Puppet Show Teaches Kids about Air Quality
RALEIGH -- The Air Avenger will be saving the planet from the Ozone Monster at several Triangle bookstores this week in a puppet show that teaches young children about air pollution.
The N.C. Division of Air Quality will stage the puppet show at Barnes & Noble bookstores in Raleigh, Cary and Durham. Recently, the division held the show at elementary schools in Durham and Greensboro, where students laughed and giggled at the super-hero Air Avenger and Muppet-like characters such as Father Nature and the Ozone Monster.
"Kids love the Ozone Monster and the Air Avenger," says Lisa Grosshandler, an environmental specialist with the division. "One little boy wanted to take the Air Avenger home with him."
The Division of Air Quality developed the Air Adventures puppet show for children 3 to 9 years old. It teaches children about the causes and effects of ozone air pollution and things they can do to prevent it.
For example, the show teaches kids that fumes from cars, trucks and factories can cause ozone to form in the air on hot, sunny days. The students also learn that ground-level ozone can be unhealthy to breathe, particularly for children, the elderly and people with asthma and other breathing problems. But it can be beneficial in the upper atmosphere, where it shields the Earth from harmful solar rays.
"Here I come to save clean air," the caped Air Avenger says during the puppet show as he swoops in to carry the Ozone Monster to the upper atmosphere, where it can protect the Earth.
This week, the division plans to hold its puppet show at the following Triangle locations:
Wednesday, April 15, 10:00 a.m., at Cary Barnes & Noble, 760 SE Maynard Road, Cary;
Thursday, April 16, 10:30 a.m., at Crabtree Mall Barnes & Noble, 4325 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh;
Saturday, April 18, 11:00 a.m., Durham Barnes & Noble, 5400 New Hope Commons Dr., Durham.
The puppet show is one of several teaching tools and public awareness efforts developed by the division. Other educational efforts include: an Air Jeopardy game, patterned after the familiar TV show, which teaches middle-school students about air quality; an Ozone Zone video, which teaches middle and high-school students about the causes and effects of ozone; and an air-quality coloring book. The division also holds workshops for teachers based on curriculum guides and lesson plans developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Teachers and others who would like to schedule puppet shows or obtain educational materials about air pollution can do so by calling Lisa Grosshandler at (919) 715-3510 or Jill Vitas at (919) 715-8666, or writing to their attention at the Division of Air Quality, P.O. Box 29580, Raleigh, NC 27626-0580.
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Contact Person: Tom Mather (919) 715-7408.
Date Posted: April 14
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