NORTHAMPTON- From Monday, April 8 through Monday the 15th, The Week of the Young Child, an event designed to support and celebrate young children and their families, will be held at Jackson Street School. The event is free and will include a festival for children ages 2-7 on Saturday the 13th (10:00 AM to 12:00 PM) with a fire truck, school bus, police cruiser, Story Walk and games.

The Week of the Young Child is an annual nation-wide event sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The NAEYC, recognizing that  the right support in early childhood is crucial to success later in life, created the event in 1971. The Week is meant to bring attention to the services and programs that help young children and to strategize how to best provide the sort of environment at home, in daycare, in school, and in the community, that encourages learning.

Image courtesy of CubaGallery via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license.