Top Selling Education Resources of 2012

Let’s hear the final drum roll for the top selling education product from Learning ZoneXpress. The format ranges greatly – but nutrition education seems to be the key…

3. USDA MyPlate Handouts

USDA MyPlate is the new Food Pyramid icon that teachers and nutritionists are using to promote healthy eating. Our USDA MyPlate Tablet of handouts or worksheets has been a hit with kids and parents. The simplicity of the nutrition graphic is perfect for kids and busy adults.

The bright and colorful USDA MyPlate Tablet of handouts (also called tear-off sheets) highlights how to build a healthy menu and diet with tips for selecting the best choices within each food group. Additional tips include importance of fruits and vegetables, portion control and instilling a love of healthy choices.

• 8 1/2” x 11” 50      sheets, 2-sided
• Price: $9.95

2. Garden Heroes Set

An assortment of 35 cuddly, plush fruit and vegetable characters to add fun and excitement to learning about healthy eating. Garden Hero characters included in the set may vary.

• Garden Heroes® are machine washable, feature embroidered faces, and durable seams. Characters measure from 3″ to 7″ tall.
• Price: $143.95

1. 1 Great Tray Dry Erase “18×24”

Promote 1 Great Tray™ every day for the best school day by displaying your daily lunch and breakfast menus on this colorful dry erase board! The 1 Great Tray™ Dry Erase Menu Board makes it easy to show daily menu items categorized by food group directly on a school lunch tray.

The whiteboard is coated with dry erase laminate and mounted on PVC board with grommets in the upper corners for easy hanging. This lightweight material makes it easy to change up location.

• 18″ x 24″
• Price: $89.95

Top Selling Education Handouts of 2012

Last week we started tracking some of the top selling education resources from Learning ZoneXpress. Today we’re highlighting the top selling handouts or tear off sheets. Customers tell us that these nutrition education handouts are big hit in classrooms, doctors’ offices and public health centers. We weren’t surprised to see the popularity of UDSA MyPlate in the handout category – the icon is a simple, straightforward and effective way to remind people to make healthy choices.

Here are the top selling nutrition handouts of 2012:

3. USDA MyPlate Placemat Tablet

Build a healthy plate right at the dinner table with the USDA MyPlate Placemat Tablet! Tear-off placemats feature USDA’s food pyramid replacement, MyPlate. The new icon is surrounded by divided plates with a variety of healthy foods in portion sizes for adults, kids, and preschoolers. Backside features colorful photographs and tips to make your plate great. Use as a disposal placemat at meals or a giveaway to reinforce the nutrition and health messages of MyPlate.

• 11” x 17”, 50 sheets
• 2-sided
• Price: $12.95

2. USDA Kids MyPlate Tablet

Friendly and fun food characters deliver the message of balancing good foods with physical activity based on USDA’s MyPlate with this tablet perfect for preschool and primary grades. Kid sized portions of healthy food choices are shown on each food group section of MyPlate. Tablet backside features a blank plate for kids to draw their favorite foods in the corresponding food group section of the plate and tips for parents for making the best choices from each food group.

• 8 1/2” x 11”, 50 sheets, 2-sided
• Price: $9.95

1. USDA MyPlate Handouts

USDA MyPlate is the new Food Pyramid icon that teachers and nutritionists are using to promote healthy eating. Our USDA MyPlate Tablet of handouts or worksheets has been a hit with kids and parents. The simplicity of the nutrition graphic is perfect for kids and busy adults.

The bright and colorful USDA MyPlate Tablet of handouts (also called tear-off sheets) highlights how to build a healthy menu and diet with tips for selecting the best choices within each food group. Additional tips include importance of fruits and vegetables, portion control and instilling a love of healthy choices.

• 8 1/2” x 11” 50 sheets, 2-sided
• Price: $9.95

Top Selling Education Incentives of 2012

New Year’s Resolution starting to get old? Wondering what you’re going to do to motivate you, your family and maybe your students to keep strong with resolutions? A little reward can go a long way to keep us interested. Learning ZoneXpress has a range of stickers, tattoos, bookmarks and other incentives that are perfect for classrooms, doctors’ offices – really any place where you are in a position to help reward a kid to stay on track.

Here are our top selling incentives for 2012:

3. 1 Great Tray Bookmark

Promote building a healthy school lunch tray filled with all food groups with the 1 Great Tray™ Bookmark. Backside of bookmark gives suggestions for great choices from each food group. The bookmarks a great giveaway, non-food reward, or simple reminder to build a healthy tray for kids and adults alike!

• 2 1/2″ x 7 1/2″
• Package of 100, 2-sided
• Price: $6.95

2. MyPlate Healthy Eating Stickers        

Promote healthy food choices with these vibrant and colorful Healthy Eating Stickers. Great incentives or prizes for children and adults alike!

