Art projects, planting, games and face painting are just a few of the activities that will fill the morning Saturday at the YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day, to be held at Brewton Middle School.

The event, held from 9 a.m. to noon, is being coordinated with the help of the Coalition for a Healthier Escambia County and the National Institute for Children’s Healthcare Quality.

Pre-schoolers to eighth-graders are invited, and children must be accompanied by their parents.

“This is another opportunity to get children and their parents involved in healthy activities and eating healthy,” coalition member Stephanie Walker said. “This gives us the opportunity to use the middle school with all its resources and space. Amy Cooley will be helping the kids do some planting and there will be some art projects. Joe Watson will have the Second Saint Siloam Brotherhood group to help out wherever they are needed. It should be a healthy and fun time for everyone.”

The Coalition for a Healthier Escambia County has a committee that has been working to help reduce the childhood obesity rate in the county, with a number of programs and activities including community gardens planted in East Brewton and a proposal to turn the old middle school into a community center once it is vacated this summer.

For Saturday’s Healthy Kids Day, workers have put together a fun morning with plenty of activities, including fun jumps, face painting, boot camp, Zumba dance, obstacle course, football, baseball/softball, water balloon toss, volleyball, garden station, art station, bubble blowing station and more.

This event is to promote healthier and more active kids and there will be a healthy snack station, and children may register for YMCA Summer Camp.

“We want to have both the kids and their parents to come out for this event,” Walker said. “Each child will get their hand stamped at each station and 10 stamps will qualify them for either a T-shirt or a ‘cinch’ bag of goodies. The T-shirt will have the logo of 5-2-1-0 which stands for 5 servings of fruits and vegetables; 2 or less hours of television or video games; 1 hours of exercise; and 0 servings of sugary drinks. Using this formula everyone will be healthier.”

For more information on the Healthy Kids Day, contact the Brewton Area YMCA at 867-9622.