When you walk into your school’s cafeteria, what’s your first impression? Is the space bright and clean, with walls featuring colorful murals and student artwork, and showing healthy foods? Students visit the cafeteria on a daily basis, so it’s a perfect place to promote healthy choices and physical activity messages, creating an environment where students can enjoy healthy eating.
Spruce up your cafeteria by incorporating some of these health promotion strategies:
Get your art, photography and ceramics teachers on board. What role can they play?
Get students involved by surveying them to see what they’d like on the mural, or hold a school-wide poster contest where students create the design and vote on winners!
Instead of painting a mural on the wall itself, consider having students/artists paint pieces of the mural on separate canvases, then screw the canvases together. This makes the murals portable.
Sprucing up the cafeteria doesn’t have to be a large or costly undertaking – sometimes it’s as simple as moving furniture around so the space feels more open and welcoming and including music.
Recruit volunteers for a day of community service to help paint the cafeteria mural.
Ask local community leaders to be present for the painting or unveiling event. Submit a press release to the local media to generate positive PR about your work.
Celebrate the space! After painting, host a taste test or healthy carnival to showcase your redesigned cafeteria.
Categories: Nutrition & Healthy Eating, At School, Digital Resource
