Eat Well Play Hard in Day Care Homes

Eat Well Play Hard in Day Care Homes (EWPH-DCH) is an adaptation of NYS Department of Health's successful Eat Well Play Hard in Child Care Settings (EWPHCCS) program. The goals of EWPH-DCH are to help DCH providers improve the nutrition and physical activity practices in their DCHs and communicate positive messages about eating healthy food and being physically active to children in care and their families. the EWPH-DCH pilot was designed as an educational and environmental change program with DCH providers as the primary target audience and the children and their parents as the secondary target audiences. The primary goal of the program is to help DCH providers make changes in their environments to promote healthy eating and increased physical activity for the children in their care. In particular, DCH providers are asked to focus on increasing the variety of fruits and vegetables offered at the DCH and increasing opportunities for adult-led structured play. DCH providers also are encouraged, but not required, to pursue additional goals related to improving eating habits, increasing physical activity, increasing support for breastfeeding, or decreasing screen time.