News and Events

We invite our community to join The Family Place in a virtual celebration of the 2021 Week of the Young Child (WOYC), April 10-16!

An annual celebration by The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the week highlights the needs of young children and recognizes the early care providers and caregivers who meet those needs.

Did you know that a child’s brain grows more between the ages of birth and 3 years old than it does across their entire lifespan? 80% of brain growth and development happens in those years!

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to support our community with vital programs for children and their families. We’re all working together to encourage the future successes of our young children.

We will celebrate early learning all week by sharing virtual family activities here on our website and @FamilyPlaceVT on our Facebook Page.

Daily Themes

Saturday Kick-off, April 10
For Kick-Off Saturday, we encourage you to post a video, blog or photo (or make a comment) on our Facebook Page to share how you will join our Virtual Celebration of the 2021 Week of the Young Child!

To kick off the Week of the Young Child, we want to highlight a very important group of people: early childhood care and educators! If 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it would be how very important childcare and early educators are. We thank these special teachers for all they do! The Early Care and Education Program at The Family Place has been busy lately with lots of outside time, art activities and fun themes each month for the children in their care. Hats off to these wonderful teachers!

Music Monday, April 12
Celebrate Music Monday and sing along with Erin! Erin Jenkins Smith, from the Upper Valley Music Center, teaches the Music Together program at The Family Place. Erin and her son, Andy, put together a fun video for the song, “Train is A-Comin.” Get out your trains and trucks and sing along! Watch the video on YouTube.

Tasty Tuesday, April 13
Celebrate Tasty Tuesday and make flourless pumpkin blender muffins with Anya and her family! Watch the video and learn how to make these healthy muffins with your children! Anya, CIS Family Support Home Visitor, shares tips on how to cook with your kids and how it benefits their growth and development and promotes healthy attachment between children and their parents. Recipe ingredients include pumpkin puree, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla, peanut butter, milk (dairy or dairy-free), oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and dark chocolate chips. Visit Making Thyme for Health’s website for recipe!

Work Together Wednesday, April 14
Did you know that gardening is a fun and multisensory activity that gets kids’ brains working? It is a wonderful way to work together on something that benefits the whole family! Gardening supports math and science skills and allows children to learn about their world by observing, exploring and interacting in nature. Rebecca Braun, Administrative Assistant & Receptionist at The Family Place, shared with us a great website with tips for gardening with children! Visit Eartheasy’s website to find resources for young gardeners and read about the “Top 10” crops for children that are easy to grow, have short growing seasons and fun to harvest!

Artsy Thursday, April 15
Let’s get creative for Artsy Thursday! Take out your art supplies and craft a colorful butterfly with us today! Lauren Heidelmeier, CIS Early Intervention Service Coordinator and Family Support Home Visitor at The Family Place, shares a fun and easy family art activity. With a few basic craft and household supplies, you can tie-dye coffee filters with washable markers and create dozens of gorgeous butterflies – a perfect art activity for spring! Visit Life with Darcy and Brian’s website for the instructions.

Family Friday, April 16
Our virtual celebration of the 2021 Week of the Young Child wraps up today with Family Friday! Today is a day to celebrate families and honor caregivers, who are the first and most important teachers of children! Share your dedications and celebrations on social media today using #woyc21! All week we have shared family activities on our website and social media accounts (@familyplacevt).

For Family Friday, celebrate with us and make a family photo book!

Celebrate Family Friday with us and make a family photo book! Kim, a participant in the Families Learning Together program at The Family Place, shared with us an activity idea from her child’s preschool: her daughter made a photo book with all “her people” in it to look through and identify names and faces. Children love to see familiar faces when away from home, so create your own fun photo book for them to take with them! Creating a book for young children to identify their familiar people helps to promote language development, object identification, and early literacy skills. It also supports social-emotional development by keeping bonded caregivers close even when they may be far away.

