and cosmetics. The agency's Web site links to its official magazine, FDA Consumer, which offers readers a wealth of new and in‑depth information on how to get healthy and stay healthy. It also reports on current FDA activities to ensure that the products the agency regulates are fit to use.
Food and Nutrition Information Center (http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/) —
The Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) at the National Agricultural Library (NAL) has been a leader in food and human nutrition information dissemination since 1971. FNIC's Web site provides a directory to credible, accurate, and practical resources for consumers, nutrition and health professionals, educators and government personnel. At the site you can find printable format educational materials, government reports, research papers and more.
Healthy Youth: An Investment in Our Nation's Future (http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/aag/aag_dash.htm) —
Check out this report to find out about the health challenges facing young people and learn more about programs designed to address those challenges.
Michigan Council on Fitness and Sports (http://www.michiganfitness.org) —
Sponsored by the Governor's Council on Fitness and Sports and the Michigan Fitness Foundation, MCFS promotes the benefits of physical activity and behavior-changing programs for physically active lifestyles to prevent chronic disease and reverse the trend toward sedentary living.
MyPyramid: Steps to a Healthier You (http://www.mypyramid.gov/) —
MyPyramid is the official site by the U.S. Department of Agriculture aimed at helping people choose the foods and amounts that are right for them. Find detailed information on each food group, dietary guidelines, nutrition resources and MyPyramid Tracker – an online dietary and physical activity assessment tool.
Nutrition.gov: Smart Nutrition Starts Here (http://www.nutrition.gov/home/index.php3) —
Nutrition.gov provides easy access to the best food and nutrition information from across the federal government and educational institutions. It serves as a gateway to reliable information on nutrition, healthy eating, physical activity, and food safety for consumers, educators and health professionals.
The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (http://fitness.gov/index.html) —
This is the health, physical activity, fitness and sports information Web site of the Department of Health and Human Services. Connect to the President’s Challenge, a program that encourages all Americans to make being active part of their everyday lives while earning Presidential Awards.
Team Nutrition Connecticut (http://www.team.uconn.edu/resources.htm) —
This page offers tip sheets for young people on nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fiber and fat, and on phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals.
Team Nutrition Michigan (http://www.tn.fcs.msue.msu.edu) —
This site contains a great deal of helpful information on nutrition and fitness topics, including alternatives to using food as rewards. The Michigan Team Nutrition Booklist includes annotations for over 300 books about food, healthy eating, and physical activity for children in preschool through third grade (http://www.tn.fcs.msue.msu.edu/Booklist.pdf).
Team Nutrition USDA (http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/) —
Team Nutrition's goal is to improve children's lifelong eating and physical activity habits by using the principles of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPyramid. This site is developed and maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the national headquarters for Team Nutrition.
VERB Campaign (http://www.cdc.gov/youthcampaign/index.htm) —
"VERB: It's What You Do" is a national, multicultural, social marketing campaign coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The VERB campaign encourages young people aged 9 to 13 (tweens) to be physically active every day. The campaign combines paid advertising, marketing strategies, and partnership efforts to reach the distinct audiences of tweens and adults or other influencers.
Wellness IN the Rockies: Selected Resources for Youth, Adults, and Communities (http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/WinTheRockies/print/11_03_RsrcLstMS.doc) —
This list of resources and educational materials related to nutrition, physical fitness and health was developed by Wellness IN the Rockies. WIN the Rockies was a community-based research, intervention and outreach project to improve health in communities in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The program was funded for four years and involved the University of Idaho, Montana State University, the University of Wyoming, their Extension services and other organizations. The program's Web site is at http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/WinTheRockies/

Contact Information

For more information on how to get involved as a youth or volunteer, contact your county MSU Extension office or:

Janet R. Olsen, Program Leader
Michigan 4-H Youth Development
160 Agriculture Hall
Michigan State University
E. Lansing, MI 48824-1039

Email: olsenj@msu.edu
Phone: 517-432-7575

B'Onko Sadler, Associate Program Leader
Michigan 4-H Youth Development,
160 Agriculture Hall
Michigan State University
E. Lansing, MI 48824-1039

E-mail: sadlerbo@msu.edu
Phone: 517-432-7618