Summer will be here soon enough – and with it, plenty of playtime for kids once the school year comes to an end.

But before that last bell rings, the Greater Providence YMCA aims to get children and their families thinking about their health-friendly options for summer fun this year.

This Saturday, the YMCA will host “Healthy Kids Day,” an annual event showcasing good habits for youngsters, from play and exercise to education and nutrition.

Families can attend the festivities for free at several of the GPYMCA’s branches, including in Cranston and the Kent County YMCA in Warwick, beginning at 10 a.m.

Through 2 p.m. in Cranston, attendees will find a bounce house, basketball and soccer demonstrations, and fitness and water safety instructions, along with arts and crafts, face painting, and “special guest appearances,” according to the Y.

And at the Kent County location, there will be opportunities for rock climbing, water safety and cooking demonstrations, reading, and other fun until 1 p.m., YMCA officials said.

Shaking off effects of pandemic

While the YMCA has hosted “Healthy Kids Day” for more than three decades at locations around the country, this year’s activities arrive as children and teens are still feeling the social and emotional health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.

As classrooms moved online to safeguard public health during the worst of the health crisis, social interactions among kids also diminished. These face-to-face dealings with peers are crucial for children’s full development, growth, and mental health, especially at early ages, and the blow dealt with the shift in routines back in 2020 is still rippling, experts have said.

Meeting those needs is incredibly important, said Karen Santilli, CEO of the GPYMCA.

“It’s lean time versus screen time,” Santilli said, adopting a phrase she recently learned.

“If we can get kids to experience some of these other things, whether it’s interacting with other kids and just being outside and in nature, just doing fun things without having their screen in their hand – I mean, kids are never going to lose their love of playing outside and doing that, and if they can get a sense of that, I think that’s an awesome thing.”

Santilli recalled how just last summer, 75 kids from a Providence charter school attended the YMCA’s Camp Fuller in Wakefield for a day.

“Some of them had never put their feet in the mud in the forest,” she said. “And now this year, they’re bringing 150 kids back. So that tells you something, you know?

“And those are kids that maybe they’re going home to an empty house at the end of the school day, maybe they’re spending a lot of time on their [screens]. But there was such a positive response to them spending a day at camp that now they’re sending twice as many kids.”

Indeed, “Healthy Kids Day” also presents an opportunity to remind Rhode Islanders about the extensive offerings at their local YMCA branches, according to Santilli and Steven Della Posta, chair of the GPYMCA’s Board of Directors.

Santilli remarked how many may not be aware of the two ponds on the Kent County YMCA’s extensive wooded property that are used during the summer camp program.

The Y also offers numerous activities for adults as well, she said.

“We have these [functional electrical stimulation] bikes … in Seekonk and Cranston for people with disabilities to be able to work out with a trainer,” Santilli said. “I don’t think a lot of people know those things are part of the Y’s offerings.”

During the pandemic, membership declined and while there has been some rebound, the number of people who belong to the Y is still not quite where it once was a couple of years ago, officials said. The YMCA is working to change that.

“We want to … let people see that we’re a viable part of the communities and we help so many different areas and different age groups,” Della Posta said. “This is just one example.”