Children’s Power Play!

The Children’s Power Play! Campaign is an initiative to motivate and empower California’s 9- to 11-year-old children to eat more fruits and vegetables and get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. The program works to influence behavior change, social norms, the environment and policy. Power Play! reaches children through school classrooms and cafeterias, after-school programs, community youth organizations, farmers’ markets, supermarkets, restaurants and the media.

The goal of the Children’s Power Play! Campaign is to improve youth physical activity and nutrition.

The Power Play program reaches more than 200,000 low-income children in all 58 California counties annually, with media campaigns reaching an expanded audience. The campaign involves 400 schools, 3,000 teachers, and 500 community youth organization sites. In 2012, Power Play! reached over 540,000 ethnically diverse, low-income 4th and 5th grade children across the state. A cluster randomized, controlled trial of approximately 4,000 4th and 5th grade children from low-resource schools in California demonstrated that Power Play! had a beneficial impact on behaviors by: increasing daily fruit and vegetable consumption by π of a cup; daily physical activity time at school during recess and lunch; and health-promoting knowledge, attitudes, and social norms.