The first “Celebrate the Young Child” Event of the year was held on Tuesday, September 17th at Castle Park. The theme for the event was Forest Animals and there were many activities provided to engage young children and their families in our nature based play space in Crookston. Research shows that connecting children to nature during the early years has long-term benefits. There were over 100 people attending and at least a million uninvited mosquitoes! The hot, humid weather and mosquitoes didn’t keep children and families from having a great time playing in the sand, making binoculars, hiking in the woods, doing woodland yoga, going through the story walk, looking at animal pelts with UMC students and enjoying a picnic supper and trail mix. We also had entertainer Misti Koop on stage singing, dancing, and engaging children with puppets and fun props!
The event sponsors that made the event possible were: Thrivent Financial, RiverView Health, Crookston Public Library, UMC, Crookston Early Child Summit, Crookston Early Childhood Initiative, Polk County Public Health, Tri Valley Head Start, Crookston Public Schools and the Celebrate the Young Child Collaborative.
