I’ve been a mom in Raleigh for the last 4 years, but somehow I had never heard of the Poe Center for Health Education! I polled some mommy friends and they hadn’t either, although one had gone there herself for a middle school field trip!

So what is the Poe Center?

The Poe Center is a non-profit that is dedicated to positively impacting the lives of NC children and their families through health education. They help kids make smart choices by educating them on nutrition, dental health, general health, family life and drug prevention. I don’t know about you, but my toddlers definitely need some help with nutrition and dental health!

How can I visit the Poe Center?

For a flat fee, schools and other groups can schedule educational programs either at the center, or at your own facility for an additional fee. You can read more about our program experience below. I liked it so much I have submitted a request for my toddler playgroup to participate in the healthy foods class. It was easy to submit a request online, or you can give them a call if that’s more your speed.

What I loved about their scheduling is that you don’t have to give an exact number of people who will be attending. We all know that things come up at the last minute when kids are involved, so they don’t invoice you for the final total until AFTER the program. It will be easy to divide up the total cost between families that actually attend that day instead of worrying about last minute cancellations. I’m also excited I won’t have to dig out my wallet on program day while wrangling the kids – they will mail me an invoice later!

You can download the program guide listed out by age here. They have programs for preschool through adults! And even though I’m nowhere near it yet (thank goodness!!), there are even classes that deal with puberty and drug prevention. What a great way to approach some difficult subjects with middle and high schoolers!

Can I just visit without scheduling a health program?

If scheduling a program is just too much effort for your mommy brain right now, you can also visit the PlayWell park facility right outside of the center at anytime! It’s a health-themed playground complete with a healthy choices maze, sun glasses with nose slide, skeleton play structure with a model heart, and fun fitness activities to try out!

I especially love that the park is completely fenced in for safety and is mostly shaded, although one of the play structures was in the direct sun. There’s also a picnic shelter, so bring a lunch and stay a while! You can go inside the Center to use the restroom, but there may be scheduled programs happening so you’ll want to try to stay quiet (this was difficult for my kids because they just had to explore the giant head in the lobby)!

Honestly my only complaint is lack of parking. The parking lot is not very big, and there are businesses nearby who used all the street parking. If you are a big group coming in a school bus you won’t have any issues dropping the kids off, but if you are a group of moms meeting each other you might have trouble finding parking.

Our Healthy Teeth program experience

If you follow their Facebook page, the Center will sometimes schedule public programs that anyone can join. They recently posted about a free dental health program, so I of course had to go check it out!

After waiting in the lobby for a few minutes they led us into their Dental Health Ampitheater. Inside they had lots of education posters related to dental health, but what I especially loved was the animated, talking tooth called Sheriff Tuffy Tooth. When he spoke, all the kids listened! In fact, it was the only time my 18 month old sat still the whole time we were there!

We learned about the importance of brushing our teeth, which foods are yahoo! for our teeth versus those that are boo-hoo, and that we should go to the dentist twice a year. Afterwards, everyone got a chance to brush Mr. Big Mouth’s teeth and clean off the sugar slobs, which my kids LOVED! We also got a free toothbrush to take home!

If you’re looking for a great opportunity to include some health education into your day, I definitely recommend the Poe Center! They have their annual PoeFest coming up in October, so go ahead and add it to your calendar! We will be definitely be adding this location to our park map locator so more people know about it! Feel free to spread the word by sharing this post!