CKOB puppet kids Stephen and Joanne featured in Personal Safety program
Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block will host its annual community event, Pinwheels for Prevention, recognizing National Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month in the community. The event is free of charge and will be held at the Creative Discovery Museum from 5:30-8 p.m. next Thursday.
CKOB will kick off the free community event at 4:30 p.m. by planting a blue Pinwheel Garden in front of the museum in efforts to raise awareness about child abuse prevention in the community. The Pinwheel Garden is to initiate and encourage every person who sees it to become actively engaged in protecting children from abuse and neglect.
Following the planting of the Pinwheel Garden, CKOB will host Pinwheels for Prevention during the museum’s free family night in April. CKOB will be handing out safety kits that include whistles, activity sheets, crayons, magnets and identification cards. Several local community resource agencies will participate with hands on activities for children and resource information for adults.
With the help of The Chattanooga Kappa Delta Alumnae Association children will have the opportunity to create and design greeting cards and donate them to children who have or are experiencing maltreatment and illness in the community. There will be two puppet performances by Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block which address child abuse prevention and safety.
Throughout the month of April, Chattanooga’s Kids on the Block will continue their partnership with Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee and the Children’s Advocacy Center of Hamilton County to help empower children in the community and share the responsibilities in the community to keep children safe and healthy.
The 9th Annual Pinwheels for Prevention is sponsored by: Tennessee Arts Commission, Arts Build, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, EPB Fiber Optics, Baylor School, FOP Rock City Lodge #22, Episode 49, Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, and Times Free Press.
Kids on the Block uses child-size puppets to communicate with children, giving them skills to stay safe and healthy. The personal safety program addresses child abuse through the eyes of an eleven and fourteen year old puppet kid. “We see children looking up to the puppet “kids” as though they are peers,” said Wendy Davis, CKOB puppeteer educator and statistician. “The children in our educational programs find it easier to open up and talk to the puppet kids due to the non-threatening environment we create. Many find it easier to share their secrets with puppet friends.”
From July 2015 through March, 2016, CKOB has performed over 75 Personal Safety programs serving over 7,000 children and adults in our 16 county service area. "It is difficult for children to understand and process many of the sensitive issues CKOB discusses, but through their age appropriate programs and the use of puppetry, children view the 'puppets' as trusted friends, making it easier for children to identify with them and begin communicating more effectively with parents or a trusted adult." officials said.
For more information, about CKOB, call their office at 423-757-5259.
