Days of play

Brittany Davenport
Register News Writer

July 07, 2009 07:47 am

— Children and parents are invited this week to participate in the International Days of Play.
The activities hosted by the Madison County Health Department are part of the VERB Summer Scoreboard program promoting and encouraging “young children to be more physically active,” said Willkenia Napolean, a Berea College intern who helped plan the events.
The health department will provide games from different countries and nutritional information at locations in both Berea and Richmond. The activities will include games and traditions from the Dominican Republic, Southern China, Ghana and the United States.
“When we were children, our main source of fun was to play together outside. Now, we spend so much time with the computer or the television, and I feel that children may be losing that sense of joy that comes from just playing,” said Napoleon in a press release.
The Berea Day of Play is Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Berea City Park Soccer Field. Berea also will have booths featuring healthy snacks from each culture.
The Richmond Day of Play is Friday from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Paradise Cove.
The event in Berea is free to the public, but the Richmond event is only free to children participating in the VERB program. For family members, friends or children not enrolled in the program, the cost is $6.
Children ages 9 to 13 are invited to participate in the VERB Summer Scorecard program by registering at www.verbsummerscorecard.com. Participants can log their hours of physical activity and increase their chances of winning the grand prize at the program’s grand finale July 31.
For more information, call the Madison County Health Department’s Community Education Team in Berea at 228-2041.
Brittany Davenport can be reached at 624-6624 or news@richmondregister.com.