Play is more than you think! Play gives a child the opportunity, time, and space to foster many important life skills. Engaging in play allows a child to explore different…

Recently IDHS sent out an important announcement regarding new mandatory requirements for Licensed and License-Exempt Providers. As stated by IDHS, “To help ensure the health and safety of children, the…

The 1st annual Career-Con was held at Harlem High School on April 22, 2017. The event ran from 9-1pm in the auxiliary gym and was set up as a career…

Brushing teeth starts with babies, we just might brush in a different way. With babies, we wipe out their mouth and massage their gums to help remove bacteria that can…

Close your eyes and picture this scenario for a moment. You have planned a painting activity and have a group of children seated around the table completely engaged. Where is…

Trash to Toys: Sing-A-Long Box! This activity is a very simple Sing-A-Long Box. This activity helps the little ones with hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and getting up and moving!…

Truth be told, the average early childhood setting is staffed by passionate, educated, loving women, with few men entering the field. These female educators range in ages, experiences, priorities, personalities…

Do You Have Concerns about Your Child’s Development, or a Child in Your Care? Child & Family Connections is an Early Intervention program in the state of Illinois that can…

Infant Safe Sleep Habits are one of the most important issues to new parents as well as childcare providers. All providers who care for infants should be trained on Sudden…

One of life’s most important challenges that children learn is to get along well with others. A child care setting is often where young children will be involved in their…

We all know the importance of early childhood brain stimulation through reading to our children. We also know children have a short attention span so we are always looking for…

  Using Loose Parts to Spark Creativity By Rachel Feigel “When children interact with loose parts, they enter a world of ‘what if’ that promotes the type of thinking that…

Looking at us, we are teachers, providers, and parents of our next generations of learners. We already use brain building activities in day to day routines, but might not see…

Welcome to the New Year! We hope that you are coming into 2017 relaxed and refreshed from 2016. We wanted to start out the New Year with a few reminders.…

For the Love of Reading On December 1st we held the first Semi-Annual YWCA Book Give-A-Way and it was a smashing success! The event was here at the YWCA from…

Baby Sign Language When caring for little ones, communication can sometimes be a challenge. One thing you can do to foster communication is implementing baby sign language. American Sign Language…

 Do you want to earn a higher percentage for the CCAP children in your care? This can be accomplished easily though a series of training tiers that you can take…

Building a Business Plan to Build Your Business Better!   Most providers go into the Child Care business, not because of their educational background and experience with owning a small…

Wine, Women, and Purses 2016 is this Thursday, Oct. 6th!! We cannot wait to see you there! Remember today (10/3/16) is your last day to make an online reservation so…

We are very excited to introduce to you the lovely ladies from Roxy Carmichael! They will be joining us for the 2016 Wine, Women, and Purses event at Franchesco’s Restaurant…

As you know, Wine, Women, and Purses is swiftly approaching! We would love to see you there! You may purchase tickets on our website until this Friday, 9/30/2016. We are…

We would love the chance to introduce you to some of our merchants! We are thrilled to have Anderson Japanese Gardens participating in the 2016 Wine, Women, and Purse’s event!…

As caregivers, every day we care for children like they are our own children. All children deserve to grow up in a safe and healthy environment. September is “Baby Safety”…

Brightwheel When a parent picks up their child at the end of the day, there is a lot of information that gets exchanged. Parents want to know if their child…

We are thrilled to have Lallygag Boutique participating in our Wine, Women, and Purses event on October 6th at Franchesco’s Restaurant! Please take a few minutes and get to know…

Meet Diana Alexander of Pizzazz Dezynz. We are happy to welcome Diana to the Wine, Women, and Purses community! Come check out her amazing merchandise at Wine, Women, and Purse…

If you think “The Graduate” when you see or hear the word “plastics” you are either of a certain generation or a fan of classic movies. Plastics have made our…

Can babies play outside? Many people feel babies are too young to play outdoors. Caregivers tend to keep infants and toddlers indoors; worried that weather isn’t quite right for them.…

As a contributing “blogger”, my assigned focus is to promote upcoming trainings/workshops that YWCA Northwestern Illinois Child Care Solutions offer. All of our trainings/workshops should result in improving the quality…

How do you know if items in your home, classroom, and playground are safe? As a mom of two little girls, we have a lot of different items in our…

“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap.” –Ani DiFranco As consultants at the YWCA, our job is more than…

My older son attended a charter school for kindergarten last year that incorporated a dress code with specific parameters. The children were expected to meet a minimum standard in their…

Both children and adults enjoy creative art activities. When engaging in an art activity, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind to insure the fun you are experiencing…

As children grow, the skills they learn in early childhood can be the skills that can save their lives; learning how to look both ways to cross the road, to…

The days go fast, your nights go even faster, and ‘free time’ is a past phrase. You have the huge responsibility of the wellbeing, social-emotional development, and education of young…

Summer vacation is upon us! It’s so nice to finally get to enjoy the sunshine and spend more time outside. Kids who have been actively learning in pre-and elementary schools…

