Play and Learn Group Helps Children and Families Learn While Playing

Several Cedar Rapids RoughRiders hockey players interacted with children at United Way’s Play and Learn program at the Cedar Rapids Public Library branch at Westdale Mall on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012.

“The team takes education of our community’s youth serious,” RoughRiders Coach Mark Carlson said. “One way we can be involved is spending a morning with United Way’s Play and Learn program. We are glad to be part of this caring community.”

Watch the video for more on the program.

What is Play and Learn of
East Central Iowa?

Play and Learn of East Central Iowa is an organized play group for young children and the people who take care of them – their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, other family members and family friends.

Each group has a facilitator that plans and sets up activities for the children and their caregivers to play together. Facilitators help caregivers learn more about child development, how children learn through play and what caregivers can do at home to help the children in their care grow and learn.

Play groups are free to attend and pre-registration is not required! Just show up for the leaning and fun!

 

For more on Play and Learn please go here.

Here’s a transcript of the video:

Leslie Wright, United Way of East Central Iowa:
“Play and Learn is a program that supports parents and other caregivers in helping their children develop and get ready to succeed in school.  It was developed in 2010 and is supported by United Way’s Young Leaders Society and it helps us achieve our goal of more children ready for kindergarten.”

Blake Butzow, Cedar Rapids RoughRider:
“We’re here with the Play and Learn Group today.  We’ve got me and three other RoughRiders here today.  We’re just here to help out around the community.  We think it is important.   They support us at our games so we are here to support them and have a little fun with them today.  We are just really excited to, hopefully, make their day.  Hopefully, have a good time with the kids.”

Lisa Person:
“At Play and Learn, we get the opportunity to help educate parents and children about what’s important for brain development and body development and just being a healthy child.  A lot of the little areas that we have set up, they help the children to understand why it’s important to have their finger development with small muscles, large body development skills as well as just creativity skills and talking skills.

Each week we try to explain to the parents and to the caregivers how they can help their children excel at learning and growing and becoming a healthy child.  We also around the room have a lot of little posters set up that help to explain some of the skills that the children might be working on for that week.  For instance, here we have puzzles and it explains to them why we have puzzles and why puzzles are important.  It’ not just a way to pass time but it actually teaches them something.  And all the caregivers and parents that we have come every week, they just absolutely love the interaction that the children get to have with one another and the lessons that we have during our circle time.

We really appreciate every thing that United Way has done to help us to maintain this program and hopefully keep it going strong for a long time.  All the parents have been very excited about the support of United Way and helping Play and Learn grow.”

Rachel Young, mom:
“We come every Tuesday as long as the weather is good.  It’s a great place to come that is indoors and the kids can play and get to play with other kids.  I recently decided to stay home after working for 17 years so I was looking for a place that you could do some things with the kids.  It is really fun.  They get to sing and do circle time and play.”

Category: Education, News, United Way of East Central Iowa, Video