More of Your Great Class Ideas
Last month, we brought you an award-winning idea for children's wellness classes. This week, we thought we would share another amazing idea from the same contest. This one is all about worksite wellness, and we've included tons of resources that could help make the course a snap! Here's the course description...I am teaching wellness at Tennessee Awning Company in Chattanooga TN, using Communicating Food for Health (CFFH) materials and a Wellness Workbook by Sara and John Travis. Emphasizing the importance of a healthful diet, I bring in healthful foods for a tasting at our bi-weekly meetings. I introduced smoothies using the CFFH handout on smoothies and using foods that have anti-inflammatory qualities.Keeping the sessions short, to the point, and fun is my goal. As the education level is probably around 8th grade, I entice employees to learn about nutrition through relatively easy games. We do breathing exercises and chair yoga, and also check the employees' health information -- blood pressure, BMI, weight, stress levels, breathing rates, heart variability, and blood oxygen content.To make it competitive, we assign points to various activities. For example, getting a blood pressure reading is worth 25 points. Quizzes on diet are presented in puzzle form. Points are given when these games are turned in. At the end of the program, a winner and 2nd place winner will be awarded prizes. During the last session, the winning employee won 1 day off work and the runner-up won a 1/2 day off work. Employees loved this idea and used their awards judiciously. They really are interested in taking control of their health as much as possible and were very engaged in the program. I give feedback on how employees are scoring and what the top employee contender is and this encourages participation and also competitive.The materials I have used have been the BMI poster, DASH, Eating on the Go, Do I Need to Worry about Blood Pressure?, Lunches, and a Bingo handout. As I have no office, I rely on materials that are useful and will transport easily, so the posters help a lot!Would YOU like to teach these classes? We've got tons of resources that will make it easy as pie! And if you don't see something you love, contact us and we'll make new materials to your exact specifications!
General Health:
- Cholesterol 101 Bundle
- Blood Pressure Poster Value Set
- Food Allergy PowerPoint and Handout Set
- Diabetes Posters -- ABCs of Diabetes Management, Diabetes Risk Assessment, How to Carb with Diabetes, and/or 12 Lessons of Diabetes Poster Bundle
Heart Health:
- 6 Lesson Premium Heart Education Kit
- Heart Health Poster Value Set
- Stop! You are Eating Too Much Salt! Poster
- Make the DASH PowerPoint
- 4 Lessons for Lower Blood Pressure
Weight Loss:
- Worksite Wellness Program -- Full Program, Online Program, and/or Poster Value Set
- See Food Diet Poster
- BMI 101 Presentation
- Weight Control Poster Value Set
- Bariatric Surgery -- Diet Overview and Tips for Dining Out
- Stress Eating and Food Cravings Handout
- Scale Down Your Portions Poster
Nutrition:
- MyPlate Brochures -- General Overview and MyPlate on a Budget
- Nutrition Bootcamp Presentation
- What's in Your Food? Poster Set
- Fiber DVD and CD Set
- Vitamin and Mineral Content Poster
- How to Read a Food Label Handout
- Nutrition Poster
Games:
- Trivia Games -- MyPlate, Diabetes, Heart Health, DIY Health Plan, or Blood Pressure
- Bingo -- Heart, MyPlate, and Portion Control
- Name that Fruit and Veggie!
- The Nutrition is Right
- MyPlate Game Poster
- Top of the Class
Prizes:
- MyPlate Accessories -- Stickers, Buttons, Magnets, Static Clings (for plates and windows), Bookmarks, and/or Notepads
- Vegetable Oil Paintings
- MyPlate Wristbands -- Adult or Child Sized
- Aprons -- Nutrition, MyPlate, or Plain
- Healthy Kitchen Poster
