Winter Park Early Learning Centers

In the belief it is never too early to plant the seeds for a lifetime of healthy habits, the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) has been working with the Nemours Florida Prevention Initiative to instill healthy habits among two-, three- and four-year-olds in local child care centers.

The program, Nemours Healthy Habits for Life: A Child Care Obesity Prevention Initiative, involves 30 child care centers in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville. Under the program, center directors and staff members were trained in the Healthy Habits for Life Resource Kit including curriculum and games to teach and help reinforce healthy eating and exercise habits with children and their families.

Centers also received technical assistance and help in developing wellness policies to help support healthy habits—ranging from sleep, and nutrition to activity and drinking water—and to create a culture of good health in the centers.

Participating child care centers are those with students who go on to attend public elementary schools in Winter Park, Maitland and Eatonville which already have a collection of health and wellness programs in place, also supported in part by WPHF.

The goal behind both programs is to ensure students are healthy—today and in the future–and able to do their academic best in school.

The centers listed above are those child care centers in Winter Park that have actively participated in the Nemours Healthy Habits for Life program in partnership with WPHF.