Dear Angie,

NAEYC WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD 2024: a fun-filled week celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers, families, and communities.

April 6-12 is Week of the Young Child. This is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the nation’s largest organization of early childhood professionals with more than 80,000 members and a network of 300 local, state, and regional affiliates.

The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs/services that meet those needs.

NAEYC first established the Week of the Young Child in 1971, recognizing that the early childhood years (birth through age 8) lay the foundation for children’s success in school and later life.

CENTER HAPPENINGS

FUN DAYS IN APRIL

Because April is such a great month to celebrate children and early childhood professionals, we thought it would be fun to have some special dress up days to start the month. Here they are…

Monday, April 8 – Fun Sock Day

Tuesday, April 9 – Favorite Color Day

Wednesday, April 10 – Pajama Day

Thursday, April 11 – Sports Attire Day

Friday, April 12 – Hat Day

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

EFC MAIL IS COMING BACK…

During the week of April 22-26, we will have EFC mail once again. This has been so enjoyable in past years & the children were very excited when they received their own mail! Cards will be available at the parent reception (outside the office) where you can write your child and your child’s teaching staff a special note. Place your cards in the green mailbox or email us a note instead if that is easier! Michelle and Susan will deliver new mail each day to the children and teaching staff.

FAMILY RESOURCES

Earth Day is Monday, April 22nd!

Whether you’re planning to participate in a group clean-up or something smaller with just your family, every effort helps care for our Earth. We look forward to planning some fun Earth Day activities and hope you find something exciting to do this Earth Day with your child(ren) as well!

Speaking of helping our Earth – here are some opportunities to reuse and plant new trees:

-Edina Puzzle Exchange at the library 5280 Grandview Square Edina, MN 55436 Saturday, April 13 from 2:30pm-3:30pm

This is a drop-in event to stock up on jigsaw puzzles. If you bring puzzles to give away, please bring ones with 250 pieces or more. Bringing puzzles is not required to take puzzles. Look for us in the conference room!

-Arbor Day Tree-Planting Celebration Friday, April 26 from 12-4pm

Celebrate Arbor Day by learning how to plant a tree and then helping plant them at Centennial Lakes Park and the Edina Promenade.

The event begins with a tree-planting demonstration. Then people will be sent off in groups to plant trees. Park Maintenance will have loosened the dirt in the planting spots to make planting easier.

This is a family event, so bring the kids. Bring gloves and wear closed-toed shoes and clothes you don't mind getting a bit dirty.

The Arbor Day Celebration kicks off the effort to plant about 500 trees on public property across Edina in 2024

FAMILY RESOURCES

UPCOMING EFC CLOSURES EFC will be closed on Friday, May 24, for our Spring Teaching Staff Professional Development Day, as well as Monday, May 27, for Memorial Day.

SUMMER SCHEDULES

With summer right around the corner, please take a moment to update this form if your child’s schedule will be changing over the summer, or if you know of any vacations you have planned. Thank you!

KID DANCE RECITAL

For those of you who have children in our Kid Dance classes, our annual spring recital will be held on Wednesday, May 22 at the Edinborough Park Amphitheater beginning at 6:30pm.

STAR WELLNESS

Here’s a fun activity – younger children can walk along the line pattern to follow the painter’s tape path and older children can move a ball along the path for an added challenge!

ESPECIALLY FOR PARENTS

I have a confession to make…I don’t always enjoy playing with my kids. I know that makes me sound like a terrible parent, so let me explain (and try to defend myself a little!). Play is important for kids – more than important, play is essential. Knowing that, I seek out as many opportunities as possible for my kids to play. But when they ask me to play with them, I sometimes bristle. Imaginative play, such as playing make believe, just doesn’t do it for me. I struggle getting into “character” and if I am honest, I find the whole thing just a little dull. Phew, it feels good to confess!

But just because I don’t like a certain type of play doesn’t mean that I write off the importance of play altogether. As much as we have all read the research on the important role play has in early childhood development, we may not be as aware of the fact that play is critical for us as adults too. Even for adults, play has some serious benefits: it encourages creativity, releases endorphins, and improves brain function. Play reduces stress and promotes joy. And we could all use a little less stress and a little more joy.

The good news (for me and hopefully for you) is that there are many different ways to play. So if you, like me, don’t exactly love sitting down to a tea party, rest assured that there are many ways to engage in play with your children that are fun for you and for them. Brené Brown, professor and nationally recognized author, writes that play has three key elements:

It’s time spent without purpose
It’s something you don’t want to end
It leads to a loss of self-consciousness.[1]

By those metrics, there are a myriad of ways that we as adults can embrace play in our lives. Make believe is only one type of play, but (thankfully) there is the rough-and-tumble play of sports, the ritual play of games like chess, the body play of hiking or yoga, and the object play of building legos or making a fort.[2] In all of these types of play we can get lost in the moment with our children and embrace the joy of play as simply that – something done joyfully and without and end in mind. So get out there and find your favorite way to play.

[1] https://www.shortform.com/blog/brene-brown-creativity/

[2] https://wanderlust.com/journal/the-importance-of-play-in-adulthood/