CATCH After School

Based on the Award Winning CATCH Program, CATCH Kids Club has become a huge success all over the world

CATCH Kids Club (CKC) is a physical activity and nutrition education program designed for elementary and middle school aged children (grades K - 8) in an after-school/summer setting. CKC is composed of nutrition education materials (including snack activities) and a physical activity component. The CKC program offers an easy-to-use format that both children and staff enjoy and is ready to implement in the after-school and summer settings.

  There are thousands of after-school sites across the country and many of them have recognized the role they can play in fighting childhood obesity by teaching kids how to make healthy choices in their lives. While all of these settings are different in nature, they do have one thing in common – the children. YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs, and Park and Recreation organizations have discovered that instead of reinventing the wheel they can implement a program that is both cost-effective and proven to be effective, CATCH Kids Club.

For some, CKC has become the centerpiece of the programs they offer and these organizations have become an important voice in delivering a coordinated message to children about the importance of physical activity and nutrition. The unstructured time after school and during the summer provides a ready-made opportunity for programs to fill this child care need with fun, hands-on nutrition activities as well as enjoyable structured physical activity.

CATCH Kids Club “strongly aligns” with the National Afterschool Association (NAA) Program Standards, designed to describe best practices in out-of-school youth ages 5-14.

Who Uses CATCH Kids Club?

CATCH New Hampshire

Now in its fifth year, with support from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, the New Hampshire CATCH Kids Club program has reached over 100 out-of-school sites across New Hampshire. When the work first started, directors and staff at New Hampshire out-of-school programs were looking for ways to increase physical activity and healthy eating in the children they served. They have long recognized the important role they play in keeping kids healthy by providing them with environments to support healthy choices…environments where being active is what you do and healthy food is the norm.

The Foundation for Healthy Communities is the home and managing organization of the NH CATCH Kids Club project.



During a 2012 visit to the Penacook Community Center, the First Lady was struck by the high-energy parallels between the CATCH Kids Club curriculum and her own “Let’s Move” campaign. In fact, she was so inspired by the pre-schoolers during her visit to the PCC that she joined them in an impromptu bunny hop, much to the delight of the national media horde that was on hand to chronicle her visit.