Kids play during the first free monthly playtime for children under five sponsored by Rutland County Head Start at Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum in Rutland on Wednesday, December 11. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerAs the rain steadily streamed down on Rutland City’s downtown Wednesday, children and caregivers gathered inside at the Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum to enjoy the play spaces like a train depot, a bandstand gazebo, a creative studio and more.Laurie Williams, a foster parent in the Rutland County Head Start program, brought her three foster children, who she is in the process of adopting, to the first free community playdate.“Having those play spaces is important,” said Williams. “This is an excellent activity no matter what’s going on outside.”This community playdate, made possible through a new partnership between Wonderfeet and Rutland County Head Start announced in late November, will help make the space for young families even more accessible, said Olivia Cadena, guest service coordinator for Wonderfeet. Rutland County Head Start, which is a part of the Community Care Network, offers education, childcare, services and resources to families whose incomes fall at or below the federal poverty line.Through the partnership, Head Start and Early Head Start families have access to free memberships with free admissions to Wonderfeet on Merchants Row in downtown Rutland. There will also be free community playdates for children under five years old, held on a monthly basis through June of next year. Summer Folsom, a parent whose two children are in the Head Start and Early Head Start program, said she has always wanted to bring her kids to Wonderfeet, but she was hesitant in the past due to financial concerns. The cost of family membership is $125 per year.While at the first community playdate, Folsom said she is excited that her children now have access to a safe environment for play through the new partnership.“There are families around here that don’t have the ability to do certain things with their kids,” said Folsom. “We can take them here and explore with them and learn with them and watch them as they grow.”Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerDonna Barrow, executive director of Rutland County Head Start, saw a natural connection between her organization and the work of Wonderfeet. Wonderfeet’s Ages & Stages initiative covered the cost of membership of toddlers, and grants and private funding have helped Head Start offset the price for covering the cost of older kids’ membership. One of the needs identified for Head Start families are “spaces to play that are safe and clean and fun and developmental appropriate” and the partnership helps fill a gap in Head Starts’ play offerings during the winter season, said Barrow. Kristen Nugent, Family Services Manager with Rutland County Head Start, said that she was pleasantly surprised by the turnout of over fifteen families for the first community playdate. The partnership was born from the need to decrease the burden on young families facing financial insecurity, said Nugent. There are a number of families that Head Start serves who faced housing challenges this year, though the percentage of unhoused children enrolled in Head Start programs decreased to 13% compared to 20% last year. That is likely because of families relocated after being evicted from hotels that were part of the motel voucher program, said Barrow. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerDick Courcelle, current CEO of Community Care Network and previous director of Rutland County Head Start, wrote in an email that the hands-on interactive learning opportunities is one of the main assets that the Head Start families are benefiting from in the new partnership.“One of the best things about this collaboration is that at Wonderfeet, the environment is designed to accommodate different learning styles, so that children with different needs and preferences benefit from being able to explore and learn in varied ways,” Courcelle said.Cadena said that play helps children’s developmental growth, reciting the quote attributed to Mr. Rogers that “play is the work of childhood.”“Playing is how your young kids are learning those skills that they need to be able to do things later on, like their fine motor and their gross motor come from playing, even things like counting or lining things up or patterning,” said Cadena. READ MORE Barrow added that play also helps children learn social skills, like self-regulation and how to foster relationships with peers.  Head Start currently hosts weekly “Tea Time” and “Coffee and Chats” at the Rutland County Head Start facilities for parents and caregivers and is working on organizing a parent night out, said Nugent. Along with offering spaces for children, Nugent said “having comfortable, laid back opportunities to interact” for parents helps building relationships and community, which is particularly important when people are “living in survival mode, dealing with housing insecurity, food insecurity, and financial insecurity.”Susanne Engels, board president for Wonderfeet who also provides mental health consultation and reflective supervision at Head Start, said that the two groups share a core belief that humans “grow and thrive” not through isolation but through healthy relationships. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFacilitating conversation for parents and caregivers is especially valuable, creating a built-in support network to prevent loneliness and help caregivers learn and gain strategies to face similar challenges, said Engels. This is because the wellbeing of children and their caregivers are intricately connected, she added.“Everything that we do, good or bad, can, in effect, have a lifelong impact on our children,” said Engels. “Given the importance, the more resources that we can have for parents, the better.” Wonderfeet and Head Start are also offering a developmental hearing and vision screening initiative for children, another example for why Barrow calls the new partnership a “win-win” for everybody. Through the partnership with Wonderfeet, Barrow hopes young families enrolled in Head Start will forge strong connections with each other and the Rutland community. “This really does create an opportunity for parents to engage with their children in this really high-quality, joyful environment, and they get to meet other families,” said Barrow. “I think it also builds the sense of community here, and brings Head Start into the spaces where the rest of the Rutland community plays.”  Read the story on VTDigger here: New partnership between Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum and Rutland County Head Start makes play more accessible.