Has your family enjoyed the outdoors lately? Autumn is the perfect season to enjoy outdoor time. As the weather begins to cool down in Phoenix, it’s wonderful to spend time as a family outside. Playing outdoors offers so many benefits for young children. From gross motor development to a greater understanding of their senses, outside…

As a parent, you may have found yourself asking the ever-popular question, “do kids need preschool?” We’re so glad you asked and you’ve come to the right place! Preschool is an important first step in a child’s academic journey. Children who attend high-quality preschool experience numerous benefits. They learn important early literacy skills, social skills,…

How To Incorporate Loose Parts Play Into Your Home Everyone is spending more time at home these days. For many families, that means becoming overwhelmed by their children’s toy situation. Perhaps you’re having one of these common problems: -Your home is overrun by plastic, noisy toys.-Your children quickly lose interest in their new toys.-Expensive, store-bought…

Five quick and healthy snacks toddlers love! Getting enough food into your toddler can be a surprisingly frustrating task. They have small mouths and the younger children have limited ability to chew, so everything has to be small enough to eat without choking. Paradoxically, toddlers will get cranky if you miss a snack time but…

What Does Play-Based Learning Look Like? At Valley Childcare and Learning Centers, our early learning programs are “play-based.” For many parents, this may seem counter-intuitive. Shouldn’t learning and play be two separate things? For young children, the best way to learn is through play! That’s why at Valley Learning Centers, children spend their days developing…

Picture Book Series Every Family Should Read Finding the next great book can feel overwhelming. Whether you’re browsing the bookstore in person, ordering books online, or picking up books from the library, the choices seem endless. It can be helpful to know some tried-and-true titles and authors. That’s why picture book series are so wonderful.…

Family-Friendly Road Trip Destinations in Phoenix Being indoors during the summertime is nothing new for Phoenix-area residents. Families with young children especially are used to finding air-conditioned fun. This summer, many indoor attractions are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. There are still plenty of fun activities families can do to stay cool at home.…

Improve Your Child’s Working Memory With Games In a recent post, we talked about ways to promote self-regulation skills in children. One of the important components of self-regulation is working memory. A child’s working memory allows them to maintain their train of thought. It’s an important predictor of future success in mathematics, reading, and writing.…

Beat the Phoenix heat with these kid-friendly ideas! As the temperature rises above 100 degrees in Phoenix, a little relief from the heat can go a long way. With museums and other indoor attractions closed this summer, it can be tricky to find fun ways to stay cool. If your family is looking for a…

Early childhood education is proven to set an important foundation for kindergarten. But it can be hard to know what skills are the most important when preparing your child for elementary school! One of the most valuable skills for any child entering kindergarten is self-regulation. So much of the elementary school experience involves listening and…

There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is best of all.- Jaqueline Kennedy The foundations for language and reading are built early in a child’s life. Children need to learn to identify letters and letter sounds and have a wide vocabulary before they can put the pieces together to…