Give a voice to the voiceless.
Week of the Young Child®
April 1-7, 2023!
What is the Week of the Young Child®?
The Week of the Young Child® is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world’s largest early childhood education association, with nearly 60,000 members and a network of 51 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 and 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. The Week of the Young Child™ is a time to plan how we—as citizens of a community, of a state, and of a nation—will better meet the needs of all young children and their families.
Week of the Young Child® Planning Toolkit
Step-by-step ideas and fill-in-the-blank tools to make participation in WOYC simple!
Download the complete WOYC Planning Toolkit here.
Daily Activities
NAEYC has selected a theme for each day of Week of the Young Child and provided suggestions for a daily activity. If you participate, please share pictures on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #WOYC23
Music Monday: April 3, 2023
Sing, dance, celebrate, and learn
Through music, children develop math, language, and literacy skills all while having fun and being active!
Try this: Find the beat to connect music, movement, and math. Practice clapping, drumming, or stomping to the beat of the music while counting.
Tasty Tuesday: April 4, 2023
Healthy eating and fitness at home and school
Cooking together connects math with literacy skills, science, and more! With the rise in childhood obesity, you can encourage healthy nutrition at home and in the classroom by creating your own healthy tacos.
Try this: Measure your ingredient while making your tacos! Ask children if they would like the same or different amounts of each ingredient.
Work Together Wednesday: April 5, 2023
Work together, build together, learn together
When children build together they explore math and science concepts and develop their social and early literacy skills. Children can use any building material from forming a fort of branches outside to building a city out of blocks in the classroom.
Try this: Practice organizing blocks by size! Try building a block tower with large blocks on the bottom and little blocks on top.
Artsy Thursday: April 6, 2023
Think, problem solve, create
Children develop creativity, social skills, and fine motor skills with open-ended art projects where they can make choices, use their imaginations, and create with their hands. Use any material (crayons, paint, or clay) to celebrate the joy and learning children experience when engaged in creative art making.
Try this: Bring art outdoors! Offer dark and light paper, chalk and pastels, and suggest children create their own versions of the day and night sky.
Family Friday: April 7, 2023
Sharing family stories
Engaging and celebrating families is at the heart of supporting our youngest learners.
Try this: Invite parents for a Family Friendly breakfast, where children can prepare and share breakfast treats with their family.
For more information on Week of the Young Child, contact Lauren Till by email at [email protected] or by phone toll-free at 1-866-711-4025.
The Alabama School Readiness Alliance (ASRA) is a statewide, nonprofit coalition advocating for the expansion of high-quality, voluntary pre-k. ASRA was formed in 2006 as a joint campaign of A+ Education Partnership, Alabama Giving, Alabama Partnership for Children, and VOICES for Alabama’s Children. ASRA’s mission is to close student achievement gaps by ensuring that all children enter school ready to learn. We build support for pre-k expansion by:
- Collaborating with community and civic leaders
- Raising public awareness of the need for and effectiveness of Alabama’s high-quality, voluntary First Class Pre-K program
- Advocating for increased state, local and private investments in high-quality, voluntary pre-k.
For more information on ASRA, contact Allison Muhlendorf by email at [email protected], or visit its website at www.alabamaschoolreadiness.org.
