Week of the Young Child Celebrates Early Childhood Programs at USU Logan, Statewide

The Week of the Young Child, April 7-11, will be celebrated at USU with campus-wide and statewide activities for the young children it serves.

The Week of the Young Child has been celebrated since the early 1970s across the country in child care centers, preschools and other early childhood education facilities. It is a program of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which promotes high-quality early learning for children from birth through age 8.

Within the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, six early childhood programs reach children within the greater USU community. The programs are Sound Beginnings, the Dolores Dore Eccles Center for Early Care and Education, the Child Development Lab, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, ASSERT and Care about Childcare. USU Extension also administers Cloverbuds at four of the statewide campuses. All together, the programs serve nearly 10,000 young children every year.

For the week’s activities, children enrolled in Sound Beginnings, the Child Development Laboratory, ASSERT, the DDE, and Up to 3 will participate on the Logan campus. Statewide programs with participating children include Little Brigham Aggies, the Child Development Laboratories in Roosevelt and Brigham City, and Junior Aggies Academy in Blanding

“The Week of the Young Child is a great opportunity to remember how important early childhood education is,” said Lisa Boyce, executive director of the DDE and HDFS faculty member. “There’s so much we can do for children in their early years that will set them on a trajectory for success in their later academic pursuits and in their relationships with others. I’m excited about the programs at USU that serve young children. We provide important services for children who come to us from all backgrounds and with differing abilities and talents. Our children are our future, and this week is a great opportunity to recognize them.”

This years’ festivities include daily themed activities: Music Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Work Together Wednesday, Artsy Thursday and Family Friday.While each early childhood program will customize their activities to support the weeklong celebration, Artsy Thursday and Family Friday will be larger activities that include many of the early childhood programs sponsored by USU.

The activity for Artsy Thursday has been organized by the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, which distributed art kits to the participating child centers across the state. The kit includes a craft, a brief lesson plan, and the book “A Sense of Self and Home,” written by Shannon Erickson, NEHMA’s coordinator of learning and engagement. The art project complements the 11-mural exhibit, “Repainting the I,” currently on display at the museum.

The art activity is designed to help children consider what it would be like to step into the shoes of a child who attended Intermountain Intertribal Boarding School in Brigham City, a federally funded boarding school for Native American school children that operated from 1950 to 1984. The school housed thousands of children who represent more than 100 Native nations.

The illustrations in the book feature restored murals that were painted by the students over the years and displayed on the walls of the school. The book’s text features a poem that examines the different meanings of home.

During the Artsy Thursday activity, caregivers will be encouraged to read the book to the children and ask follow-up questions such as, “If you were away from home, what would you paint to remind you of home?”

The art kit consists of a mesh weaving circle and pipe cleaners so the children can weave symbols that represent home to them. Photos of the children participating in the statewide art activity will be posted online.

The weeklong celebration will culminate in a children’s parade on the Logan USU campus that is open to the children and families who are served by USU’s early childhood programs.

The children will follow a designated route around campus starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, April 11. Children who are enrolled in the Child Development Laboratory will line up in front of the Family Life Building on the south end of campus. All other children will begin the parade on the walkway between the HPER and EDUC buildings.

Participating children and their families are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes early. Parents/guardians may accompany their children throughout the parade. All young children, including babes in arms and in strollers, are invited to participate.

To get the best view of the parade, parade watchers should line up along the parade route starting at the University Inn south walkway. The parade will pass the TSC and ESLC and conclude at the Quad.

For more information about the week-long celebration and to view the parade route, visit theDDE website. For more information about the NEHMA art exhibit “Repainting the I,”visit its website here.