CLARKSVILLE, TN – From rock painting to puppet shows, children enjoyed a variety of activities designed to build pre-literacy skills at Austin Peay State University (APSU) on Sept. 16 for the inaugural Little Govs Child Learning Center Day of Play.
The free event was funded through a grant from the Nashville Predators Foundation, and organizations from across the community teamed up to fill Little Govs CLC’s playground with hands-on learning opportunities for children ages 1-8.
“All the skills involved in these activities promote fine motor skills, and that’s the foundation for pre-literacy,” said Claudia Rodriguez, the director of Little Govs CLC. “We wanted to focus not only on language and literacy, but on supporting the skills needed to develop in those areas.”
Dozens of families attended the event, and each one brought home a gift bag filled with reading and writing materials. Rodriguez said emphasizing language and literacy was important to combat delays in speech that the center’s employees have observed since COVID-19.
“Reading success is directly linked to how we expose children to books and activities at an early age,” she said. “[And] the first three years are really when you have to focus on it … because when they’re delayed in language, they’re not able to communicate with other children and make friends, which impacts the social development of young children. Emotional development is impacted too because they can’t tell you how they feel, and therefore they may have a harder time with self-regulating.”
Mary Jo Huff, an award-winning author, recording artist, storyteller and early childhood educator, headlined the event with a puppet-themed storytime session. She also helped children create their own puppets, which they used to act out creative scenarios.
“It’s important to make eye contact with children, answer their questions and listen to them,” Huff said. “People don’t listen enough to what the kids have to say, and so that’s a big deal for me. I love watching them play by themselves and create their own rules, without anybody telling them how to do things. Whatever way they want to play, it’s their way.”
Other community partners at the event included: ArtLink; Tennessee Child Care Resource & Referral Network; Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance (TECTA) APSU; Friends of the Forest; Nashville State Community College’s Early Childhood Education Department; author Jenifer Goncalvez; Sunny Day Studios; Rick’s Comic City; Family Disability Support; Wanda Givens of the Cheatham County School District; and the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library in partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
“It’s incredible to see that there are so many organizations that really want to support children and families in their educational journey,” Rodriguez said. “But they also understand how important it is for children just to play, and it’s incredible.”