Healthy living

Healthy living

Idaho's 4-H health and wellness programs focus on supporting youth, families and communities to be healthy and to thrive. Programs incorporate both mind (social and emotional wellbeing) and body (fitness, health, nutrition and safety).  

Healthy habits

Eat Smart Idaho partners with 4-H to deliver 6-8 hours of nutrition education to limited-resource youth throughout the state. Contact Eat Smart Idaho to learn more about specific lessons and scheduling.

C-A-R chat — communication, awareness and respect

C-A-R chat activities are designed to be used with children and middle school students. These quick (5-10 minutes) activities teach kids:

• Communication strategies
• How to be aware of their needs
• How to respect themselves and others

Teen advocates have used the activities at county day camps, volunteer leader forum and presented at the National Youth Healthy Living Summit in 2018. C-A-R chat activities (pdf) are easy to use by both teen leaders and volunteers.

Health advocates

Health advocates work with faculty and staff to implement 4-H health and wellness programs. These programs may include teaching nutrition lessons to children and leading health-focused action projects. Teens learn nutrition, food preparation, cooking, shopping skills, social-emotional health and how to take healthy action within the community.  

Teen advocates:

• Receive training on the best healthy living strategies
• Volunteer within the community and county, promoting health equity — nutrition, physical activity and emotional well-being
• Gain excellent leadership experience for college applications and future jobs

Ignite by 4-H Summit

The Ignite by 4-H Summit is a four-day event in Washington D.C. where high-school aged teens connect, make memories and find their spark by exploring the best 4-H has to offer in STEM, agriscience, healthy living, career readiness and emotional wellbeing. Idaho sends a delegation of teens to this event each year. Teens are expected to implement an action project in their county, reservation or community, upon return from the conference.

The number of youth invited to attend Ignite each year is based on available program grant funds received by UI Extension 4-H Youth Development program. All registrations must be coordinated through the state 4-H office. For more information, contact Mike Knutz.