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Thinking Outside The Box: Washington State Program Visits IKEA for Inspiration
The Washington State ParentChild+ team took their staff on a field trip to IKEA this fall as part of their regularly scheduled professional development for Program Coordinators. Participating staff were given a budget of $15 and a prompt to find items they could incorporate into their home visiting curriculum with families and Home-Based Child Care providers.
WA ParentChild+ Program Manager Marcella Taylor shared that, “we wanted to do a creative, hands-on activity addressing the concerns of choosing quality VISM [curriculum materials] and staying on budget. IKEA was the perfect place to show that everyday items can be used in a fun way to support children’s learning.”
ParentChild+ WA State Director Pamela Williams noted the importance of the in-person experience, commenting “it is one thing to purchase an item from a catalog or an online site but another to touch it, manipulate it.”
After their shopping time, the group came together to reflect on the experience and share their finds. Taylor observed that the activity “generated excitement and encouraged out of the box considerations” among staff, adding that “it made me proud to be part of a team that is so knowledgeable and intentional in partnering with families who choose ParentChild+.”
What’s next for the Washington State team? Taylor described more “meetings like this as opportunities for team building and using it in exercises reinforcing how the books and toys directly support areas of our state’s early learning and development guidelines.”
If you have any questions or want to know more about what the Washington State program, you can reach out directly to Marcella Taylor or Pamela Williams!
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