Week of Young Child spotlighted Saturday

Favorite movie and TV characters like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Sleeping Beauty and Spider-Man will all be in Yuma on Saturday at a free event geared toward kids.

The Yuma County Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC) will be holding the annual Week of the Young Child event for the community to take part in various reading activities with their children.

The event will be held on the Yuma Heritage Library lawn, 350 3rd Ave., from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“This is a fun day where families can bring their children and make arts and crafts projects to take home with them,” said Mariel Ruiz of the Yuma County AEYC. “In addition, we have food activities to encourage healthy eating, along with reading activities shared by familiar characters such as Clifford from Eight, Arizona PBS. Best of all, we offer bilingual resources at no charge to families.”

The program coincides with the national Week of the Young Child that runs April 22-28, focusing on the needs of children and their families and recognizing early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

Children will have a number of activities to participate in at the event, including face painting and making a newspaper hats and bookmarks as well as reading activities and food how-to demonstrations.

“The kids love having their pictures taken with our bigger-than-life characters they know from movies and TV,” Ruiz said. “This year, we'll have Spider-Man, Batman, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and others. So parents, remember to bring your cameras. It's all free!”

For more information about the event, call 783-2363.

Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSSarahWomer or on Twitter at @YSSarahWomer.