School Nutrition and Physical Activity
On an average day, most children spend about seven hours at school, where they may eat nearly half of their daily calories and spend most of their time sitting at a desk. Creating a healthy school environment with nutritious food and opportunities for physical activity has many benefits. For example, long periods of sedentary time can have harmful effects on children’s physical health, mental health, learning, and development. Regular participation in physical activity has been found to result in higher academic achievement, fewer behavior issues, better self-regulation, and stronger collaboration and conflict-resolution skills among students. Physical activity can also complement social-emotional learning by providing a way for children to connect with others, practice empathy, and reduce stress. Many opportunities exist to enhance a school’s physical activity and nutrition environment such as through movement breaks, healthy vending machines, hands-on games as a class reward, and educator wellness initiatives.
- School Nutrition
- Physical Activity/Education Resources
- Wellness Policy Evaluations
- Grant Opportunities
- Upcoming Professional Development Trainings
- Local Food for Schools
School Nutrition
IDOE’s Division of School and Community Nutrition is the administering state agency in Indiana for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Child Nutrition Programs. These programs include the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Programs.
Farm to School
Indiana schools are responsible for the care and education of nearly 1.2 million students each year. Children spend nearly half their waking hours and consume more than half of their daily food at school. Because of this, schools are the best place to help students learn to make healthy choices that will last a lifetime. Through access to local foods and education, we can improve the health of children while creating strong local economies and engaged communities.
IDOH was the recipient of the 2018 USDA Farm to School grant, establishing the Indiana Grown for Schools Network, the Indiana Grown for Schools website, and an Indiana-specific Buyer Guide to find local producers when buying for schools. Building on this momentum, IDOH was awarded the 2020 USDA Farm to School grant, focusing on increasing school-level capacity to procure and prepare local food for
students.
Over the last three years, the network has produced four toolkits, following the nationally recognized pillars of farm-to-school, created a Harvest of the Month database of materials, bolstered the website user experience, and launched a webinar series on informative farm-to-school topics. View www.ingrown4schools.com for more information and to access resources.
Physical Activity/Education Resources
Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP): The Indiana Department of Health is working to create these programs throughout the state. CSPAP is a multi-component approach by which school districts and schools use all opportunities for students to be physically active, meet the nationally recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day and develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to be physically active for a lifetime. Four presentations on the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program can be accessed here:
- A Guide to CSPAP — Webcast | PowerPoint Slides
- Physical Education and Classroom Physical Activity — Webcast | PowerPoint Slides
- Recess Implementation — Webcast | PowerPoint Slides
- Before and Afterschool Physical Activity — Webcast | PowerPoint Slides
- Staff, Family, and Community Engagement — Webcast | PowerPoint Slides
INSHAPE: A professional education association with resources for teachers, administrators, researchers, coaches, college students and other professionals who are dedicated to the promotion of quality health, physical education, sport, dance and fitness in public and private schools, colleges, universities and community agencies throughout Indiana.
Active School Environments: Go to this resource to find out how physical activity results in physical, social, emotional and academic benefits.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans is an essential resource for health professionals and policymakers as they design and implement physical activity programs, policies and promotion initiatives. It provides information that helps Americans make healthy choices for themselves and their families and discusses evidence-based, community-level interventions that can make being physically active the easy choice in all the places where people live, learn, work and play.
Strategies for Classroom Physical Activity: This document describes 10 evidence-based strategies for promoting and planning for classroom physical activity.
Springboard to Active Schools: Provides resources and tools for schools and communities to advocate for 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
Playworks is an organization that provides technical assistance, training and consultancy to schools and youth programs to help them create high quality recess and play environments. 
Wellness Policy Evaluations
The Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity (DNPA) offers year-round reviews of corporation wellness policies. School districts can submit their corporation’s wellness policy to DNPA for review. DNPA utilizes the WellSAT 3.0 Quantitative Assessment Tool to score and improve the local School Wellness Policy and then will schedule a consultation meeting to review results and match school districts with support and resources!
Healthy Schools Grant
We are not accepting applications at this time. The three-year Indiana Healthy Schools Grant provides funding for Local Education Agencies (school districts/corporations and charter schools) that participate in the National School Lunch Program to create supportive nutrition and physical activity environments for all students, while also engaging staff and the greater community. This grant is managed by the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity.
Youth Adolescent Physical Activity (YAPA) Grant
We are not accepting applications at this time. The one-year YAPA grant is focused on providing physical activity and physical education opportunities for youth and adolescents, 6-17 years of age (K-12) in the classroom, school, and before or after school program settings. We will consider ideas that will best fit your community or organization to successfully improve the overall health of youth and adolescents. Some examples would be utilizing funds for professional development for staff, creating and implementing a sustainable physical activity program, or improving an existing program. This grant is managed by the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity.
Upcoming Professional Development Trainings for PE Teachers and Out-of-School Time Professionals
Join School Health Corporation and the Indiana Department of Health, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity (IDOH, DNPA) for FREE professional development trainings for K-12 Indiana physical education teachers, health educators, and youth-serving organization program coordinators to engage students in active movement throughout before, during, and afterschool settings. These one-day trainings will focus on teaching participants new and creative ways to engage youth and adolescents to become physically active in before, during, and afterschool settings, including techniques on inclusive and adaptive play, social and emotional learning activities, and activities to offer with limited PE equipment available.
Register below for a specific location (additional details are also included):
- Lafayette, IN—September 10, 2024; click here
- South Bend, IN—September 11, 2024; click here
- Bloomington, IN—September 24, 2024; click here
- Indianapolis, IN—September 25, 2024; click here
Please email Emma Smythe, Youth Physical Activity Coordinator at esmythe@health.in.gov for any questions.
Local Food for Schools
The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) awarded over $4.4 million in funding to the state of Indiana in 2023 to support the purchase of nutritious, locally sourced foods for school meal programs. This significant investment enabled schools across Indiana to procure healthy, regionally grown ingredients to serve their students as part of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. By connecting local farmers with schools, this initiative has not only provided opportunities to improve childhood nutrition, but also foster new relationships and opportunities within Indiana's agricultural community. The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) partnered with the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) and other state partners to establish sustainable and equitable farm-to-school partnerships. This program has strengthened the resilience of local and regional food systems by expanding schools' access to fresh, wholesome foods grown right in Indiana. Importantly, this program will also create new markets and income streams for historically underserved farmers and food processors, supporting Indiana's vibrant agricultural sector. Authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act, the LFS program represents an innovative approach to strengthening critical links between farms and schools at the local level.
