By Adam Donnelly

Kamloops families ‘Unplug and Play’ at Literacy Day

Jan 25, 2016 | 2:46 PM

KAMLOOPS — Since 1999, January 27th has been ABC Family Literacy Day in Canada. As an early celebration of the the occasion, Kamloops Early Language And Literacy Initiative held it’s 10th annual ‘Unplug And Play Family Literacy Week’ kick off event at the Henry Grube Centre. It’s an event designed to bring families together, by cutting down on recreational screen time for kids.

The RCMP were there. So were local politicians. There was even a local TV News Anchor, and they were all reading books for a good cause: ABC Family Literacy Day

This year marks the 10th anniversary for this event, so organizers wanted to make this year’s celebration the biggest and best they’ve hosted. There were performers, including Uncle Chris the Clown and Drummer Dave.  City Councillor Dieter Dudy was one of the honorary readers at the event. He was happily surprised by how much support ABC Family Literacy Day gets from the community. “It shows that people are engaged and wanting to take kids away from the entertainment they use today and [bring them back] into the traditional forms of entertainment,” Dudy said, “Be it listening to Chris the Clown, or Drummer Dave, or people reading stories.”

There was plenthy of activities to keep the kiddies occupied; there was face painting, displays from the RCMP and the Big Little Science Centre, as well as a Physical Literacy Room set up by River City Gymnastics. KELLI Co-ordinator Maureen Doll said it was all about getting families out of the house, to spend some quality time with each other. “Unplug for 15 minutes, and get your children to unplug for 15 minutes. Spend just 15 minutes a day playing, going for a walk together… just spending that time face to face, instead of face to screen,” said Doll.

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Interior Savings ‘Unplug and Play’ Week runs until January 30th. For a list of events, you can click here.