From The Past: June 17, 2005

Last month when I signed Ashley up for the summer reading program at the library, I also signed her up for the VERB program. This is a program for kids aged 9 – 13. The VERB program encourages children to get out and move every day instead of sitting, watching TV, or playing on the computer.

When I signed her up, they gave me a scorecard. This scorecard has 24 squares. Each time Ashley attends a VERB event or I see her doing an activity, she gets a square filled in. Children who are signed up with this program get to do things free that would normally cost money. For example, I took her to open gym tonight at the gymnastics center. Non-members pay $8 and members pay $5 for open gym. Since Ashley is in VERB, she shows her scorecard to the owner and she gets to go free.

Here are a few shots of the gym:

In the one above, Ashley was in the back on the trampoline.

This shows the other side of the gym. I know it’s hard to see, but I was taking these pictures from the second floor and really didn’t want to be seen!

At the end of the summer, she will get prizes for having her card filled up and she will enter a drawing for one of the grand prizes. She has enjoyed this program immensely and it has kept her busy. I wish more kids knew about VERB.