• 200 – 2” diameter stickers
• 4 designs per roll
• Price: $6.95

1. I tried it Stickers

Reward healthy eating and trying new foods with these colorful stickers.
4 designs on each 2″ diameter roll,
200 stickers per roll

• The I Tried It Stickers are great incentives or prizes!
• Price: $6.95

Top Selling Education Videos of 2012

OK maybe you won’t see these movie stars out on the red carpet – but we thought it would be fun to give a nod to the Learning ZoneXpress top selling educational videos of 2012. Each video includes a YouTube Sneak Preview!

3. Child Development Theorists DVD

Beginning with Sigmund Freud, modern child development theories have changed the way that parents raise their children and the way that teachers teach those children. This video is an entertaining and enlightening view of the major child development theorists, how the theories differ, and how more than one approach can be beneficial. Historical footage and photos are combined with candid documentary footage from day care centers in this informative video.

Theorists presented include:
Sigmund Freud
Maria Montessori
Arnold Gesell
Lev Vygotsky
Jean Piaget
Rudolf Dreikurs
Erik Erikson
Abraham Maslow
John Bowlby
B. F. Skinner
Benjamin Spock
Lawrence Kohlberg
T. Berry Brazelton
Diana Baumrind
Howard Gardner

• Appropriate for grades 9-adult. Teaching materials included. 21 min. Closed Captioned.
• Price: $79.95

2. MyPlate Dietary Guidelines for Elementary Students DVD

Registered Dietitian Melissa Halas-Liang shows two students how some of their favorite meals can be both delicious and nutritious by using the USDA MyPlate guidelines. Key messages for each food group are explained while the dietary guidelines are applied to a variety of favorite foods like tacos, pizza, breakfast foods, and fun snacks.

The kitchen how-to segments are interspersed with interviews of real kids eating and talking about their favorite nutritious foods!

• Grade 1-6. Teaching materials online. 23 min.
• Price: $49.95

1. Create a Great Plate:  DVD

When’s the last time you ate off a food pyramid? The ‘Create a Great Plate MyPlate Dietary Guidelines’ DVD is based on the USDA’s new MyPlate campaign. The DVD shows teens what healthy eating looks like, and tells them how to:

1. Make at least half your grains whole
2. Vary your veggies
3. Focus on fruits
4. Get your calcium-rich foods
5. Go lean with protein

• 20 minutes
• Grade 6-Adult
• Price: $79.95

Top Selling Education Posters of 2012

If you’re a radio fan, you know everyone and their brother is looking back at the top albums and hits of 2012. So we thought we’d take a look back too. Today we’re looking back at the top selling education posters for Learning ZoneXpress. Not surprisingly – nutrition and MyPlate play heavily into the top poster choices.

Customers have told us that they like the MyPlate posters because the message is simple and colorful. The icons helps families, kids and even teachers make good nutrition an easy choice every day.

Here are the top Education Posters of 2012 (drum roll please!):

3. 1 Great Plate for Kids Poster

Encourage kids to make their plates great! The 1 Great Plate® for Kids Poster promotes an easy-to-remember USDA MyPlate equation to help elementary children visualize how to fill their dinner plates. A good-for-you and tasty meal is pictured showing the divisions of the new food pyramid, MyPlate. 1/2 fruits and vegetables, 1/4 whole grains, and 1/4 lean protein combined make “1 Great Plate®!”

Dimensions: 18” x 24” Laminated

Price: $14.95

2. Kids MyPlate Poster

This USDA MyPlate poster incorporates fun and friendly food characters delivering the message of balancing good foods with physical activity. Based on USDA’s MyPlate model, this poster is perfect for preschool and primary grades. Kid sized portions of healthy food choices are shown on each food group section of MyPlate.

Dimensions: 18” x 24” Laminated

Price: $14.95

1. USDA MyPlate – Poster

The bright and colorful USDA MyPlate Poster highlights how to build a healthy menu and diet with tips for selecting the best choices within each food group. Additional tips include importance of fruits and vegetables, portion control and instilling a love of healthy choices.

 

Popular Uses: Classrooms, School Lunchrooms, Workplace Cafeterias, Waiting Rooms, Childcare Centers, Bulletin Boards

 

Dimensions: 18” x 24” Laminated

 

Price: $14.95

Happy, Healthy New Year!

MyPlate Round Magnet

Just a simple wish to you for a healthy 2013. To help keep you focused, we wanted to remind you of the simple lessons learned from MyPlate:

1. Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
2. Make at least half your  grains whole
3. Switch to skim or 1% milk
4. Vary your protein food choices

If you can keep those rules in mind, you’ll be well on your way for a healthy year. (And if you need some help remembering, Learning ZoneXpress has a number of great MyPlate posters to help keep you on track.)

And The Winning Nutrition Education Advocate Is…

Heather Winter with Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public Schools! Thank you so much for all you do and for inspiring others to do the same. We’d also like to thank Darcy Reed for this great nomination. We are so excited to share it with our readers!

