FORT McPHERSON, Ga. - The imaginations of Fort McPherson's youth soared Monday when 36 children from the Child Youth and Schools Services preschool and pre-kindergarten classes took to Hedekin Field on Fort McPherson to play with parachutes, bubble wands and inflatable beach balls.
Jocelyn Coleman, U.S. Army Garrison Army Community Service chief, said the event was brainstormed by members of ACS's Family Advocacy Program.
"We wanted something creative and fun for the kids," Coleman said, adding the event was the final ACS sponsored event in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention month.
Creativity was in abundance by the children as bubbles became "enemies" to pop, or in the case of children twirling in circles, magical barriers.
Competitive natures came into play, as children competed to see who could blow the most bubbles with their bubble wands.
The children also took turns bouncing beach balls on a parachute to see how long they could keep the bouncing ball on the canvas.
Even when the ball fell off, the fun would continue, with a new group of children chasing down the ball as it rolled around the field. Landon Trevillian, 3, said playing with the ball was his favorite part of the event.
Landon is the son of Allie and Spc. James Trevillian, an information systems specialist with the Third Army/U.S. Army Central G-6 office. Allie, who accompanied Landon to the event, said it was another good example of a number of programs ACS puts on for children and Family members on post. Allie and Landon also attended the Character County puppet show April 12 at the Fort McPherson Theater and are members of an ACS sponsored play group.
"There are not a lot of kid friendly events off post and ACS does a real good job of giving good options on post," Allie said.
Allie's neighbor, Janetta Brown, agreed.
Janetta, wife of Staff Sgt. Thomas Brown, operations NCO with the Third Army S-3 office, brought their daughter Chloe, 3, to the field and confessed that she had an ulterior motive for attending.
"I want to wear her (Chloe) out before lunch so she'll have a good nap," Janetta said. While the event did burn off energy, the children were given snacks of cookies and juice to help recoup their strength.
The kids also got to take some of the bubble wands back to their school for future fun.
"We want the kids to have fun, laughter and a release," Coleman said. "They're special and we want to give them something special to do."
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