Summer rec program offers time away from screens
Tea area children are getting out of the house and getting active this summer.
Through the Tea Park & Recreation summer rec program, about 40 children who have finished kindergarten through fifth grade are meeting 9 to 11 a.m. every Monday through Friday June 4th through 29th at the Tea Community Hall.
Program facilitators Madison Christensen and Julia LeVan try to do a craft, snack and activity each day with the children.
The program is designed to provide children with activities to stimulate the mind and body. Each week Christensen and LeVan plan the activities around different themes. Last week the theme was nature, Teapot Days was this week’s theme and science was planned for next week.
LeVan said the program is beneficial for kids.
“It gets them active. It gets them off a screen and gets them learning something new,” LeVan said.
As far as activities that are planned, they try to find things that the children can also do at home, like easy baking skills. For example, Christensen and LeVan will give them a recipe that the children can do with their parents or an easy snack recipe they can make by themselves at home.
This week they worked on a coloring contest and will tour the museum. On Friday, they will chalk the park for Teapot Days.
At the end of the session, they usually go to the city pool as a fun end of the year activity.
“They have fun, I think, and it’s a nice way to get them out of the house,” Christensen said.
For more information on events such as this, visit www.teapark andrecreation.com