REXBURG—Eastern Idaho Public Health is holding an event for parents and young children in Rexburg. Block Fest is on April 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Madison Library District in Rexburg.
At Block Fest young children can learn through hands-on experience playing with blocks at different stations to bond and learn with their parents. The different stations encourage children to develop various skills.
“We support early learning skills like math skills and science concepts and social skills and literacy comprehension as children and parents play with blocks together,” said Holly Whitworth, an organizer of the event.
Whitworth works for Eastern Idaho Public Health as the program manager for the “Parents as Teachers” program. Parents as Teachers is a free home visiting program available to parents of young children, offering support for parents and early childhood development.
“They come into the home twice a month, and they bring developmental centered activities and materials,” Whitworth said. “They're there to support the parent in their most important job of parenting their child.”
Parents as Teachers seeks to help educate parents who are part of the program, with the help of their home visitors, offering support in key areas like social, emotional and concrete support.
“When we meet with parents in the home, we're talking with them about child development,” Whitworth said. “We're talking with them about infant and early childhood mental health.”
The Block Fest event offers parents the opportunity to meet the home visitor workers from the Parents as Teachers program. Whitworth hopes that parents will use Block Fest to see if being a part of Parents as Teachers is right for them.
You can learn more about Block Fest and the Parents as Teachers program on the Eastern Idaho Public Health website.