Implementation of Early Childhood Physical Activity Curriculum (SPARK) in the Central Valley of California (USA)

The aim of this paper is to describe the methodology applied to develop and launch the implementation of physical activity curriculum (SPARK) at several schools in the Central Valley of California. The SPARK Early Childhood Program is one of eight within the SPARK Coordinated School Health (CSH) model. This research try to create environments that promote healthful behaviors at school and in the community for both children and adults. Overweight and obese children are likely to develop serious health problems. Among children in the U.S., Latino children are affected disproportionally by the obesity epidemic.Niños Sanos, Familia Sana (Healthy Children, Healthy Family) is a five-year, multi-faceted intervention study to decrease the rate of BMI growth in Mexican origin children in California's Central Valley. This study is funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture, grant number 2011-68001-30167. The NSFS project consists of four major component interventions in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, economic and art-community engagement to induce behavioral change in our target population in order to achieve obesity prevention. SPARK Physical Education (PE) represents a paradigm shift in the traditional PE world. The SPARK programs are designed to involve all children, be more active, inorporate social skills, and emphasize both health-related fitness and sill development.