Kids in the Kitchen Program on March 11th

The Junior League of Peoria is excited to announce participation in the annual Junior Leagues’ Kids in the Kitchen program. The overall goal of this event is to use education in order to raise awareness of childhood obesity and to teach kids about healthy lifestyle choices. This program will be held on Tuesday, March 11th from 11:15 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Education Center at 800 RB Garrett Dr., Peoria.

The 2008 Junior League of Peoria’s Kids in the Kitchen project will be a day of fun-filled activities for first graders at Valeska Hinton Early childhood Education Center. Forty seven students from Valaska are expected to participate in the program. Each student will receive a backpack filled with information focused on healthy lifestyles. Activities will be divided into four workstations:
Healthy Eating – Guest Chef Tony Eagn, and Dietician Karen Hutton, Methodist Medical Center, will help the children create their own fun healthy snacks.
Understanding the Food Pyramid – League members will use hands-on activities to teach the basic principal of the food pyramid.
Crafts – League members will help the children build a personalized kid-friendly recipe book they can take home.
Movement and Exercise – Peoria area athletes will demonstrate fun movement activities using equipment such as hula hoops, jump ropes, and exercise balls.

This year, there will also be a parent training component with dieticians from OSF presenting a “Raising Healthy Eaters” inservice on March 13th at 5:30 p.m.