Helping families get healthy, happy, active and fit

Extension's All 4 Kids Program encourages families in Clark and Lincoln Counties to build healthy habits together. The program and its annual Healthy Kids Festival use activities, music, dance and food to teach kids and their families nutrition, physical activity and self-acceptance.

About the program
About the Healthy Kids Festival
Contact the program team

Making nutrition and physical activity fun for families

Featuring locally written and recorded music and dance for children and their parents, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Education (SNAP-Ed) books, "Tummy Talks" and "TV Moves Me," the All 4 Kids Program integrates nutrition and physical activity education into a fun, developmentally appropriate curriculum. 

The curriculum includes 19-to-21, 30-minute preschool lessons, taught three times a week for eight weeks by Extension staff. Each lesson uses dance to introduce children to specific movements outlined in the Nevada Pre-K Standards, in addition to a nutrition concept.

Each week of the program, children receive an All 4 Kids Family Pack, containing a nutrition activity for the family to complete together.

In addition, parents and caregivers are invited to attend a monthly family event. Each event has interactive games and a food demonstration for families to try new foods and movement games together. Each family event concludes with children performing the All 4 Kids dances they learned in the preschool lessons.

Together families and children learn to be healthy, happy, active and fit.

An interdisciplinary approach to practicing daily wellness

The prevalence of childhood obesity has dramatically increased nationwide. Specifically, 14 percent of Nevadan children less than 5 years of age are overweight, and 31.5 percent of Nevadan children ages 4 - 6 are obese or overweight. The underlying causes range from genetic propensity to socio-economic, cultural and environmental influences resulting in unhealthful eating and physical activity practices.

A person’s relationship with food and physical activity begins in infancy and is molded during childhood, and young children are dependent on their families to provide their meals and movement opportunities.

To help, Extension faculty with expertise in maternal and child nutrition, exercise physiology, and child development designed Extension's All 4 Kids Program to be an interdisciplinary approach to addressing child obesity. The program helps children meet Nevada Pre-K Standards while encouraging preschool children and families to practice healthy eating habits and be active every day.

Kids and teacher dancing with colored scarves in a classroom.

Our Healthy Kids Festival | A special experience

Extension's All 4 Kids Program harnesses the power of environmental change to address childhood obesity at the community level through the program's Healthy Kids Festival. The event provides low-income families with young children (ages 3 - 8) with sustainable tools and opportunities to make healthy choices.

The event is unlike a typical health fair. It focuses on a fun learning environment, offering:

  • Interactive activities from local health, nutrition and physical activity specialists, including youth sports, dance, gymnastics and other physical activity advocates, as well as local chefs, food growers and gardening experts.
  • Educational activities on topics such as reducing sugary beverages, enrolling children in their first 5k race and registering kids to participate in local team sports.
  • Opportunities for parents to have their children’s health indicators, such as their Body Mass Index, measured and explained, and to take advantage of other health services for their kids, such as dental or eye exams.
  • Music and dance entertainers, adding to the excitement of the healthy messaging.

Through three "seed-to-table stations," children get to taste a variety of fruits and vegetables, learn about food systems, and pick out their very own fruits and vegetables at a produce market. These experiences increase fruit and vegetable consumption in young children and their families.

  • The GROW station - Where young children discover how fruits and vegetables are grown, and enjoy the opportunity to seed and harvest their own fruits and vegetables.
  • The TRY station - Where local chefs prepare fruit and vegetable salads for young children to taste. The salads include fruits and vegetables the children planted and harvested at the GROW station.
  • The BUY station - Where children are provided the opportunity, using pretend coins and “Healthy Bucks”, to purchase their own choice of fruits and vegetables, including those they planted, harvested and tasted at the previous stations.

These features of the festival come together to create a special experience.

In collaboration with local community partners, the festival provides long-term solutions to childhood obesity through obesity-prevention behaviors, such as physical activity and healthy eating.

Healthy Kids Festival | Photo gallery

A group of children attempt to hula hoops in a field of grass.

Children hula hoop, demonstrating one of the fun ways that they can stay active. 

A volunteer at the festival talking to youth at the farmers market booth.

A volunteer shares information with youth at the BUY station. Photo by Que Photography.

Two kids do pushups after spinning the activity wheel.

Offices of Senator Cortez-Masto and Congressman Horsford share the importance of physical activity with children through a "spin the wheel" game.

Kids and adults are dancing with hands in the air on the grass and on stage during festival.

Fitness staff lead Healthy Kids Festival participants in dance activities from the stage.

A young girl in a pink shirt sits in an inflatable seashell with a woman wearing a multicolored mermaid tail.

Extension’s SNAP-Ed Coordinator Macy Helm helps bring the fun as a mermaid!

A green watermelon is carved with the letters HKF on top, Healthy Kids Festival in the middle and 2022 on the bottom.

Healthy fruits and vegetables, such as watermelon, are at the center of the festival.

In the middle of the festival grounds, a group of kids dance in a circle at the Healthy Kids Festival.

Fitness staff join participants at the Healthy Kids Festival to guide physical activities.

 
News Articles, Fact Sheets, Reports...
Home Feeds Nevada: Program and Impacts
Home Feeds Nevada helps food-insecure families access fresh produce, protein and dairy items grown by Nevada farmers through food bank-supported pantries across the state.
 Malik, S; Katrzhyan, H 2025, University of Nevada, Reno Extension, FS-25-31
Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program
In 2021, USDA launched the $900M Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) Program, a key step in transforming food systems, with participation from every state. Of this, $691M funds were directly invested in farmers, producing a $1.53B local economic impact! This program funded Home Feeds Nevada to support our farmers.
 Malik, S; Katrzhyan, H 2025, University of Nevada, Reno Extension, FS-25-13
a farmers marker
Nevada Farmers Markets Needs Assessment
Discover the keys to unlocking Nevada's vibrant farmers! Farmers markets foster community engagement and support local agriculture, but many struggle with consumer outreach and marketing. This assessment unveils crucial insights into how to amplify their impact and nourish communities across the Silver State.
 Park, S.Y., Christiansen, E., Yun, G.W., Malik, S., Lindsay, A., Aldea, B., Purnell, S., Miller, A., Villasenor, R., Andrews, A., and Felts., T. 2024, Extension, University of Nevada, Reno, SP-24-01

Learn more about the program's team

Anne R. Lindsay
Anne R. Lindsay
Program Leader & Contact
Elizabeth Mapula
Elizabeth Mapula
Program Contact
Kylie Mansanas
Kylie Mansanas
Team Member
Cindi Kay Morehead
Cindi Kay Morehead
Team Member