Capital City Preschool wears red for healthy hearts

Capital City Preschool wears red for healthy hearts

Ask the three and four year old children at Capital City Preschool what their hearts are for, and they can tell you.

“A heart is to listen.”
“It helps you to breathe.”
“When a heart cracks you die.”
“A heart is red.”
“Something that makes you live.”
“We look after our heart by eating healthy foods.”

The children know what their hearts are for because they’re already being taught about heart-health by their families and preschool.

Capital City Preschool has a healthy food policy, and participates in just about every major healthy-habit building event that happens in the capital.

Last Friday, 14 February, Capital City Preschool participated in ‘Wear Red for Healthy Hearts’, the Heart Foundation New Zealand’s annual competition for Early Childhood Education (ECE). The ECE competition feeds into the Heart Foundation’s annual appeal ‘Heart Week’.

As part of the competition, the Heart Foundation encourages ECEs to get creative and ‘run wild’ with the red theme.

The staff and families at Capital City Preschool passionately surpassed this challenge pouring their hearts into this competition. On the day’s activity list were red play dough, red water play, and red screen printing — all to get the kids’ hearts pumping.

Parents of children also brought in an array of blushing fruits, and generously donated to the appeal. Red berry muffins, fruit kebabs, a red fruit platter for morning tea, followed by a garden-themed lunch of coleslaw, zucchini loaf, and green salad, it’s no wonder the kids know what their hearts are for. They live by healthy habits.

“We’re getting in behind this important cause to help raise awareness and show our support for those in our community affected by cardiovascular disease,” says Lisa Marshall, Capital City Preschool Manager.

“Teaching our next generation how to live healthy is an important part of building healthy patterns for life.”

With New Zealand statistics as high as they are, it’s no wonder the Heart Foundation is targeting competitions at teaching children about heart health from a young age. Take a few statistics about cardiovascular disease from the Heart Foundation’s website:

• cardiovascular disease (heart, stroke and blood vessel disease) is still the leading cause of death in New Zealand, accounting for 30% of deaths annually
• every 90 minutes a New Zealander dies from coronary heart disease
• obesity is a risk factor for a number of diseases including coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis and some cancers.

Building healthy habits from a young age is easier than replacing bad habits with good ones. Visit the Heart Foundation New Zealand’s website for more information about what you can do to take part in these programmes and learn about heart-health, www.heartfoundation.org.nz.

Capital City Preschool is a non-profit preschool providing education and care to children between three and five years old, for over 19 years. Licensed for up to 30 children, Capital City Preschool retains a learning environment of approximately 28 children on a daily roll, and a ratio or one teacher to seven children. All teachers are full trained and registered.

ENDS

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