stethoscopes and sneakers: Kid´s Health Fair!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Kid´s Health Fair!

So we actually pulled it off. . . a boom box, several gallons of "yellow cola" flavored kool-aid, a sphygmomanometer, an entire neighborhood of assorted children, and a budget of $35.

What we learned:

1. Be prepared

We advertised not at all, figuring that we were a big enough scene in our whiteness to draw a crowd without help. We bought enough cake and bread for about 300 kids, imagining that there were about 150 or so in the immediate neighborhood and a few more would wander over.

This is the sight that greeted us in the morning. (That would be the sight of a room full of 350+ kids, silently waiting to be entertained).

We quickly scrapped our initial ambitious plan with lots of individual activities and healthcare topics for a looser plan of large group games and simply keeping the kids entertained for a few hours and throwing in some education where we could.

2. Use what you got

Our activities included "fishing" little plastic toys out of bowls of water, bowling with a ball of socks and empty water bottles, throwing a soccer ball into a laundry hamper, and a ring toss with large water bottles and rolls of masking tape.

Elizabeth demonstrating the ring toss

All cheap, available pretty much anywhere, and kept the kids entertained for more than two hours.

3. Have something for the parents

We made a poster about high blood pressure and did free blood pressure checks. Simple, useful, gives us some health care worker cred, and helps get the adults in the community involved.

4. Choose one theme

We went in way too optimistic. We wanted to cover crossing the street, dental care, person hygiene, good nutrition, parts of the body. . . we had a page long list of topics to cover. With just five of us, the age range, the language issue, and that many kids, it would have been insanity.

Instead we settled on hand-washing as the theme of the day. We made a poster, talked about it in the morning when they were all sitting and then we asked them questions about hygiene for prizes in between games. Later, they all had to show us good handwashing skills before the snack.