TYLER — Some Tyler children may not have to travel far to get a summer camp experience during the next few months.
The Tyler Parks and Recreation Department will again host the Summer Playground Program at three parks across Tyler from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. weekdays June 5 through Aug. 3.
The park locations are P.T. Cole Park, 1001 S. Vine St.; Emmett Scott Park, 1710 N. Confederate St.; and Pollard Park, 810 S. Amherst Drive. Participants and their parents will be notified when activities take place at other locations throughout the program.
Along with meals, children at each location will receive an opportunity to play sports, do arts and crafts and participate in games and other special events.
“A lot of kids have outdoor deprivation,” said Ann Santana, Glass Recreation Center supervisor. “When you get kids outdoors they are a lot more creative and imaginative and they realize there is a lot more to life than looking at a screen.”
The program is free to children ages 6 to 12, an opportunity Santana said the department makes possible through collaboration and support from local businesses, nonprofits, the City Council and others. The East Texas Food Bank, through United States Department of Agriculture funding, provides breakfast and lunch. The Summer Playground Program has taken place since the '50s.
Throughout the summer, counselors, many who are teachers or work in education during the school year, guide the children through activities.
Each week follows a theme such as “artful antics,” which will focus on various arts and crafts, and “Going Green,” which will teach children about the environment and things they can do to be more environmentally friendly.
The first week will follow the theme “We are Family.”
“That is a nice ice breaker to create relationships between the counselors and the kids,” Santana said.
The program is ultimately capped with a picnic.
Santana said that through the years she has seen children who participate in the program improve their problem solving skills, learn to share more and form friendships with others. The city saw about 400 children participate in its summer programs last year, she said.
“We try to create well-rounded citizens of the world,” she said. “It’s like an extension of a family that allows these kids to feel like they belong and that they are accepted and that they are loved.”
