TrimTots – a healthy lifestyle programme for young children and their carers

//TrimTots – a healthy lifestyle programme for young children and their carers

TrimTots – a healthy lifestyle programme for young children and their carers

TrimTots – a healthy lifestyle programme for young children and their carers
Brief Description The Trim Tots healthy lifestyle programme has been developed by a team from the Institute of Child Health in London together with a team of community artists, experienced in delivering educational art workshops to young children. The focus is on prevention rather than treatment of obesity. The aim of this evidence based community programme is to promote a healthy lifestyle both in pre-school children, aged between one and five, and their carers. The intervention is delivered in Children’s Centres as one two hour session per week over a 24 week period. The programme includes nutrition education, physical activity and behaviour change components with an emphasis on family involvement and learning through art and play.
For the first 12 weeks of the 24-week programme, parents/carers and their children attend a 2-hour weekly session. The sessions include workshops that teach the principles of a healthy lifestyle through art, music and play based activities. Nutrition workshops encourage adults to develop an understanding of how to make the best food choices, to plan menus, shop for the family, and prepare healthy meals. This is followed by snack time where families can enjoy a variety of healthy snacks from the ‘Trim Tots’ recipe book and learn how to produce simple healthy homemade snacks and meals suitable for all the family.
Exercise sessions for adults teach simple aerobic and body conditioning moves that can easily be fitted into a busy lifestyle. While adults exercise, children take part in play based activities designed specifically for the programme. Each week participants will receive a piece of exercise equipment (e.g. a ball or spacehopper) building into a family activity pack.
Image Trim tots
European Country/Countries United Kingdom
Field Consuming: Healthy Consumption
Type Intervention
Impact Health
Status Ongoing
Target Group General population, children aged 1-5 and parents/carers
Evaluation Yes
Level Local
INHERIT Perspective TrimTots is included because it has been shown to be effective in improving dietary habits and reducing overweight among children up to 2 years after completing the programme. It has potential to influence family food choices and activity levels in the longer term in favour of healthier and more sustainable lifestyles. The intervention is available to all families with children attending the children centre where the intervention is taking place. Since children in more deprived areas are more likely to be overweight than those in less deprived areas, the intervention has potential to reduce inequalities in overweight and obesity though behaviour change.
Detailed description PDF filename Download file
Relevant links http://www.trimtots.com/
Contact Dr Julie Lanigan: j.lanigan@ucl.ac.uk
2018-11-25T22:18:04+01:00April 26, 2017|practices|Comments Off on TrimTots – a healthy lifestyle programme for young children and their carers