For more information contact: 
Madison Area YMCA 
Marketing & Communications Department
smcevoy@madisonymca.org

For Immediate Release

CAPTION: Lauren Ruggiero from Summit and her daughters Samantha, 8, and Charlotte, 6, at last year’s Madison Area YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day.

 

The Madison Area YMCA Wants to Awaken Summer Imagination at Annual Healthy Kids Day^® on Saturday, April 21 

(Madison, NJ) March 30, 2018— The Madison Area YMCA‘s Healthy Kids Day®, a free community event, will take place on Saturday, April 21, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., on the Y’s fields near the parking lot. Healthy Kids Day®, the Y’s national initiative to improve health and well-being for kids and families, is an opportunity to ignite children’s imaginations so that they can imagine what they’ll accomplish this summer by keeping their minds and bodies active. 

Healthy Kids Day will include: a DJ, field games for all ages, arts and crafts, face painting, Dance party, STEM demo, raffles, Ga-Ga and children’s races. More than 20 local organizations and businesses will be present. Additional parking for attendees is available in the Commuter Lot and on Keep Street. 

Please note: All guests must present a valid state/government-issued photo ID to enter the Madison Area YMCA facility. 

Healthy Kids Day, celebrated at over 1,500 Ys across the country by over 1.2 million participants, works to get more kids moving and learning, creating habits that they continue all summer long. When kids 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. Kids also gain weight twice as fast during summer than the school year. As spring turns to summer, Healthy Kids Day is a powerful reminder not to let children idle away their summer days. Instead, the Y wants families to focus on helping children imagine what they can accomplish over the summer.  

 Keeping Kids Healthy All Summer Long  

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 Veggies – Make sure kids get at least five servings a day, the minimum number nutritionists recommend to maintain 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, learning and other vital functions.   

The Madison Area YMCA is a 501©3 cause-driven charitable organization dedicated to strengthening community through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.  

For more information about Healthy Kids Day, please contact Madison Area YMCA Community and Member Engagement Manager Gwen Riddick at 973-822-9622 x2235 or griddick@madisonymca.org. 

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