Fuel Up to Play 60—Apply for Funds Using the New Playbook!

Are you looking for funding opportunities to improve healthy eating and physical activity at your school? It’s time to check in with Fuel Up to Play 60! Eleven million students nationwide participate in Fuel Up to Play 60, and that number is growing; if you haven’t yet signed up to participate, visit the FUTP60 website to learn how you can get involved whether you are a student, an educator, or a community supporter.

The FUTP60 April newsletter just hit our inbox, and it was full of great information about the program—including the brand-new 2014-15 Fuel Up to Play 60 Playbook and new opportunities to apply for FUTP60 funds.

Fuel Up to Play 60 Funds

If your school has at least one adult who is signed up to be a FUTP60 Program Advisor and is enrolled in the National School Lunch Program, your school is eligible to apply for Funds for Fuel Up to Play 60. There are two application deadlines for the 2014-15 school year:

• Wednesday, June 4, 2014
• Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Up to $4000 per year is available to qualifying K-12 schools that are enrolled in FUTP60 to kick-start healthy changes in the school environment. When you apply for Funds, you will be asked to select one  Healthy Eating and one Physical Activity Play from the 2014-15 Playbook, which includes updated plays from previous years in addition to new plays.

Note: If “Grab and Go – Anytime!” Play is selected as the Healthy Eating Play, food service equipment will be awarded if your application is approved, instead of money; this could include refrigerated coolers for serving milk, or a moveable kiosk with a cashier area.

You can get started on your Funds for Fuel Up to Play 60 application now! Read on for more information about the new FUTP60 Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Plays for the 2014-15 school year.

2014-15 Fuel Up to Play 60 Playbook

With five Healthy Eating Plays and five Physical Activity Plays, the updated 2014-15 Fuel Up to Play 60 Playbook offers student-led and school-tested ideas that were developed with input from Program Advisors, students, and health and wellness experts. In addition, this year’s playbook includes ideas for parent engagement, so that kids and their families can work together.

Healthy Eating Plays

• Breakfast-in-the-Classroom: We love this one! Students plan and implement a nutritious breakfast program with help from school nutrition professionals, and delivery reimbursable meals to classrooms.
• Grab and Go – Anytime!: The Grab-n-Go model has been wildly successful at breakfast, so why not spread the love? This Healthy Eating Play challenges students to set up quick, easy meals to grab on the way in to school, or in between morning classes for breakfast, to speed up the cafeteria lines during lunch, or after school.
• Healthy Breakfast, Healthy Lunch—BAR NONE: Team up with school nutrition staff and administators to create salad bar-style breakfast and lunch meals. This play incorporates popular taste tests, and is designed to create sustainable change to your school menu.
• Promoting Healthful Choices: Developed with the help of Cornell University’s Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, this play highlights some simple techniques that can help change and improve behavior when it comes to making better food choices.
• Snack Smarter at School: This is a challenge for super sleuths! This final play was designed with help from the folks at the Kids’ Safe & Healthful Foods Project; form a team of “Snack Smart Student Investigators” and embark on a “School Snacking Investigation” to identify snack and a la carte foods offered in your school cafeteria, and make sure they are the most nutritious offerings possible.

Physical Activity Plays

• Community Playtime—It’s Good for Everyone: Developed in collaboration with the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, this play is focused on active engagement of the whole community, including families, local businesses, and sports leagues. Survey peers about physical activity opportunities they would enjoy outside of regular school hours.
• In-Class Physical Activity Breaks: Add brief, focused, in-class breaks for physical activity. Plan, lead, and participate in physical activity breaks that won’t disrupt class. Don’t forget to get your teachers on board!
• Let’s Dance!: Set up a series of dance activities, or start a dance club at your school.
• Ramp Up for Recess: Investigate ways to make recess more engaging and active, while still maintaining the integrity of a break. Find fun ways to balance the playground’s physical and social aspects.
• Walk for Wellness Club: Encourage students, teachers, administrators, and the community to make walking part of their day, every day, with the formation of a walking club. This play was also developed in collaboration with the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.