Week of the

Young Child

As Family Child Care Providers, we are constantly helping children learn through lessons and play.

Please join us in celebrating our children throughout this week!

Week of the Young Child Activities

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) annually celebrates children and learning through the Week of the Young Child. “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 and services that meet those needs.”

https://www.naeyc.org/events/woyc/overview

https://www.naeyc.org/events/woyc/plan-your-event

Music Monday: Dance Freeze

Play some music and dance away as much as you want, but when the music stops, you have to freeze! Pause the music however often you want, or just have fun listening to music and dancing! This activity is great for gross motor while working on listening and following instructions.

Tasty Tuesday: Salad Shake & Serve

Children will use their imagination to create, toss and serve their own healthy salad creations. Each child will draw, color, and cut out all the parts of the salad that they can dream up. Don’t forget the salad toppers like vegetables, cheese, nuts or even fruits! This presents a great opportunity to discuss all the health benefits of the topping they choose. Once they’re done drawing their salad items and have cut each piece out, add the ingredients to a tupperware container and secure with a lid. Have the child shake up the salad to their liking. Provide the child with tongs so they can serve their salad in a bowl! Follow up this activity by serving a salad and allowing children to choose their own healthy salad toppings.

Work Together Wednesday: Parachute Popcorn Game

Parachute play is all about teamwork!

Lifting the parachute up and down all together so that we can make the balls fly high off the chute like popcorn requires us to count together, lift together, and not let go of our part of the parachute.

The children are practicing teamwork and cooperation to achieve the goal of popping the balls off of the parachute, while also engaging in a gross motor activity.

Artsy Thursday: Tree Bark Prints

Take some paper and crayons with you the next time you go outside!

Find a tree, some sticks, or some leaves and place the paper overtop.

Color over the item and see the secret image that pops out! This helps the children learn about nature through art and really helps build those fine motor skills.

Family Friday

As a Family Child Care Program, it is very important to involve the families as much as we can! It can be hard on children to go all day without seeing their family, so we can create a Family Book to help them see them throughout the day! All you need is a binder, construction paper, and some pictures from the families. Let each family make their own Family Page for their child and enter the page into the Family Book. You can share the book with all the children and can point out some fun things that each family included.

Child Abuse Prevention Month

In Kentucky and across the nation, April is proclaimed Child Abuse Prevention Month. Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky’s mission is to prevent the abuse and neglect of Kentucky’s children through advocacy, awareness, education, and training.

We believe child abuse can be prevented when EVERYONE gets involved! Throughout the month, Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky will raise awareness, increase communities’ capacity to strengthen families, educate children on their right to be safe, and expand policy makers’ understanding of child abuse prevention. How will you commit to prevent child abuse and neglect? Follow the link below to the Prevent Child Abuse KY website for more information and resources on Child Abuse Prevention Month.

https://pcaky.org/

https://pcaky.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/pcaky-3.pdf

Provider Of The Year

Congratulations to the Provider of the Year, Sherri Sohm of Bullitt County, KY!

She was awarded this title at our Family Child Care Conference in Lexington this past March.

Professional Development Training

View the WKU FCCN Training Calendar for more information and to register.

FREE TRAINING

The Family Child Care Network will be offering a 4-part training series focusing on strengthening business practices. The purpose of this training is to strengthen childcare providers’ foundational knowledge of fiscal terms, concepts, and practices. It encourages providers to realize the importance of financial planning to the sustainability of their business. It provides tips and best practices to help break down fiscal processes into manageable steps.

This training is intended to be one part of the learning process to build providers’ understanding of good business practices.

Whenever possible, it is recommended that this training be supplemented with technical assistance and ongoing peer-to-peer sharing opportunities such as communities of practice. During this training, you will be introduced to financial reports that can help you better manage your center’s finances. We will also be helping you understand the concept of internal controls and how they can strengthen your program's fiscal health. Sign up now for the next series that begins in June!

Each month the WKU FCCN provides independent studies. Independent studies are online and work at your own pace. They are available for registration until the 15th of each month. Independent studies must be completed within two weeks.

Topics include:

Being Prepared for Emergencies
Curriculum-based Assessment
Developmental Screening
Evaluating Your Services
Family Engagement
Family Engagement: Literacy Bags
Health, Safety, and Nutrition
Infant and Toddler Development
Early Childhood Environments: Learning through Routines and Rituals
Let’s Get Appy
Preventing Burnout
Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse Neglect and Safe Sleep
Science in an Early Learning Classroom
Social Studies in an Early Learning Classroom
The Stressed Child
The Value of Play

Join us for live training from the comfort of your home!

We strive to provide personal, live sessions that are welcoming to all that allow for networking no matter where in Kentucky you live.

You do not need any special skills to attend, however you do need access to the internet and a free Zoom account.

Although there are no sessions available in April, future sessions will be added soon.

Do you need CPR and First Aid?

FOR A LIMITED TIME GET IT FREE!

The WKU CCR&R offers both hybrid and face-to-face sessions. During hybrid sessions, the session content is online and the skills check is in person. Please make sure you are registering for the session that best meets your needs.

In-Person Classed: April 15th and June 17th

Hybrid Class: April 15th, May 13th, June 17th

Training Calendar

A publication of the WKU Family Child Care Network

Funded through Family Childcare Support Award SC 7362100001482

www.wku.edu/fccn