Children, Youth & Families
Practical children, youth and families advice you can trust
Providing information, programs and training grounded in research to help young people and their families succeed and thrive.
Featured
Fact Sheet
Life Skills for Young Children
All Children, Youth & Families Programs
4-H Afterschool Program
The 4-H Afterschool Club teaches children basic life skills including math, reading, science, positive communication, goal setting, self-responsibility, decision-making and good nutrition. Youth who have these life skills are less likely to participate in risky behaviors.
4-H Teen Pollinator Ambassador Program
Establish a statewide, Nevada 4-H Pollinator Ambassador Program, creating awareness, education, outreach, and peer-to-peer educational opportunities for at least 10 Nevada
youth and adult Extension professionals.
4-H Youth Development
4-H is a community of young people across America learning leadership, citizenship and life skills.
4-H Youth Development | Camp Program
Nevada has been involved in 4-H camping since the first 4-H camp took place on the University of Nevada, Reno campus in 1930. For about 79 years in Nevada, 4-H camping has been a proven and effective method of reaching, teaching and involving youth in leadership skills development. Each year, more than 500 youth participate in 4-H camping programs at Lake Tahoe Nevada 4-H Camp. Other 4-H camping programs take place across the state.
All 4 Kids
All 4 Kids and its Healthy Kids Festival use activities, music, dance and food to teach kids and their families in Clark and Lincoln Counties nutrition, physical activity and self-acceptance.
Calming the Waters: Learning to Manage Western Water Conflict
Conflict has surrounded the Truckee, Carson and Walker River Basins for decades. Key issues include historical use on tribal lands, historical and current water rights, threats to water quality, and wildlife habitat protection. This program teaches youth about Nevada’s water issues and helps them develop the skills needed to address future water conflicts.
Career Edge: Teens Taking Charge of Their Future! A Workforce Readiness Program
A workforce readiness program for high school students focused on skill development for workplace and job success. Career Edge provides information and training on interview skills, résumé development, filling out applications, finding job leads and selecting appropriate clothing for the workplace. In addition, many "soft skills" needed in the workplace such as decision-making, teamwork, problem-solving and leadership are integrated throughout the program.
Chef Suzy's Cooking Demonstrations & Recipes
Extension Nutrition Specialist Susan McClain, "Chef Suzy," presents cooking demonstrations in elementary schools. Each 30- to 45-minute demonstration goes over three recipes that are easy, simple, healthy, affordable and accessible.
Child Care Provider Training
The quality of care is greatly impacted by the education and work experience of caregivers. Cooperative Extension's Child Care Provider training improves a caregiver’s skills and knowledge.
Early Childhood Professional Development
Ongoing early childhood professional development that improves the knowledge, skills and abilities of child care providers working with young children. Trainings are approved by Nevada Registry and meet Nevada State Licensing requirements.
Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP)
Many Nevadans suffer from heart problems, are obese or have diabetes. In Nevada, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program is administered by University of Nevada, Reno to engage adults and youth to boost nutrition through building basic skills. Participants learn how to read food labels, save money on groceries, plan meals, safely handle food, make healthy food choices, and be more active.
Family Storyteller Literacy Program
National award-winning Family Storyteller is a literacy program aimed at encouraging and training parents to play a vital role in the literacy development of their children. The statewide program creates an opportunity for parents and young children to interact around literacy and language activities.
Food Safety Project
Extension has been instrumental in bringing about the "Nevada Food Safety Task Force," which strives to provide a working forum for food safety experts and to improve communication between all entities that are held accountable for food safety and security within our state.Improving Food Safety Education for Child and Adult Care Providers in Nevada.
Fun to Play
The program targets families where, due to the young age, inexperience or limited resources of the parents, young children are placed at-risk for developmental delays and later school difficulties.
Fun to Play for Preschoolers
This 8-week program encourages positive-parent child interaction and learning through creative play. It also promotes children’s school readiness skills. Each week emphasizes a Nevada Pre-K standard.
Healing gardens in Las Vegas
Extension healing gardens essentially become outdoor sanctuaries for people who are hospitalized as well as their families and the staff that works with them.
Healthy Aging Initiative
Join us for an informative and engaging event discussing the health disparities and equity issues marginalized older adult populations face. Our expert speakers will examine Alzheimer's and related dementia, gender responsiveness and care partner violence and explore potential solutions to promote health equity for all. This event is a wonderful opportunity to gain experience from experts in the field and connect with others who are enthusiastic about promoting health equity for older adults.
Healthy Eating on a Budget
The Healthy Eating on a Budget program has been integrated into the TANF Work Readiness workshop as a SNAP-Ed program. The purpose of the 8-lesson series is to provide SNAP recipients with education on healthy nutrition and physical activity practices, food resource management, food safety and food security.
