Fun for all ages with Kids' Ag-tivities!

Hungry for family fun? Food and farm fans of all ages will find something to love at Yuma Lettuce Days, including a special Kids' Ag-tivities Arena sponsored by Dole Fresh Vegetables, along with its “toddler town” neighborhood for the little ones ages 2 to 4.

The Ag-tivities Arena will get a preview workout hosting field trips for hundreds of school kids Friday.

But everyone can join in the fun during regular festival hours Saturday and Sunday, with a special Dole vegetable display including its antique farm truck, fun shows by the Dole mascots, and Dole balloons, stickers and nutritional brochures.

The Dole booth will also have a special treat for every kid who visits Lettuce Days: a gift bag with a coloring book and crayons, a cookbook, a game brochure and a cuddly plush Dole character, along with a healthy snack of fruit cups and pineapple juice.

The new owners of Treehouse Kids Club will be organizing other hands-on creative and interactive activities with a farm-fresh theme, including making faces and scenes with fruits and veggies, kids' coloring pages, food-related arts and crafts and a straw bale maze to explore. New this year, kids will also have a chance to get down and dirty digging for worms in a their own pint-sized “soil bank.”

The Ag-tivities Arena will also have its own kid-sized grocery store stocked with fresh produce provided by Church Brothers. Young shoppers can use scaled-down grocery baskets to “pick” a special piece of produce to take home and make into a healthy treat.

Another Ag-tivities Arena booth will promote the POWer Fresh Kids program, which developed the colorful POWer PLAY'tes Yuma's elementary school cafeterias use to promote healthy food choices.

Also on site (extra cost) will be an inflatable jumper and giant slide.

Kids of all ages will want to search out special “Pump It Up” stations throughout the festival, where they can do a healthy activity and get their program punched by a Yuma Regional Medical Center Foundation volunteer. A fully-punched “Pump It Up” program earns a special prize at fest headquarters.

New this year, the littlest Lettuce Days visitors also will want to be on hand for the “Make Me Eat It” Cooking For Kids Challenge, set for noon on Saturday. Real live kids will judge this culinary competition where moms, dads or young cooks themselves can show off strategies for fueling families with healthy eats. And if your mom or dad has a recipe that rocks your world, sign ‘em up – maybe they'll share their winnings with their in-house taste testers!

Go green in '13 – make Yuma Lettuce Days the place you “veg out” with your family this year!