Kids’ Carpentry is a year-round after school program designed especially for boys and girls, kindergarten through the sixth grade. Since 1982 we have been teaching kids the safe use of woodworking hand tools. Children work together and independently on boats, trucks, bird feeders, clocks, doll furniture, airplanes, games and many other projects. In addition to the fun these kids have, they also gain quality experiences in measuring, applied mathematics such as fractions, and hands-on experience with a variety of carpentry tools. By visualizing, planning and building projects, children develop valuable abstract reasoning capabilities and fine motor skills. Children can select from a wide range of project choices supplied by the teacher and are also encouraged to design and build based on their own needs and imaginations. Our Socratic style of teaching empowers the children to become good problem-solvers and independent thinkers!

As part of the 2007 reauthorization of Head Start, State Advisory Councils on Early Childhood Education and Care established Zero to Three for children from birth to school entry. The ZERO TO THREE Policy Center and the National Governors Association's Center for Best Practices is hosting a webinar on January 29, 2009 at 2:00 pm EST on including a focus on infants and toddlers in State Advisory Councils on Early Childhood Education and Care.

Project Play is an initiative to inspire families and neighborhoods to play traditional backyard games like "Follow the Leader," "Treasure Hunt," or "Kick the Can"-games that demand imagination and foster creativity. Through a series of lively hardcover children's books featuring a group of active neighborhood kids, Project Play provides guidance to parents and children for getting back to basics and enjoying the joy and freedom of playtime. In addition, Project Play encourages parents to make play a priority-for as founder and author Marlene Byrne believes-it is as equally important to be creative and imaginative as it is to be smart.

Which states made progress in supporting early child care and education in 2008 and which saw programs hit budget snags? The State Developments 2008 report from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) looks at public policy developments across the country and finds that while some states experienced budget-related setbacks, others made significant steps forward during the past legislative session.

Schools can be more than vibrant places for learning, they can also be year-round hubs
that connect families and communities to resources and services. This brief from the
National Human Services Assembly looks at schools that doing just that and outlines
what it would take to make school-linked services available in a greater number of
communities. For more great tools, check out the National Assembly's Family
Strengthening Center.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the federal 21st Century Community Learning
Centers, the Afterschool Alliance is creating a storybook featuring people whose lives
have been improved through out-of-school time programs. Share your stories and program
nominations and check out sample stories online.

A simplified version of the USDA Summer Food Service Program has just gone national. It lessens the paperwork involved for groups or out-of-school time programs that want to incorporate summer meals.

Released in 2008, this interactive chart and report from the Center for Law and Social Policy includes updated information on programs, participants, families, and staff for all Head Start programs in each state.

MindOH! offers free advice on ways to encourage students to get involved in their communities suring the summer.

A once-a-week adult-student mentoring meeting does not an after-school program make, according to this brief from the Forum for Youth Investment. But perhaps, with a little help, it could. The question is not which makes more sense, mentoring or after-school, but how can we utilize both strategies to increase the likelihood that young people have the supports they need to thrive. The 8-page brief offers some ideas.