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Head Start/Early Head Start of Fayette County held their 18th annual Munch, Mingle, and Move Event on May 23, 2024, at the Private Industry Council building in Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania. The event is based on educating families on good health/nutrition habits. The 18th annual event was “MMM is out of this world” with an Outer Space theme. The Private Industry Council also took the time to celebrate 30 years of Head Start/Early Head Start education services. This year we had 81 families that consisted of 125 adults, 110 enrolled children and 14 siblings attended the Munch, Mingle, and Move event.
The day started with families arriving at 10:00 am either by Head Start buses/vans or by transporting themselves to the Private Industry Council building. The families were welcomed by our staff at registration where they signed in and completed a pre-survey. Each family received a bag with a pamphlet describing the history of Head Start/Early Head Start and PIC’s mission in the last 30 years of Early Childhood education, as well as a welcome letter and a map of activities. The bag also included a plastic straw cup, astronaut space stress ball, pamphlets on nutrition and a story book entitled “Moon Cheese is the Best Cheese.” The families then were able to explore the activities, community agencies and have photos taken at the photo booth. Families were able to make a Rocket Ship Box car to use in our Rocket Race room or use ones that staff designed. Several costume characters were wandering through the building (such as Buzz Light Year, Aliens and Astronauts), much to the delight of the families. There were 32 community agencies and 18 different activities for the families to explore.
Community agencies this year included the Federal Bureau of Investigation completing fingerprinting for identification as well as Golden Onsite Dental providing families the opportunity of having a dental exam. Twenty families were given a dental exam with it being the first time for several of the children. Other agencies attending were representatives from insurance companies, and staff from organizations that can provide services to our families.
Some of the activities included moon rock cleaning where children learned how to properly brush their teeth and a maze that taught children to stay safe while traveling. Families were able to complete craft activities with ones that showed kiddos the importance of stress relief with cosmic playdoh and sun safety with sun catchers. Our littler visitors were able to enjoy a crawling baby area. Families were able to try watermelon salsa, dehydrated tropical fruit and a tropical fruit salad featuring mango and papaya. A grazing table style lunch was provided and served that included a ham or turkey sandwich, bananas, oranges, cheese sticks, a variety of pickles, cereal, trail mix and water.
The event was over at 2:00 pm. When families were done at the event, they filled out a post survey and names were drawn for donated items from the community vendors. The prizes were given to the staff to deliver to the enrolled families that attended.
Pre- and post-survey responses below showed positive results:
HOW MANY CUPS OF WATER SHOULD A CHILD DRINK A DAY? 4 CUPS
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH? 2 TIMES
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS A GROSS MOTOR ACTIVITY? CRAWLING
Ninety-nine percent of the families said they would attend another event and would refer another family to attend. In addition, some of the activities families noted as their child enjoying most were the Rocket Races, Moon Rock dental brushing activity and the safe traveling maze. Several families also indicated they were happy that the FBI provided a picture of their child along with their fingerprints as well as the photo booth. Some comments by families were “Best day ever!” “Friendly staff, we had a blast!” “My son loves all these activities!” Several post – surveys included a Thank you from families and noting they look forward to coming back next year.
Thank you to all who participated in this event! See you next year.
724-836-2600