Catch-a-Fire Pizza is beyond excited to sponsor the StoryWalk® Trail in Blue Ash, Ohio, at the Nature Park near the Blue Ash Recreation Center, 4337 Cooper Road, Blue Ash, Ohio 45242. Are you looking for something to do that is free and entertaining now that school is out? Look no further! The Blue Ash StoryWalk® trail is for you and your family to enjoy. It is open to the community, free, and technology-free! Just fresh air, exercise and an interactive story. Come experience literacy in a different way.
If you check it out, let us know what you think. It's a great way to keep kids reading and moving! Share your photos and be sure to tag #StorywalkBlueAsh, #CatchaFirePizza, and #OnePercentforthePlanet.
4 Reasons to Walk the Blue Ash StoryWalk® Trail:
It's FREE! The Nature Park is one of the City of Blue Ash's hidden treasures with trails, playground equipment, and weekly summer music concerts in their outdoor amphitheater. It's open year round to the community, free, and... technology-free fun.
It promotes early literacy! There are new children's books every 2 months and is in partnership with the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library Blue Ash Branch
It promotes physical activity! Walk down the trail to the next page in the story and enjoy nature while getting your steps in. It's an easy stroll and fun too.
Time together with family! Whether you are walking with your children, your grandchildren, or friends, the Blue Ash StoryWalk Trail is an interactive experience and promotes good times with our loved ones.
"We pledged earlier this year to focus on the environment through our partnership with 1% for the Planet, and we invite you to immerse yourself in books and have fun outdoors. We hope this sponsorship can make an impact to keep our local Blue Ash Nature Park clean, as well as provide a fun experience for the whole family." - Jeff and Melissa Ledford, Owners.
The StoryWalk® Project was created to promote early literacy, physical activity, and family time together in nature, according to creator Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont. Ferguson developed the concept in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. StoryWalk® is a registered service mark owned by Ms. Ferguson.
StoryWalks® have been installed in 50 states and 13 countries including, Germany, Canada, England, Bermuda, Russia, Malaysia, Pakistan and South Korea.
History of The StoryWalk® Project by Ann Ferguson
When I created the StoryWalk® Project in 2007, I knew I had a great idea; I just didn’t anticipate how well it would be received across the country and beyond. The idea was quite simple actually. Take the pages from a children’s picture book, attach each one to a stake and line them up along a path for folks to read and enjoy.
One of my supervisors told me that the secret to promoting a health message was “partners, partners, partners,” as many and as varied as possible. I was working as a chronic disease prevention specialist at the time and knew that I wanted to create something different, fun, and interesting. I had tried some different approaches involving children but found that the parents stood around chatting while the children were physically active. I knew I wanted to create something where the parents had to be as active as the children. Active parents have active children and physical activity is a key component to chronic disease prevention.
In order to keep people of all ages moving along on a walk, I knew I needed books with minimal text that would appeal to all ages (especially children) and that could fit into families’ busy schedules. I wanted my project to be free so financial limits would not interfere with people enjoying it. I fleetingly thought about writing a children’s book myself but knew there were already marvelous, funny, beautiful, and moving stories available.
I wanted to use existing books but didn’t know about the legalities of doing that. I made some calls and found out that if the book is used without altering the text or the page in any way (shrinking, copying, or enlarging the pages), I could use it without needing to ask for permission.
I had no money and no staff for this idea so I knew it would have to be selfgenerated. I contacted the early literacy person at the Vermont Arts Council who immediately gave me $250 to start the project. My employer gave me one month to try it. I purchased David Ezra Stein’s book Leaves and started preparing it for posting. I selected the most popular path in our local park and put out a notebook for feedback.
The response was tremendous and positive. Unfortunately, my employer told me I couldn’t continue focusing on StoryWalk®. So I went ahead with it on my own time. I applied for and got a grant so I could purchase more books, lamination, and stakes.
I learned a lot about how to prepare the books for posting. I learned that I needed to number the pages on the back to ensure that they were posted in the correct order, I learned that it is best to use Velcro® on the stakes and the book pages, I learned that I could loan the StoryWalk® books out through my partner, the Kellogg Hubbard Library.
I learned that the partners in my community that were interested in this project included state and local parks, schools, nature centers, child care centers, farmers markets, walking path promoters, special event promotions, but most of all, libraries. Through the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in my hometown of Montpelier, VT, I have loaned out the StoryWalk® books at no charge to borrowers from all over the state of Vermont. I keep the books stored in a barn that is located between my house and the library. I am the scheduler for all the books.
All borrowers pick up and return the books to the library. All borrowers receive a contract that they need to sign saying that they will care for the book and pay for any damage to the book. Vandals are a recurring challenge. They seem to be threatened by a story about Gossie, a small duck who has misplaced his red rubber boots. A range of approaches has been used to address this issue, some with greater success than others. The Velcro® makes it easy to take down the pages before dark and post them again in the morning. Vandals prefer the cover of darkness.
My partnership with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library has been instrumental in spreading the word about the StoryWalk® Project. The library provides a link on their website to StoryWalk® where people can learn more about how to bring the project to their community and Vermonters can find out what books are offered and how to arrange to borrow them. StoryWalk® was never designed to be a money-making project. In fact, it is now supported solely by donations from the public. It has always been about promoting early literacy, physical activity, and family time together in nature. Its success is due to partners, partners, partners that understood from very early on how this idea could be used to bring a fun and educational family activity to their community. That is indeed the reason that in the 10 years since I created StoryWalk®, it has spread to (at the last count) all 50 states and 12 foreign countries. People everywhere are encouraged to bring it to their community. You can learn more by reading the FAQ about StoryWalk® which can be accessed through my greatest partner, the KelloggHubbard Library, at their website. Without the support of the library and in particular, Rachel Senechal, Program Director and Development Coordinator, this project would not be as well known and widespread as it is today. Anne Ferguson Founder StoryWalk® Project August, 2017.
For More Information:
https://www.kellogghubbard.org/storywalk
https://www.blueash.com/departments/parks_and_recreation/nature_park.php