Summer activities sign-ups to be held Saturday at Osage Centre

It's kind of like a shopping mall for summer fun in Cape Girardeau.

Sign Up Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Osage Centre, will provide parents and young people the opportunity to learn about the lineup of summer leagues, classes and special events, and the forms to fill out to sign up.

"Sign Up Saturday is one-stop-shopping for parents to sign their kids up for Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department summer leagues and other leagues, camp, classes, those type of things," said Kristen Daniel, program manager at Southeast SportsCare, which is presenting the event.

Organizers expect to see about 1,500 area children, at least that's the attendance goal for the inaugural Sign Up Saturday.

There will be raffles, games and activities, including a bounce house, face painting, a magician, balloon animals, basketball and putt-putt golf. Various area clubs will present demonstrations, and a registered dietitian will offer tips on healthy eating for summer vacation, when nutritious eating is more likely to slide.

Daniel said the event is designed in part as an assault on the nation's childhood obesity epidemic.

"It's about getting kids active and making nutritious choices, the importance of drinking water, staying away from soda," she said. "It's educational and fun, but it's about getting kids active."

The 2009 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows 12 percent of U.S. high school students are obese, 14 percent in Missouri. The survey found 32 percent of respondents drank a can, bottle or glass of soda at least one time per day during the seven days before the survey, and 15 percent participated in little or no physical activity.

Sign Up Saturday will offer health screenings and fitness assessments, tracking fitness strengths and weaknesses. Safe Assure child IDs will be available on a limited basis.

And there's free stuff, like T-shirts to the first 200 children in attendance. Those signing up will be entered for free registration in Cape Parks and Recreation leagues.

"This is our first event in Cape Girardeau, but SportsCare USA does these throughout America," Daniel said. "Ours is hitting in early spring, so kids will be able to sign up for summer sports."

For more information, call Daniel at 986-4406, or e-mail at cape@signupsaturday.com.

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

1625 North Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.