By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU, Maine — Two hundred kids at both Hilltop and Teague Park elementary schools had a fun day filled with slipping, sliding, and fresh wintry air — a combination that meant most students were having too much fun to realize they were getting some great exercise. The annual Winter Fun Days are co-coordinated between the respective schools and the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department; Hilltop’s Fun Day was held on March 7, with Teague Park holding the outdoor extravaganza the following day.
“[Fun Day] is really kind of a wrap up for winter,” explained Superintendent of the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department Kathy Mazzuchelli. “We’re near the end of winter, we love to be outdoors and we want the kids to be outdoors and moving.”
Aside from traditional sledding and sliding, there were snowmobile rides, BMX bikes fitted with skis, makeshift volleyball courts, designated snowman-making zones — even obstacle courses to get the kids zipping around on the snow.
Mazzuchelli explained the diverse activities lent themselves to self-guided free play for the students.
“It’s giving them the opportunity to try a whole bunch of different things and be outside and get a lot of exercise,” she said, emphasizing that running around in soft snow equates to a pretty good workout.
Fifth-grader Logan Greene, for instance, said that his favorite activity of the day was the special BMX bikes with the skis on them instead of wheels, but the activity that he was best at was volleyball in the snow.
A lot of the activities held during the Fun Days can be replicated in students’ own backyards, like four square and snowman making.
Greene only had one word to describe the Fun Day at Teague Park: “Fun.”
The schools and the rec partnering to put on a winter activity for the students is a concept they’ve been perfecting for a decade, as they’ve been co-teaching cross country skiing for about 10 years now.
“All winter long we team-teach physical education in grades 3-6 and we put over 500 kids on cross-country skis — kids that would never have the opportunity otherwise — and teach them how,” Mazzuchelli explained.
The ski program was made possible through an equipment donation in memory of the late Helen Collins, who was an avid skier.
