Here are some suggested resources to support classroom learning and a healthy school environment. For more information or to book a resource, contact the Healthy Schools Program at healthy.schools@healthunit.ca or 1-800-563-2808 ext. 5231.
Hand Hygiene
Hand Hygiene Resources
Resource Name and Target Audience
Resource Description
Photograph of Resource
Glidderbug
Kindergarten through Grades 8
The Glidderbug is a UV lamp that can be used to do hand washing demonstrations in a bright environment.
This kit has been developed in accordance with the Ontario Curriculum to support teachers, students, and their families learn about the importance of proper hand hygiene, such as hand washing.
Check out this great resource to use in your classroom or at home!
Healthy Hands: Hand Hygiene Resource Manual:The Healthy Hands: Hand Hygiene Resource Manual aligns with the Ontario Curriculum to support teachers, students and their families with good hand washing practices and information. This resource includes lots of great activities and lessons around the topics of germs and healthy hand hygiene.
There is a Healthy Hands Hand Hygiene Resource Kit in your school for your use. Please see the secretary or principal for this resource.
Healthy Eating
Resources available to borrow
Name and Target Audience
Description
Image
Food Model Kits Kindergarten through grade 3
Food model kits include a variety of healthy food items from each food group. Items show healthy serving sizes and can be used to teach about healthy and balanced meals.
The Blender Bike is a great way to promote healthy eating and physical activity at school and community events! It can blend foods and beverages, such as smoothies, simply through the motion of pedaling the bike. Loads of fun for participants and viewers!
The Sip Smart Wheel and Backdrop Grades 4 through 12
The Sip Smart Wheel is a great interactive activity for your next school event! After spinning the wheel, participants can guess how many sugar cubes are in the drink they land on. The 16 drinks are grouped together and colour coded to reflect the “choose everyday”, “choose sometimes”, and “avoid” messaging.
Download one of these really great apps for students to learn about healthy eating!
App Name
App Description
Downloadable Link
Issa’s Edible Adventures
Is your little one an aspiring chef? Download this app to explore the excitement of working in a restaurant kitchen while learning about different foods from around the world.
The Munch Code Game is a fun way for individuals to practice healthier snacking. The game uses a colour system similar to traffic lights to identify how much individuals consume (e.g. green-“eat a bunch”, red-“not so much”).
Check out one of these great online resources to use in your classroom or at home!
Bright Bites-Sip Smart!™ Ontario and Paint Your Plate: Students need wholesome, tasty food and enjoyable eating experiences, but improving school nutrition can be challenging. BrightBites is a non-profit project that breaks this challenge down into fun, easy badges for schools to earn.
Canada’s Food Guide:The Canada’s Food Guide website has many resources to assist in teaching the food guide principles to students. Order class sets of the new food guide here.
Northern Fruit and Vegetable Program:The Northern Fruit and Vegetable Program provides two free servings of vegetables and fruit each week to students (JK to grade 8) from January to June. On this page you will find information and resources to help run the NFVP in your school: the menu schedule, classroom resources, information on food safety training, and program evaluation results.
Student Nutrition Program Nutrition Guidelines and Recipes: The Student Nutrition Program Nutrition Guidelines help to model the most healthful meals and snacks for children and youth participating in school breakfast and snack programs.
UnlockFood.ca: UnlockFood.ca is run by Dietitians of Canada and includes information on nutrition, recipes, videos and interactive healthy eating tools.
Injury Prevention
Resources available to borrow
Name and Target Audience
Description
Image
Brain Mold Kindergarten through grade 10
Use the brain mold to stress the importance of wearing a helmet. Create a gelatin brain using the instructions provided. Use the mold in a variety of ways such as placing the mold in a bike helmet and letting it drop to the ground. Repeat without a helmet.
Concussion Ed is a tool to prevent, recognize, and manage concussions. Concussion Ed provides a method to track signs and symptoms of concussion, following a diagnosis. This is a great resource for parents, educators or coaches!
Monster Heart Medic leads you through animations, simulations, achievements, and arcade games where you will learn about how to maintain a healthy heart and body.
Check out one of these great online resources to use in your classroom or at home!
Canadian Cancer Society SunSense Certification: The SunSense Certification recognizes schools that have created a sun-safe and sun-smart environment to protect their students and staff from the harmful effects of the sun! If your school has undertaken sun-safe initiatives, register for your certification for the upcoming school year by the September 2019 deadline! This website and information are also available in French.
Ontario Road Safety: This link allows you to explore grade-specific teaching materials, resources and lessons plans pertaining to road safety. Also available in French.
Parachute Canada - Concussions: This link provides you with resources and additional information on concussions, as well as concussion protocols for schools and health professionals, concussion guidelines, return-to-school and -sport strategies, links to on-going programs and to a Concussion ED app that allows you to increase your general knowledge on concussions. All resources and information are available in both French and English.
Parachute Canada - Safe Cycling: This link provides you with resources and additional information regarding safe cycling, as well as a Public Service Announcement video pertaining to bike safety (available in multiple languages). Parachute also answers frequently asked questions in regards to safe cycling and helmets.
Mental Health
Mental Health Apps
Download one of these really great apps for students to support mental health!
App Name
App Description
Image
Headspace: Meditation & Mindfulness
Headspace helps you focus, breathe, stay calm, perform at your best, and get a better night’s rest. It helps individuals by developing life-changing skills such as relaxation, meditation and mindfulness.
Zen studio is a finger painting app designed to help children relax and focus. A calm, soothing music algorithm accompanies every swipe of the finger making it a very soothing experience!
Check out one of these great online resources to use in your classroom or at home!
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: It all starts with knowledge. Use this series of free online tutorials as a starting point for learning about mental health.?
Kids Help Phone: Kids Help Phone is Canada’s only 24/7, national support service to offer professional counselling, information and referrals and volunteer-led, text-based support to young people in both English and French.
Mental Health among Students in Grades 7 to 12 in the NBPSDHU Region: 2014/15 School Year: The data presented in this report was collected during the 2014/2015 school year. It provides an update of substance use in Ontario youth, updating data that were previously reported in The Health of Youth in the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit Region (North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, 2012).
Positive Mental Health Toolkit: This toolkit has been designed to promote positive mental health practices and perspectives within the school environment. The resource has been divided into a series of online modules, presenting information and materials that are manageable and user friendly.
Supporting Minds: Supporting Minds was created as part of the Ontario government’s comprehensive mental health and addictions strategy for the province. An Educator’s Guide to Promoting Students’ Mental Health and Well-being Supporting Minds is intended to complement, rather than supersede, school board initiatives related to promoting student mental health and well-being.
Teen Mental Health: The Mental Health & High School Curriculum Guide is the first and only evidence-based Canadian mental health literacy curriculum resource designed for use in schools (grades 7-10). Check out all the tools available through the toolbox on this website.
Oral Health
Resources available to borrow
Name and Target Audience
Description
Image
Oral Health Teaching Puppets (large)
Kindergarten through Grade 8
Choose from one of three large puppets (dinosaur, alligator or dragon) to teach your students about proper brushing and flossing.
Kit includes large toothbrush, teaching puppet, brushing/flossing poster and carrying case as well as toothbrushes, flossers and timers for your class. Be sure to include the number of students and age group when placing an order.
Choose from one of three small puppets (dinosaur, monkey or dog) to teach your students about proper brushing and flossing.
Kit includes large toothbrush, teaching puppet, brushing/flossing poster and carrying case as well as toothbrushes, flossers and timers for your class. Be sure to include the number of students and age group when placing an order.
Give your students the tools to practice good oral health! Order a class set of toothbrushes, flossers and timers. Be sure to include the number of students and age group when placing an order.
An app that provides students with the chance to practice brushing skills and clean the plaque off of teeth. This interactive activity includes a timer, divides the mouth into four sections and has varying levels of difficulty (i.e. amount of plaque).
This app includes several great activities to help students practice oral hygiene care! Includes a story and an interactive game that allows students to save people by brushing their teeth. It also gives participants the opportunity to practice brushing their teeth by following along with a video or by practicing with a friend (i.e. hold the tablet in front of you while friend brushes your teeth).
Oral Health Activities and Materials: This site contains printable activity sheets for kids and an educational guide for parents. The step-by-step guide includes ideas for children of all ages to help parents make brushing your teeth amazing. "Make Brushing Amazing"
Meet ordinary characters who turn into Super Dentists and Tooth Defenders when the slimy Placulus and his band of plaque monsters come along.
The health unit also provides free dental supplies such as toothbrushes, 2 minute timers and floss to support instruction on the importance of good oral hygiene.
Call 705-474-1400 or 1-800-563-2808 ext. 5328 for more information.
Physical Activity
Resources available to borrow
Name and Target Audience
Description
Image
Playground Stencils Kindergarten through grade 8
Playground stencils are a great way to help kids be more active! Whether it be classic hopscotch, snakes and ladders or a four square, playground stencils will liven up your playground.
These portable electronic pedometers count each step a person takes by detecting the motion of the person's hands or hips. A great way to track physical activity! Set includes 58 monitors.
This activity encourages students to identify characteristics that make up a healthy/unhealthy sexual relationships. Students must sort cards and determine if the quality listed belongs to a healthy or an unhealthy relationship.
This activity encourages students to question how relationships progress from the first feelings of attraction to dating to sexual intercourse. Students build and examine a relationship step by step.
Great visual representation of how sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are spread. Students begin with one colour skittle (bead) in their cup and mingle throughout the class, asking questions to one another and trading beads each time. By the end of the game students will be able to see how mixed their cups are and what that signifies.
Used as a sexually transmitted infection (STI) lesson to introduce types of STI’s, causes, symptoms, transmission, and treatment (curable/incurable). Students work together to place cards in the correct order to make the board complete. Can be used as an introduction to an STI unit or as a review to test student knowledge and understanding.
This activity allows student to assess their risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Students categorize sexual activities from “no risk to high risk”.
Multiple birth control methods are described in the flipchart explaining what it is, how to properly use it and the advantages/disadvantages of each method.
Students identify and sort body fluids and other risk factors that can lead to an HIV infection. A great activity to get an understanding of what students already know. The instruction sheet includes helpful guiding questions to start the conversation about HIV and AIDS.
Check out one of these great online resources to use in your classroom or at home!
Always Changing (OPHEA):Aresource for teaching pre-teens (grades 5 and 6) about the adolescent growth and development, and personal hygiene. This resource is directly linked to the Healthy Living strand in the Health and Physical Education Curriculum.
Sex & U (Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada): SexandU.ca takes a real-life approach to the questions and issues around sex and offers accurate and credible up-to-date information about sex, lifestyle choices, contraception awareness, sexually transmitted infections and reproductive health.
Tobacco and Substance Use
Resources available to borrow
Name and Target Audience
Description
Image
Clem’s Phlegm Grades 4 through 12
This is a great discussion starter for any anti-smoking lesson or program! This sealed jar contains about 2 weeks of the phlegm that would be coughed up by a smoker with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
Hinged model of teeth, tongue, and oral cavity shows the effects of using smokeless tobacco. Includes a bottle of simulated tobacco and instructions show how to make the tongue "split." Several oral cancers, gum disease, cavities and loss of teeth can be illustrated on this model.
A great way to educate students on the harmful effects of tobacco! This pig's lungs kit simulates a smoker's lung and a set of preserved pig lungs to demonstrate differences in colour and texture between a smoker's and a non-smoker's lungs.
Substance Abuse Prevention (SAP) Bucket Grades 5 through 12
Games, games and more games! Substance Abuse Prevention (SAP) buckets contain a wide variety of interactive games and activities related to tobacco and other substances. All materials and instructions for each game are included.
A great way to show the actual effects of smoking! This graphic, sealed exhibit contains a pack of cigarettes and cigarette butts submerged in gooey tar. The tar in this jar represents the amount of carcinogenic liquid one-pack-a-day smokers put into their lungs over a year's time.
Fatal vision goggles can be used as a training tool to demonstrate the concept of impairment and the dangers of impaired driving. This kit includes 7 goggles all having different levels of impairment with the highest impairment level demonstrating binge or high risk drinking.
This comic-book style e-book focuses on the decision-making process and aims to give students the tools to help them make good choices. Topics include peer pressure, being a friend, decision making, setting goals and making positive choices.
The Living Lung™ is a real-time 3D health and communication tool that includes a model of the lungs that allows you to observe breaths per minutes and changes in lung volume.
Includes mini-games and activities to entertain and inform the user. Topics covered include: chemicals in tobacco, teens as targets of tobacco companies, myths about smoking, secondhand smoke and many more!
TriviaMaker is a fast and easy way to create fun and engaging trivia games. This app allows you to customize game shows and helps students prepare for tests.
Check out one of these great online resources to use in your classroom or at home!
Ophea - Cannabis Education Resources: Evidence-based resources on substance use (specifically cannabis) for educators and administrators to help students develop the knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions to support their health and well-being.
Cannabis Misuse Prevention Lesson Plans: Lessons for grades 6 – 12 on cannabis aligned with the Health and Physical Education curriculum. These lessons are designed to promote wellness and mental health, build resiliency, and develop coping skills.
Cycles: Film-based resource provides with facilitator guides for educators to support classroom discussion on cannabis use and misuse. Teachers can use the guide, discussion questions, and classroom activities to help students understand why youth use cannabis and to recognize abuses.
Tobacco Prevention Toolkit: Theory-based and evidence-informed resources created by educators, parents, and researchers aimed at preventing middle and high school students’ use of tobacco and nicotine. Includes modules on vaping and e-cigarettes.
MediaSmarts: Lesson plans to help students develop critical thinking skills to engage with media as active and informed digital citizens. Topics selected in this link are Alcohol Marketing and Tobacco Marketing.
iMinds: Tools for building drug and gambling literacy. Students are encouraged to both express and think critically about their current drug- and gambling-related beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. The wide range of learning ideas can be adapted and used in curricular areas such as Social Studies, English Language Arts, Science and other subjects and settings. Resources available in English and French.
Project Alert: Program containing a series of 14 lesson plans, designed and evaluated to increase the likelihood of teens remaining drug-free.
Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey: Current and reliable statistical information about the health risk behaviours, attitudes and beliefs of Ontario adolescents (grades 7-12) over time. OSDUHS findings have been widely used by health, education, and government officials in setting health priorities and facilitating preventative policies, programs, and services that address youth needs.
View our channel