About 650 Los Angeles-area schoolchildren played their way through a circuit of interactive activities — and got a healthy dose of exercise in the process — at the "Cardio Carnival" organized by Providence Health & Services of Southern California.
The carnival for children in kindergarten through fifth grade took place in mid-September at South Los Angeles' 15th Street Elementary School and included activities that got the kids running, dancing and jumping. Two volunteers from Providence and 15 from the Ford Motor Co. led the activities.
The event is part of a larger Providence community benefit program called Creating Opportunities for Physical Activity, for children in lower-income communities who have limited access to community sports and fitness programs, and few parks in which to play. A Ford donation is funding carnivals, as well as after-school obesity-prevention programs and a physical education specialist at 15th Street school and four additional schools in Los Angeles' South Bay.