Week of the Young Child celebrates young children and their caregivers and helps increase awareness of early childhood.

Week of the Young Child

April 6th - 12th, 2024

Thanks to our amazing community, we had an amazing week of events!

Thank you, Helena!

  • Bags with Books and Resources

    The ECC gave away 2,000 bags with a book and resources to preschoolers around town.

  • Kickoff Event

    On Saturday, April 6th, 2024 from 10 am to 2 pm at Rocky Mountain Development Council and the Lewis and Clark Library, the ECC hosted many fun activities at the Library, and screened children and connected families with resources at the Rocky Head Start building.

    The screenings were done by qualified individuals from Head Start, Early Head Start, Family Outreach, and the School District:

    • Developmental Screenings include: ASQ for 0-3 year olds

    • Behavioral Screenings include: ASQ-SE for 0-5 year olds

    • Literacy Screenings for kids who are going into kindergarten and turn 4 year old by Sept. 10, 2024

    • Growth, vision and hearing

    The families who came received a “developmental pack” full of fun things for the caregiver and child to do together.

  • Reading in the Rotunda

    On Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 from 9 to 11 am at the Montana State Capitol Building in the Rotunda the ECC hosted more than 100 kids where local celebrities read to the children, kids got to participate in some fun activities and caregivers learned about some of the resources available in our community.

  • Cardboard Dolls

    Our cardboard cutout dolls were out almost the entire month of April. Doing their job raising awareness around our community about the importance of early childhood.

  • Activities

    Wow! We had such a fun week! An overview of the week:

    • Kickoff Saturday: Kickoff Event with health and wellness screenings and fun activities for families

    • Self-Care Sunday: Offering for Loss Parents

    • Music Monday: Music Class with Music Together

    • Tasty Tuesday: Harvest of the Month at Lewis & Clark Library

    • Work Together Wednesday: Themed Early Explorer Classes at Exploration Works

    • Wednesday: Reading in the Rotunda

    • Artsy Thursday: Art class with the Holter Museum of Art

    • Family Friday: Free admission to the Holter Museum of Art with option to do some art projects with your little one

    …and more not even listed!

    Thank you, Helena!

  • Discounts

    Certain businesses generously gave discounts or offered something special to children and/or their caregivers from April 6th - 12th as a way to encourage families to spend time together and enjoy what Helena has to offer.

    Some of the participating businesses were:

    • Big Dipper

    • ExplorationWorks

    • Image Dancing

    • Loft Helena

    • Sleeping Giant Lanes

    • Flying Giant

More information

  • 90% of a child's brain develops by age 5. The experiences a child has early in life impacts how their brain develops, which influences their ability to learn in school and how they will function as an adult.

  • Last year, we had businesses host our cardboard dolls who held signs with facts about early childhood and a blue pinwheel for Strengthening Families Month. This year, we have expanded and you can be involved in any of the following ways.

    • Host a cardboard doll for the week

    • Provide a discount to children/families - either for a day or for the week

    • Offer an activity or class for children/families

    • Provide printed materials - or a small item - to put in our Week of the Young Child bags we give out to preschool children (2,000 of them)

    • Help us stuff bags on March 20th

    • Table at the kickoff event on Saturday, April 6th and provide resources and/or fun activity for children/families.

    Our audience is children 0-8 years old but even if you don’t specifically work with that age of children, we can still be creative in how we show our community we support our children and those who raise them. Reply and let me know how you’d like to be involved this year. We are open to more ideas than just this list. Reach out and we can chat more.

    Email Maureen at mbjerke@sphealth.org or call/text her at 406-461-4449.

  • Visit National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC) website to learn more about the national Week of the Young Child.