Healthy Kids - Nutrition Toolbox
This toolbox covers tips to increase children's overall levels of health and gives information pertaining to changing health habits.
Healthy Kids - Physical Activity Toolbox
The toolkit will assist parents, child care providers and teachers with integrating physical activity throughout each day and providing programming that helps children meet age-level physical activity recommendations.
Healthy Kids Resource Center
A one-stop shop for evidence-based research, resources, curricula, activities and materials that focus on obesity prevention for teachers and parents of young children. It is designed to educate parents and teachers as well as provide the tools needed to teach young children how to live a healthy lifestyle.
Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools
This is a comprehensive nutrition program based on the socio-ecological model incorporating nutrition education, promotion and policy, systems and environmental changes that support the implementation of school wellness policy.
Healthy Steps to Freedom
Program teaches nutrition and healthy lifestyles that address weight and energy concerns in women with substance abuse issues
Heart & Hope: Building Resilient Families
Heart & Hope provides resources and skills to victims of domestic violence who have left the perpetrator and are building a new life for themselves and their family. Workshops help parent victims gain parenting skills and confidence, build resilience for themselves and their children, avoid becoming victims in future relationships, strengthen family relationships and envision hope for the future. Workshops help children build social and emotional skills to prevent them from becoming future victi
Hope for Family Resilience Program
The Hope for Family Resilience Program set out to support families through education, programs, and resources that provide a foundation for using both the heart and head for building the family on deeper knowledge, trust, reliability, and commitment.
Just in Time Parenting
Just in Time Parenting is an electronically delivered age-paced parenting newsletter originally developed by a national network of Extension Family Life Specialists in 2008. The program was designed to reach parents at teachable, transitional moments.
Kids Cook
A series of cooking classes where children can learn basic cooking skills, typically provided when school is out during the summer.
Let's Discover STEM
Let’s Discover STEM (Descubramos STEM) is a 7-week program that focuses on STEM enhancement and parent engagement for families with preschoolers and kindergarteners.
Little Books & Little Cooks
Healthy eating, family literacy and positive parent-child interaction is promoted in this 7-week program for families with preschool aged children. It also promotes children's school readiness skills. An important component of the program is the involvement of both parents and children, especially during the hands-on cooking activities.
Nevada Youth Range Camp Program
Most of Nevada’s youth live in large urban environments, with little exposure to rangelands, forests or agricultural environments, and the products and services rangelands provide. This program teaches students ages 14-18 how to read maps; identify and the importance of rangeland plants; evaluate sagebrush, woodland and stream ecosystems; wildlife habitat; and many other topics related to rangelands.
Partners in Parenting
The first five years of life have a significant effect on children’s development and learning and parents play the most important role during this time. Partners in Parenting offers many educational programs, workshops and resources primarily for parents with young children (0-5 years of age) to support healthy child development, school readiness skills, and positive parent-child interaction.
Produce Pick of the Month
This evidence-based campaign focuses on building fruit and vegetable consumption in children through healthy snacking. Produce Pick of the Month is a monthly, in-school nutrition education program for primary grade children in at-risk elementary schools in many counties across Nevada. In addition to direct instruction, staff works with school wellness coordinators to build meaningful and sustainable programming to create a good environment in every school.
Raising Your Relative's Kids: How to Find Help
As part of the family support program Kinship Families, Raising Your Relative's Kids: How to Find Help is a resource guide for kinship caregivers caring for children in out-of-home placement. We offer an informational website using the 100+ page resource guide, which is also available in print and on CD, including a Spanish version.
Simply Delicious: Easy, Healthy Meals
Our Simply Delicious recipes are simple to prepare, easy to cook and taste delicious. To be sent a laminated copy of each recipe presented in the cooking series email HealthyAging@unr.edu.
SNAP Into Farm Fresh Foods
SNAP Into Farm Fresh Foods is a health and nutrition program that provides education to SNAP-eligible participants and provides technical assistance to local farmers market managers and vendors seeking to become SNAP authorized and implement SNAP friendliness best practices.
Spiral Up: Childcare Workforce Development
Providing child care training for more than 25 years as part of its professional development for child care providers programming to help fill a gap in this training that existed in the state.
The Greenhouse Project
The Greenhouse Project serves as a teaching facility for hands on programs at the Carson City High School. Students help to cultivate and distribute vegetables and herbs for culinary classes and community food ban.
Veggies for Kids
Veggies for Kids teaches children about healthy eating habits and improves accessibility to fresh fruits and vegetables.
