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Trail designed to help prepare children for kindergarten

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By Denise Wilson, Staff Writer 4:24 PM Friday, June 19, 2009

A “Born Learning Trail” will soon help Monroe youngsters prepare for kindergarten, city officials said.

Located in Monroe Crossings Park off Ohio 63, the trail is an initiative of the United Way and will consist of stations to keep children physically active, said Mike Sanders, director of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati in the Middletown area.

No date has been determined as to when the train will be installed.

“One of the things we need to do is work out the details as far in the park where exactly the trail is going to be. So that detail hasn’t worked out,” he said.

“I can’t really give you a specific date as far as when we’re going to be actually installing it or unveiling it because there’s still a lot more details to work out. I’m hoping to have it installed sometime this summer or at the latest early September.”

The trail will be like one built in Middletown’s Smith Park last year. Another is being planned for Trenton’s Community Park, Sanders said.

Ten different station stops will be included along the trail.

“The parent or caregiver along with a toddler would stop at each one of the signs and the sign would instruct them to do something with the parent or caregiver, which would be a learning type of an experience,” he said.

For example, he said one stop includes hop scotch with numbers running from one to 10.

“They would learn their numbers. That’s to stimulate learning or give the parent an opportunity to do something from a learning experience with their child,” Sanders said.

Duke Energy has committed to assisting with the installation of the trail, city officials said.

The Middletown Rotary Club and Duke Energy are paying for the trail materials in Monroe and Trenton, he said.

Sanders said the Butler County United Way also is planning to build a Born Learning Trail in Ross Twp., which would bring the agency’s total trails in the county to four.

Contact this reporter at (513) 483-5219 or dewilson@coxohio.com.

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