Playgroups come together to celebrate ‘Week of the Young Child’

Date: 4/20/2021

WESTERN MASS. – The Hampshire Regional District Coordinated Family & Community Engagement Grant (CFCE) spearheaded a group of events for elementary school playgroups in celebration of the “Week of the Young Child.”

According to Pat Miller, the CFCE coordinator at Hampshire Regional District, the “Week of the Young Child” is a national event, and Massachusetts is one of the states that emphasizes it.

“Each year, we try to do a few special events for ‘Week of the Young Child,’” said Miller.

For this year’s events, a planting and arts and crafts activities were held at the pavilion behind Edwards Public Library in Southampton on April 14. This kicked off a weekly series event, where each Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., parents and their children will gather to hear a story and participate in an educational activity. Story time will not occur during the week of April 20 due to school vacation.

An obstacle course at the James School in Williamsburg was supposed to occur as part of the special events on April 16, but the event was cancelled because of bad weather.

“We’re just starting our outdoor programs, so we’re never sure how many kids are going to show up,” said Miller.

As of press time, the CFCE is also organizing a storywalk in Westhampton that will go until April 24. This event is taking place at the Westhampton Public Library all day during regular library hours. The library is closed all day on Fridays.

According to Miller, for a storywalk, pages of a story are copied, placed on sticks and spread out across a large area for children to follow and read the story. The one in Westhampton involves following the pages of Eric Carle’s book “The Tiny Seed” through the library yard. Children are then participating in a Bingo scavenger hunt by the main entrance of the library following the storywalk.

Prior to these events, the CFCE was conducting its events virtually, whether it be field trips, online stories, and online activities.

“We’ve not been able to get kids together at all inside for over a year, which has impacted our programs a great deal” said Miller, who added that the organization will revamp their playgroup activities in Goshen and Westhampton starting in May.

“May will hopefully feel more typical,” said Miller. “But again, it’s going to take us awhile to build back up because families are still reluctant to go out.”

For more information on upcoming playgroup activities, visit the CFCE Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Hampshire-Regional-District-Coordinated-Family-Community-Engagement-Grant-330288580419440. There are resources and online activities for children to participate in during their spare time, as well.