After School Programs

After-school programs are an important setting for promoting both healthy eating and active living to children and youth. Healthy behaviours like eating patterns and physical activity levels that are started in childhood and adolescence often transfer into adulthood so it is important that we provide opportunities to develop these behaviours at a young age.

Ottawa Public Health's I Love to Cook and Play and I Love to Garden programs will help support after-school program staff and volunteers in being positive role models and promoting healthy living to children and youth.

I Love to Cook and Play

I Love to Cook and Play is a community-based program for children and youth aged 6 to 12 years of age. The program manual will enable program leaders to teach children how to prepare simple, healthy, low-cost meals and snacks and to emphasize the importance of daily physical activity. 

The I Love to Cook and Play Program Manual provides program leaders with:

• Background information on healthy eating and physical activity
• Instructions on how to organize and implement the I Love to Cook and Play program
• Learning topics related to healthy eating and cooking skills
• Hands-on activities that highlight learning topics
• Healthy recipes
• Games using low-cost equipment that don't need a large amount of space
• Additional nutrition and physical activity resources

When possible, it is important to engage parents in the I Love to Cook and Play program because they are often the key decision makers in the family and serve as primary role models for their children. Having some parent involvement in the program will help reinforce healthy behaviours at home. 

I Love to Garden

I Love to Garden is a community-based program for children and youth aged 6 to 12 years of age. The activities and recipes in the program manual will help you to teach children how plants grow, basic gardening skills and how to prepare healthy seasonal meals and snacks using produce that can be grown in Ottawa. I Love to Garden can be used by teachers, after-school program staff, summer camp staff and by parents and guardians. 

I Love to Garden program Manual provides you with:

• Background information on gardening with children
• 10 hands-on gardening and healthy eating activities
• 13 healthy recipes, featuring fresh produce that can be grown in Ottawa
• A resource section full of additional information on gardening and healthy cooking with children and youth

The I Love to Garden program manual is complimentary to Ottawa Public Health’s I Love to Cook and Play program.