Spring has sprung! Like the earth experiencing a rebirth of sorts—trees budding, flowers blooming, grass is green and growing, we (children, child care providers, parents, people in general) want to…

Child Care Providers….Unfortunately, the public perception of child care providers is usually to label someone who chooses this profession as a “Baby-sitter.”  As someone who has an intimate knowledge of…

My 3-year-old son spent the majority of his weekend sitting at the kitchen table, using a pair of blunt, plastic scissors to cut up piles and piles of old mail…

Parental stress is real and you have millions of other parents experiencing the effects on their health and well being. No matter how much we love or appreciate our children’s…

What is ExceleRate: “ExceleRate Illinois is a statewide quality rating and improvement system designed to make continuous quality improvement an everyday priority among early learning providers. The program establishes standards…

YWCA Child Care Solutions workshop: “Guiding Children and Youth Behavior in our After School Program, Controlling the Environment—Not the Child or Youth,” June 7, 2016 at YWCA Northwestern Illinois

The journey of a child’s language development begins as early as birth; and the first 12 months are an important stage of this development. Parents, grandparents, siblings, caregivers, aunt, uncles…everyone…

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” – Fred…

Since this way of life seems inevitable by many standards, parents need to be purposeful with the time they have with their children. So where can you squeeze in some…

External and internal forces will decide whether learning will flow easily or become a dreaded chore. Stresses from peers, such as bullying and group pressure to be a “certain way”…

The New Year is a time to restart any pattern that may have gone array in the past year. Children create habits just as adults do, although sometimes very different.…

Try free downloadable resources to inspire you and curtail some of the creativity block that you may be experiencing when planning the weekly menu for your family child care family,…

Cabin Fever. Winter Blues. We all get a little restless when the weather outside forces us to stay inside for longer lengths of time. There are times when bundling the…

How wonderful would it be to express out loud your deepest darkest secrets, and know that there is absolutely no judgement, nor will these secrets be shared with another? Animals…

Knowing that stress has an effect on children in their learning environments means that we, as parents and providers, must be aware of and attempt to understand the powerful effects…

Parents, child care providers, and well-meaning friends and relatives are all making the same fatal mistakes by putting or leaving infants and toddlers in car seats, swings, strollers and bouncers…

Encouraging very intentional and purposeful exchanges between a teacher and a child, which creates a powerful interaction and helps a child become a more engaged and effective learner.

Do you know how many Pete the Cat books you can get for $25? Not nearly enough! Kids need to have a variety of books available to them… but how…

A guest post from YWCA Board Chair Dawna Menke As we reach out to the community and ask for membership support, members of the YWCA Board of Directors have been…

We believe in the power of the YWCA to improve our community, facilitate meaningful conversations, and drive collaboration, which is why we are proud to share to two major announcements…

How do you read a book with no pictures to your kids? Here are a few ways to explore wordless books to expand creativity, interest, and reading comprehension skills.

Meet Jeff and Cindy Uhrig of Designs by Jeff. We look forward to working with the Uhrigs every year since their first Wine, Women & Purses in 2012. Come see…

Meet Christina Crain of CC Rainz, a Wine, Women & Purses favorite since 2012 and one of the merchants you’ll find at Wine, Women & Purses, October 1.

On October 20, 2015, 6:30pm to 8:00pm, YWCA Rockford, Patrick Daniels, a representative of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, will present a radon workshop specifically designed for licensed day care…

Lallygag Boutique is a fun little boutique in the Miracle Mile district of Rockford, IL, nestled between a shabby chic home decor shop and a flower shop. We are best…

There is a reason why children, after playing outside or going on a walk, return with pockets filled to capacity with rocks of different shapes and sizes. Rocks, well, rock.…

Meet the owner of Wearever Mobile Boutique, one of the merchants you’ll find at Wine, Women & Purses, October 1.

As the new school year approaches and we consider the flu, sore throats, lice… there is an ongoing topic that is extremely important to our children’s well-being, living a healthy…

Incorporating a pet into your program can easily create or recreate the experiences of nature indoors, and reflect your own program philosophies and individuality. Center, Preschool, and Family providers can…

What does the July 30, 2015 IDHS payment notice mean to CCAP clients and providers? CCAP Child Care Centers and networks as well as in-home providers payment and processing information.

The basic human rights and even the economic evidence of empowering girls seem obvious; but the challenges and discrimination are often distant from an American perspective – or less obvious…

As the Child Care Solutions Literacy Specialist, I’ve been able to help parents and child care providers use this “monkey see, monkey do” phenomenon to their advantage—as a way to…

As early childhood educators, we are expected, and for some topics mandated, to participate in trainings about diversity, culture, and inclusion. While these trainings are extremely important and help providers…

Growing Up WILD! is an early childhood education program from the Council for Environmental Education builds on children’s sense of wonder about nature and invites them to explore wildlife and…

Not for the first time, I asked this question March 2: Why are these women – powerful, experienced, wise – virtually invisible in Rockford and Winnebago County political and organizational…