Bringing Home THE BASICS

Have you heard about The Basics yet?

THE BASICS ARE FIVE FUN, SIMPLE, AND POWERFUL WAYS THAT EVERY FAMILY CAN GIVE EVERY CHILD A GREAT START IN LIFE.

The Children’s Museum is part of a larger regional effort to share these ideas with families to help to lay a strong foundation for lifelong success. Since we hosted the founder, Ron Ferguson, at the Museum as the region was launching this initiative two years ago, we have embraced the five ideas you see in the flyer below.

We want to bring this to as many families in the community as possible. Sign up now for FREE Basics Insights and get two texts a week until your child is 3 years old.The first three years are a time of rapid growth and brain development and we want to be sure that every child has the support they need to start strong. Below you will see a quick overview video that will help you understand what The Basis are and how easy it is to start intentionally supporting your child’s growth every day.

We have taken these concepts and built activity kits that we use in our community engagement work through parent/child playgroups and also in programming on the museum floor. We think The Basics are so great that we used them as our anchor for our recently redesigned Little Farm exhibit at our downtown location. Come visit the museum and see for yourself just how easy it is to add in a basic as you play in the exhibit. We have signage to help guide you and we change out the tips periodically to give caregivers fresh ideas and connections (see the frame on the wall?).

We have been working with other museums and libraries to share ideas and work collaboratively to get The Basics out in each of our environments with the hope that when you hear an educator reference Count, Group and Compare at the Children’s Museum and then you hear it again when you go to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens or during a library storytime, you start to realize that this is important! It’s a way to build your child’s skills no matter where you are through daily routines and that you have a lot of support to enrich your child’s learning.

Our regional Smart Beginnings has recently launched our own Basics website. Please take advantage of all the helpful resources there (and notice that our Little Farm exhibit and our local families are featured in the site’s photos).

For more ideas, check out some of our earlier posts:

• The Basics
• Bringing the Basics to Baking (Talk, Sing & Point)
• Play at Home Guide: Maximize Love, Manage Stress
• Play at Home Guide: Count, Group, and Compare
• Making Playdough at Home