Very Early Childhood Education Center opens larger play area

Aug. 11—What was once a United Way conference room is now a place where a child's imagination can run wild.

They can be a firefighter, a police officer, a postal worker or ring up someone's groceries. It's all part of the safety village inside the Very Early Childhood Education Center's expanded play area.

It's an addition executive director Stacie Gollner wants the community to know about.

"We're a hidden secret," she said.

Geared toward children ages 0 to 5, the new play area was created with kindergarten readiness in mind. It is a space where young children can use their imagination, get creative, hone their motor skills and interact with their parents and other children.

The center was closed during the pandemic, but a need to expand its play area became apparent after reopening. Word got out, and more and more families were utilizing the original, smaller play area.

"We were seeing many families each week," Gollner said.

The smaller play room is still used. It's a good place for children who might get too stimulated in the larger room with other kids. There's a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) focus in the smaller room, and related activities for children as young as 1.

For example, a toy caterpillar with different attachments introduces kids to coding. The attachments change which direction the caterpillar crawls.

"It's fun, but it's learning," Gollner said.

The center aims to provide a space for families who might not have the means to offer the same types of activities at home. Gollner also wants to encourage parents to be involved in their children's education. It's why interaction between a child and their parent/grandparent/guardian is a fundamental piece of the play areas.

"We are enforcing that the parents are the first teachers," Gollner said. "That's our motto."

The Very Early Childhood Education Center was founded by Marilyn Skinner, a retired Kokomo teacher and advocate for early childhood development.

The completely grant-funded nonprofit started 16 years ago and was first housed at Indiana University Kokomo before it moved to the Inventrek Technology Park. A tornado made the center move one more time, to its current location inside the United Way building on Walnut Street.

The Very Early Childhood Education Center is not affiliated with the United Way of Howard and Tipton Counties, but Gollner said both are working toward the same 75-in-5 goal, which aims to prepare 75% of children for kindergarten by 2022.

The center works with kindergarten teachers to gear its activities toward what is needed for a student to start school.

Preparing children for kindergarten is what The Very Early Childhood Education Center strives to do through all of its programs.

And it's all free.

This includes the center's Totes for Tots program. The monthly program sends home a package of activities, crafts and books for children ages 0 to 5. Gollner said they deliver totes to 300 families in Howard County monthly. Another 100 out-of-county families pick up.

Totes are put together well in advance. Volunteers like Lenore Kane were putting together the materials for totes that will be sent out this winter last week.

Kane, a retired school librarian, used to bring her grandchildren to the center.

"It was a good experience even in a much small space," she said. "But now it's just amazing."

Now, she puts together totes that are delivered to her great-grandchildren.

"I've been coming because this is one small way to stay connected with the kids and school," Kane said.

Every child who visits the center leaves with a free book. Gollner wants to help families build their own libraries at home.

The Very Early Childhood Education Center is full of books — Gollner has a knack for precuring hundreds of children's books — and materials for new parents.

Children can receive a free toy from the birthday castle during their birthday month.

Other parent offerings include a Mommy and Me group, meant for moms to interact with each other, talk about issues and offer tips, and car seat and lactation classes.

The Very Early Childhood Education Center recently partnered with some local barbershops. The center will supply the barbershops with books, changing them out monthly. Kids are free to take it home with them.

The Very Early Childhood Education Center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Open play is available on Monday and Thursdays on a walk in basis. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are by appointment only.

For more information, check out the center on Facebook, call 765-252-3995 or email stacieecec@gmail.com.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.