By Elizabeth Prom-Wormley
The fourth annual Field Day/Healthy Kids Day presented by Peter Paul Development Center and Downtown YMCA took place on August 20 from 11AM – 2PM at Woodville Elementary School.
The morning started out gloomy and cloudy. We were concerned with the event being cancelled or ruined due to a potential downpour. After all, the kids were supposed to run and do activities to get them active in the field behind the school. It was cloudy throughout the whole event with the sun peeking through the clouds for less than a minute. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Standing outside and doing physical work in the summer heat for hours with no shade can be punishing.
The tents and tables of the event were placed along the perimeter of the field. In the middle children and families mingled and played. There was a stage with a DJ set up near the pool. The DJ hosted a dance battle that attracted a large crowd. Children also had the opportunity to sit inside tractors and police vehicles and play with the built in loudspeakers, horns, and alarms.
Our table was placed between an obstacle course and a puzzle game table. Our main attraction was our dice questionnaire game. The player rolls the dice and based on the color of the face, a corresponding question category is selected. The player then answers a simple multiple-choice question in which the answer is later revealed. The player is given the opportunity to roll the dice again. The questions of our game were based on statistics from the results of the Seventh District Health and Wellness Survey. We used this game as a method to give back the results of the survey to the community in a digestible format. The game was developed and first used during National Night Out. It was a huge success. Players seemed genuinely interested in the results and even challenged our results at some point. The game was revised to adjust for comprehension levels and attention span. There was a special collection of questions specially designed for the children at Healthy Kids Day. The kids were very eager to play the game and win prizes. They even brought their friends to the table to play.
The event ended at about 2 PM. After all the participating organizations cleaned up and left, it began to rain very heavily. Luckily, we were all able to dodge that inconvenience. Overall, the event was a success for everyone. We managed to give away a huge portion of our promotional materials and prizes. We also have seen a spike in traffic to our social media accounts and our new website. Rvahealthweb.org
Check out our pictures! To see more pictures find us on Instagram: @rva_wellness
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