On another daily theme, we want to celebrate Feelings Friday! Social and emotional development is an ongoing and important focus through early childhood. We have some fun activities and tips for parents to help children with emotional health, identifying and processing feelings.

Jamie Smith, Child and Family Therapist at The Family Place, suggests the following when helping children learn coping skills with emotions: “I am a big fan of emotion charts – this can be a chart that is hung up on the fridge or it can be in book form. This can lead to fun games like charades, Pictionary and quiz games where children can start learning their emotional vocabulary. I like to teach children coping skills when learning about emotions. Finding ways that they can calm their bodies down that work for them (deep breathing, dancing/ some form of movement, talking to a safe person, etc.) is really helpful, especially if practiced when they are feeling good. You might recognize this classic version of the emotions vocabulary chart, as this poster of cartoon faces hangs on the wall at The Family Place:

Are you looking for a family movie to watch and cuddle up with the kids tonight? Watch the Disney-Pixar movie, Inside Out, for Feelings Friday! This fun movie explores emotions in a fun and educational way for kids. “One of the things that I like best about that movie is that it can help parents bring up the topic of being able to feel different emotions all at the same time. For young children especially this is an important thing to learn,” shared Jamie Smith, a Child and Family Therapist at The Family Place.

As our celebration of the 2021 Week of the Young Child comes to an end today, we want to thank everyone for your participation! We were so pleased by the fun and engaging activity ideas from staff and program participants at The Family Place, and also for the wonderful story readings from our dedicated staff and board members! We are also grateful to The Aloha Foundation and Ledyard National Bank for sponsoring our Week of the Young Child activities and also our virtual Force for the Future Luncheon! Thank you both for your continued support!

Children’s Storytimes
Join us every weekday during the 2021 Week of the Young Child for a readings of our favorite children’s books! All story readings are posted to a video playlist on our Facebook Page!

The children’s storytimes were made possible with generous support from Ledyard National Bank.

Rowan Dumont, daughter of one of The Family Place’s dedicated board members, Jeffrey Dumont, reads “Dr. Seuss’s ABC” by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel). This book introduces basic alphabet concepts to young children in an entertaining way with fun characters like Aunt Annie’s Alligator and the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz! Watch the video on our Facebook Page!

Maggie Dumont, daughter of one of The Family Place’s dedicated board members, Jeffrey Dumont, reads “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything” by Linda D. Williams (author) and Megan Lloyd (illustrator). A classic and fun read-aloud story about Halloween! “Once upon a time, there was a little old lady who was not afraid of anything! But one autumn night, while walking in the woods, the little old lady heard… clomp, clomp, shake, shake, clap, clap.” Watch the video on our Facebook Page!

Cathee Daum Clement, one of The Family Place’s dedicated board members, reads “Marianna May and Nursey” by beloved children’s book author and illustrator Tomie DePaola. Watch the video on our Facebook Page!

The Family Place’s dedicated Chair of our Board of Directors, Robin Rice-Voigt, reads “Hedgie’s Surprise” written and illustrated by Jan Brett. A perfect choice for Artsy Thursday, Jan Brett’s detailed watercolor-and-gouache illustrations are colorful and beautiful with intricately patterned needlepoint borders. Watch the video on our Facebook Page! Robin would like you to meet her chickens: Hannah, Henrietta, Annabelle, and Poptart! See her chickens on our Facebook Page.

Tia Howard, Families Learning Together Program and Parent Education Coordinator at The Family Place, reads “Pete the Cat: Pete’s Big Lunch” written and illustrated by James Dean. In this perfect choice for a lunchtime reading, Pete the Cat makes one giant, tasty sandwich for lunch. But what’s the fun in eating lunch without your friends? Pete the Cat fans will enjoy Pete’s funny food creativity and Pete’s joy in sharing with friends. Watch the video on our Facebook Page!

We are very grateful for our generous activity sponsors!

The 2021 Week of the Young Child (WOYC)
is sponsored by:

Children’s Storytimes are sponsored by: