If you want to sign up for Get Movin’, you’d better get moving.
Registration for the free summer activity program, which provides prizes for kids who are active for 30 minutes five times a week, ends Monday. About 350 sign-up slots remain.
More than 1,800 kids and adults signed up for Get Movin’ during a kickoff event earlier this month. That was the biggest turnout since the free summer activity program was launched in 2004.
Since the June 7 kickoff, about 450 additional kids and adults have signed up, said Caroline Brown, health and fitness director of the Marysville YMCA and a member of the Get Movin’ committee since 2004.
“The reality is, kids and families want to get active,” Brown said.
For meeting weekly activity goals, kids get free passes for activities such as swimming, bowling, skating and climbing. It’s a way for kids to enjoy themselves while becoming more fit, she said.
With the program now entering its fifth season, some families have participated in the program for several years.
“People are looking forward to those reward coupons and being active,” she said. “We have heard a couple of time people saying, ‘We’re so excited to do this again.’ “
Little changes can have a big impact on the health and fitness of both kids and parents, she said.
That can include making a bigger effort to turn off the TV and go for a family walk and making healthy choices about what the family eats.
“If we can give kids tools that they can use for a lifetime … that’s how we measure success,” she said.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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