27 Ways to Promote Healthy Habits

Do you know the power of teaching healthy habits in your school? According to the CDC, teachers and schools have a direct impact on over 90% of youth for a critical 13 years of their lives, and during these years, children can form lifelong habits and health patterns. In addition to creating lifelong habits, healthy students are better learners which can lead to other benefits later in life. Knowing this, fit has put together our favorite 27 ways you can promote healthy habits in your school:

Help your students learn how to pair multiple movements together with fitFlow and fitBoost activities! Use any web browser to project physical activities on the whiteboard for the class to see and follow along with each movement for an awesome 3-5 minute brain break. For quick access, bookmark the pages on your computer so you’re ready to go when your class wants to move!
Model healthy behaviors! Choosing water sets a positive, healthy example for your students. The next time you think about grabbing a soda for the classroom, consider water instead!
Decorate your classroom! Create a wall or door display with the It’s a Good Day for a Good Day! Door Kit printable or the In This Room: A Positive Affirmation Door Kit printable to positively greet your students and boost their mood.
Upgrade indoor recess or brain breaks with fit Field Day: An Inclusive Workout for Kids. In just two and a half minutes, you can get your class moving and reenergized!
Collaborate with your school nutrition services to decorate the school cafeteria with our inspiring and educational Healthy Choices Posters. Kids can talk about the snack foods and march in place or do side bends if they must wait in line.
Use the My Growth Garden printable with your students to get creative while you teach them about positive self-talk.
Plan a ‘field trip’ to your school’s kitchen or prep area. Students love the big equipment and they might even get to try hairnets (hello, photo op!). The nutrition team at your school is vital to the culture of eating well-balanced, nutritious food every day. Ask the nutrition team to showcase any new food items, like fruits and vegetables, by offering taste tests and talking about the benefits of eating a rainbow each day.
Can you tell that your class needs to relax or take a break away from screens? With free printable instructions, it’s easy to make a Take a Break Basket together. Just print a copy for each student and follow the instructions together. By the end, students can take their basket home and practice taking breaks outside the classroom!
If you have time to fill, turn off the screens and play Food Bingo! Everything is set up for you, all you need is a printer and some pieces or a marker to cover your letters! This game is a creative way to expose learners to new foods.
Modify your classroom or school policy on treats for celebrating birthdays or special events. If a student wants to bring a treat to celebrate, encourage them to bring a nutritious snack or even better—suggest they bring a non-food treat like pencils, erasers, or a book they can donate in their honor to the classroom library!
Sense that your students are feeling anxious? Try out the 5 Senses in 5 Minutes: Grounding Exercise for Kids video as a class. This is also great for morning meetings to encourage mindfulness and set the stage for learning!
Decorate your classroom or nearby hallway with a sensory path that’s perfect for a brain break! Print the Wellness Way Sensory Path and watch your students learn about moving, recharging, fueling their bodies and motivating their moods!
Teaching your class the value of open and honest conversations is important. And what better way to start than together? With Chit Chat Cards, your class can play Trivia, Did You Know, and take turns asking each other Open-Ended Questions. Just print, cut, and store these cards in your classroom to start fostering conversations!
Take a trip to the zoo! Use our Animal Yoga Poses and Breathing Exercises to tell a story and teach your class how to recharge. Plus, the cards come with word-for-word instructions for you!
Download and print our Food Poster Packs. Then, laminate and hang around the cafeteria, in your classroom, and near every drinking fountain station. Kids will learn the importance of hydration, portion sizes, smart snacking, reading nutrition labels, and more!
Promote mindfulness and healthy choices with our classroom units and lessons. Choose from over 60 lesson plans, complete with printable teacher guides, videos, slideshows, and student printables! (Bonus: they’re all aligned to the National Health Education Standards and CASEL Social and Emotional Competencies.)
Charades! Have a student pick a feeling from this poster and act it out. Ask the class to guess what the feeling is.
Struggling to calm your students after a wild recess? Try the Animal Breathing Techniques video. You can try breathing exercises inspired by bunnies, lions, bumble bees, bears, and even a crocodile!
Create a cozy spot in your classroom! A cozy spot is a safe, quiet space where children can go when they need a break to self-regulate. To start decorating, use our Cozy Spot fit Kit and the Coping Strategies Poster Pack.
Relax with Dakota! With this mindful meditation video, have your class follow along to practice taking a few calm moments. Plus, you can watch in English or Spanish!
Use the words from the ABCs of Nutritious Snacks to play “I am going on a picnic.” One person begins with “I am going on a picnic, and I will bring (name a food.) The next player repeats what the first person says and adds a food word. This game can be played in groups of any size!
Choose one letter to be the letter of the day. Use this poster pack and associated letter to talk about the emotion, do the yoga pose and the movement, then learn about the snack—have you tried the snack, what are the nutrition facts, and how you can use it as an ingredient.
Giving your students activity books can be an easy way to keep them entertained and work on other fine motor skills. But wouldn’t it be great if you could teach them about healthy choices along the way? With Hello Healthy, (an activity book geared for Pre-K and Kindergarteners) and the Power of You, (an activity book for 1^st-5^th graders), you can do just that!
Talk to your parent-teacher organization (PTO) about hosting an event that promotes fun and wellness. Your PTO can help organize and plan events for the entire school, and they may even be able to help sponsor the event with prizes or incentives. Some ideas include a family fitness night, a fun run fundraiser, a walk-to-school day, or a bicycle safety rodeo!
It is always a great time to practice gratitude. Encourage your kids to take time to pause and fill their plates with the people, things, or experiences that make them smile with the Fill Your Plate Printable Placemat.
Challenge students to see how many feeling words they can use in their creative writing. Use words they’re already familiar with like happy, sad, or tired. Extra points for more elaborate words like exhausted, peaceful, or carefree!
Activate your class! Pick a recharge or movement activity such as Grow Your Flow or fitBoost in Place and post the activity or pose on the whiteboard for all to see. Then, either in set time intervals or whenever your class needs a quick energy boost, point to the board, and perform the post or activity together as a class.