University of Nevada Reno, Extension’s 11th annual Healthy Kids Festival

Saturday September 30th

The event is hosted by the Extension’s All 4 Kids program in collaboration with local community partners to provide long term solutions to childhood obesity through physical activity, healthy eating, and other behaviors related to childhood obesity prevention.

Unlike many health fairs, the event focuses on the learning environment through interactive activities from local health, nutrition, and physical activity specialists including youth sports, dance, gymnastics and other physical activity advocates, as well as local chefs, food growers, and gardening experts.

Children get to taste a variety of fruits and vegetables and learn about the food system by picking out their very own fruits and vegetables at the farmers market through the use of a “seed to table” approach to help increase fruit and vegetable consumption in young children and their families. At this section of the event, there are three main stations that encompass this seed to table concept:

• The “GROW” Station – A garden station that demonstrates how fruits and vegetables are grown and allows young children the opportunity to seed and harvest their own fruits and vegetables (e.g. sweet potatoes).

• The “TRY” Station – Children are directed to a food demonstration where local chefs prepare fruit and vegetable snack options with produce that includes items being harvested (sweet potato bake).

• The “BUY” Station – Finally, children are provided the opportunity, using pretend coins “Healthy Bucks”, to purchase their own choice of fruits and vegetables including the highlighted seed-to-table item (sweet potatoes for sale).