BLOCKFest is a building extravaganza for parents and children 8 months to 8 years of age. Block play helps children develop early math, science and literacy skills while having lots of fun.
See BLOCKFest in action at a local event and learn more about how this traveling program, developed by Idaho Parents As Teachers and sponsored locally by Thurston Early Childhood Coalition, helps families give their children a good start with important skills.
03.24.10
Educare has grand opening in White Center this weekend: With its highly trained teachers, small class sizes and on-site family support services, Educare is one of the most respected models of early learning and care in the country.
On Saturday and with much celebration, the country's 10th Educare center will open in White Center, a community south of Seattle. The Educare Early Learning Center will serve 134 children from birth to age 5 from income eligible families and children with disabilities. It will also serve as the hub for the larger White Center Early Learning Initiative, which is one of two Thrive by Five Washington Demonstration Communities in the state, modeling strategies and approaches that can be replicated in other communities to improve early learning statewide.
This week on Learning for Life, reporter Cam Johnson tours the Educare Early Learning Center, learns about what makes the care so high quality and finds out how everyone in White Center - and potentially everyone in the state - stands to benefit from the work happening here to make sure all children get a great start in school and life.
03.17.10
Parent Ambassador Program giving parents a voice: They're not professional lobbyists. They're something equally - if not more - powerful: Parents with a passion for their kids ... and a newfound voice.
In its second year, the Parent Ambassador Program run by the Washington State Association of Head Start & Early Childhood Education Assistance Program (ECEAP) recently helped 19 moms and dads of young children from around the state - and from some of the state's poorest households - find their voice and begin using it to influence policy, program and funding decisions from Olympia to Washington, DC.
This week on Learning for Life, Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start & ECEAP, and Kylee Allen, a Parent Ambassador Coordinator from the Skagit/Islands Head Start, talked about the Parent Ambassador Program, how it's empowering parents to speak up on behalf of themselves and their kids and what they've been fighting for in Olympia and in Washington, DC. The Parent Ambassador Program is made possible through a grant from the Peppercorn Foundation.
That means for one in 26 kids, the wrong food (or, in some cases, contact with someone who handled the wrong food) could mean itchy hives, severe stomach pain, a frantic reach for an EpiPen or a trip to the hospital.
With childhood food allergies on the rise over the past decade, more parents are wondering how a childhood staple like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches suddenly became lethal and asking what they can do to minimize their child's chances of developing a food allergy.
In this Learning for Life segment, Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, pediatrician and author of Seattle Mama Doc blog,will talk about the increase in childhood food allergies and why, the foods most likely to trigger an allergic reaction, and what parents can do from the time their child is born that might make a difference.
That's where Child Life specialists come in. Child Life specialists help children and their families cope with the stress and anxiety of hospital experiences and procedures, such as surgery or chemotherapy. This help might include medical play, expressive opportunities, procedural support, family/child advocacy and developmentally appropriate distraction.
In this Learning for Life segment, meet Evi Feltus, Child Life specialist at Swedish Medical Center. She will talk about what Child Life specialists do and when they're likely to show up at a child's bedside, common hospital fears for children under 6, and things parents can do at home and in the hospital to help their child.
Most families will never need a Child Life specialist, but they're angels in scrubs for those that do.
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