The Davis Family YMCA will host the Y’s annual Healthy Kids Day from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 30.
The event will include arts and crafts, farm animals from Camp Fitch YMCA, community vendors, pool games and gym activities to motivate and teach families how to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles.
The event is sponsored locally by T-Mobile and nationally by Howard Johnson by Wyndham. The Davis Family YMCA is located at 45 McClurg Road, Boardman 44512.
“At the Y, we believe in the potential of all children and each day we work to help kids find that potential within themselves,” said Tom Grantonic, Davis Family YMCA executive director. “Healthy Kids Day is a fun, free community-wide event to kick off summer and remind us all how important it is for kids to stay active physically and mentally throughout the summer.”
Now in its 30th year, Healthy Kids Day is the Y’s national initiative to improve health and well-being for kids and families. The Y hopes to use the day to get more kids moving and learning, creating healthy habits they can continue while they’re away from the classroom.
When children are out of school, they can face hurdles that prevent them from reaching their full potential. Research shows that without access to out-of-school learning activities, kids fall behind academically. Children also gain weight twice as fast during summer than during the school year.
In celebration of YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day, the Y offers the following tips to help families develop healthy habits this summer that can have a lifetime effect:
- High five the fruits and vegetables – Make sure kids get at least five servings of fruits and veggies each day, the minimum number nutritionists recommend for healthy childhood development. And to keep kids’ taste buds evolving, have everyone in the family try at least one bite of a new fruit or vegetable at least once a month.
- Read together – The summer is a great time to enjoy books with summer program participants—and 30 minutes a day goes a long way. Take trips to the local library or create a family reading challenge to see who can log the most minutes of reading. Encourage youth to create their own stories as well.
- Get moving – Activities that require movement also help kids flex their mental muscle. Use materials in unique ways: ask youth to build models, manipulate tools or develop their own theatrical scenes.
- Play together – Play may be the best way to prevent childhood obesity. By putting more play into your family’s day, you will soon find yourself getting the activity that will have your family feeling energized and strong.
- Make sleep a priority – Doctors recommend 10-12 hours of sleep a day for children ages 5-12 and 7-8 hours per night for adults. Sleep plays a critical role in maintaining our healthy immune system, metabolism, mood, memory and learning.
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