I would like to nominate Heather Winter at the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public Schools. Heather is our Family Service Coordinator. Heather runs our Weekend Backpack Program. This is a program for our low income families on free and reduced lunches. The kids that qualify can take a backpack of food to eat over the weekend. Heather helps to raise funds for this program and works in cooperation with the neighboring Waseca School District. All foods are nutritional, shelf stable items within the budget. Heather spends about 5 hours a week on this project packing and coordinating where and with whom the backpacks go home. Heather provides a great service to our school through this project. She also works with about 60 of our preK-6^th graders. Heather is always looking for ways we can help our kids and feed our families.

We received many great nominations, and we thank all who participated. It is so encouraging to see the many activists for nutrition education in their own communities. We believe it starts at that level, and if we all hop on board, nutrition education will eventually become common knowledge.

Thanks again for all of the nominations and congratulations to Heather Winter.

Last Thursday, we were able to attend a school assembly at JWP and personally recognize Heather for her work. We also recognized Cindy Steinberg, a passionate and dedicated FACS teacher and school nurse, Sonja Highum. Both of these ladies were also nominated.

Stay tuned for a follow up post with photos!

Think Healthy Thursday: As a nation we are getting healthier. As individuals we are not.

The Huffington Post recently posted the Healthiest State Rankings of 2012. There’s good news and bad news, and we have some suggestions for improvement.

The research indicates that Americans are dying less from cancer and heart-related. That’s a great testament to the medical profession. We’ve come a long way with better cures. Unfortunately, chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and sedentary living are on the rise…

The report, released by UnitedHealth Group’s nonprofit, the United Health Foundation, in association with the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention, shows that 27.8 percent of all Americans are obese, 9.5 percent have diabetes, 30.8 percent have hypertension and 26.2 percent lead sedentary lifestyles.

However, premature deaths and deaths from heart disease and cancer have decreased since 1990.

“As a nation, we’ve made extraordinary gains in longevity over the past decades, but as individuals we are regressing in our health,” Dr. Reed Tuckson, M.D., medical adviser to the United Health Foundation and chief of medical affairs for UnitedHealth Group, said in a statement.

The research was conducted through telephone interviews. Researchers looked at smoking, binge drinking, obesity, high school graduation rates, sedentary lifestyle, children in poverty, infectious disease cases, air pollution, violent crime, health insurance, immunizations, primary care doctors, hospitalizations, and rate of conditions and deaths, such as cancer, obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

It sounds like it’s time for Americans to start taking control of our own health and the health of our children. We like to promote healthy decisions at a young age – starting at home, at child care centers, at the pediatricians with a program called Learning About Nutrition through Activities.

Kids won’t eat what they don’t know. That’s why LANA the iguana introduces kiwis, sweet potatoes, and a whole rainbow of fruits and vegetables to preschool children across the nation. The Minnesota Department of Health developed the LANA program – Learning About Nutrition through Activities – in 2006 as a way to address poor eating habits among children. The idea behind the program is simple: Introduce children to fruits and vegetables through their natural love of toys, play, and hands-on experimentation. LANA the iguana – a plush hand puppet – uses storybooks, menus, food-based craft projects, and eight different stuffed toys to make fruits and vegetables an everyday part of a child’s world.

Getting kids to make healthy choices early will help use reduce all unhealthy activity and hopeful raise the bar across all states!

 

Latest Release: Healthy Snacking Pamphlet

No snacks between meals! Did you hear that as a kid? We sure did. It made us wonder, when did snacking get such a bad rap? We need to refuel during the day. Kids certainly need to refruel  Even the Mayo Clinic maintains that snacking can be a part of a healthy diet – as long as the foods you snack on are nutritious.

Introducing Healthy Snacking Brochure

Learning ZoneXpress has created the Healthy Snacking Brochure to help you choose smart snacks to that will keep you energized between meals. Our educational nutrition brochure includes pointers for making healthy snack choices.

The snacking brochure helps promote good nutrition and health by explaining the benefits of healthy snacking, why we snack, what food groups to include, as well as lists of simple and nutritious snack ideas to take with you when you’re on the go. Nutritious snacks are listed in three categories:

• Portable – when you need a healthy snack to go
• Refrigerated – snacks for home
• Perishable – snacks you want to eat soon after purchasing (or growing in your garden!)

The pamphlets are an easy-to-read nutrition education resource for the doctor’s office, healthcare clinic, classroom, or workplace – anyplace where health care professionals, nutritionists and nutrition and health educators have an opportunity to reach out to parents, families and patients.

We're still counting the votes!

We were hoping to make an announcement about the recipient of our Nutrition Education Advocate Giveaway today. But we’re still reading the nominations. We were surprised with the response and we’re thinking we might do a little something special for the top choices (yes that’s a purposeful plural!) – but we’re working on it for next week.

Sorry to leave you hanging on a Friday afternoon – but you’ll definitely hear from us next week. Although it might take a couple of posts for us to recognize and appreciate the Nutrition Education Advocates out there!