The Children's Storefront

“Everyday interactions can have a big impact on developing brains throughout childhood, starting even before babies can talk.” – Harvard Center for the Developing Child

Having made a lasting mark on the local education landscape over decades, The Children’s Storefront is now focusing on high-impact ways to promote the development of children during their critical first thousand days of life, laying a solid foundation from a child’s earliest days for lifelong success.

Why? Because one of the most exciting discoveries of recent years is how the most rapid and crucial growth of the brain occurs in the first three years of life, starting at birth. Researchers have further learned how children’s brains develop when they experience positive back and forth responsive interactions with their caregivers through communication, games, songs, art activities, and reading. Harvard University’s Center On The Developing Child calls this process “Serve and Return.” Without these interactions at this early age, the brain will be weaker. As a result, language, reading, social, emotional and other developmental difficulties may surface by the time children reach pre-school and beyond. Chances of succeeding in school and all aspects of life are greatly diminished.

Our work is based on this science, and how harnessing it deeply improves the lives of children. Our latest venture, The Children’s Storefront Learn and Play Center brings this powerful knowledge to parents and their children in user-friendly ways that make promoting the development of important language, cognitive, social and emotional skills second nature. The earlier families embrace and use “Serve and Return” type activities, the more likely they are to practice them over time. This will accelerate early brain growth, dramatically improving their children’s chances of reaching their full potential!

The Children’s Storefront works with families to promote the development of children in the first thousand days of life to build a strong foundation for lifelong success.

Learn and Play Center
“It is so great to have this in our community … we always feel welcome … my child loves everything about it!” – Learn and Play Center Parent

In 2019 The Children’s Storefront launched our first Learn and Play Center in Harlem for families with children up to age three. Full of carefully curated books, toys, musical instruments, art materials, climbing equipment and games, the Center was a free drop-in resource for over two hundred families from diverse backgrounds and walks of life. We employed a unique approach that balanced a child’s self-directed discovery of all the space had to offer, with facilitative coaching from early child development specialists for parents and caregivers to build strong foundations for their child’s learning.

Starting with the post-Covid re-launch of our physical program space, The Children’s Storefront aims to develop a network of Learn and Play centers that also offer a host of services to bolster parent/caregiver learning, including child development workshops, multi-faceted supportive services, and one-on-one learning opportunities drawing on the expertise of New York’s colleges, health care centers and child serving institutions.

Check out this video of our in-person Learn and Serve Center
https://youtu.be/M5Ghix2PGUc

Virtual Learn and Play Program
“This program is a GIFT, and I wish it could be shared with every parent with a young child. Excellent staff and supportive community!” – Virtual Learn and Play Program Parent

Since the Covid-19 pandemic we have offered virtual Learn and Play sessions, giving over one hundred parents and caregivers with their children a chance to participate safely and fully in a nurturing community via Zoom without leaving their homes. Our virtual program, based on the same principles as the Learn and Play Center, provides interactive sessions open to families with babies and toddlers, up to age three. Learn and Play sessions of four to eight families are each facilitated by early childhood coaches who engage families with music, books and activities, and provide support to the parents/caregivers, especially important during a time of heightened isolation and anxiety.

Check out these videos of our virtual Learn and Serve Program
Here are the links: https://youtu.be/0p3qUwsqj2E (English) and https://youtu.be/y3NYsMADxPA (Spanish)

History of Educational Innovation and Results
The Children’s Storefront has a storied history of changing lives in Harlem through education innovations. In 1966 a young poet, Ned O’Gorman, opened a one-room center for young children in a Harlem storefront on Madison Avenue – The Children’s Storefront. This grew into a preschool program that led to a tuition free private Pre-K to 8 elementary school, eventually known as Storefront Academy Harlem, that educated Harlem children for decades.

To further our commitment to educational success for children in struggling communities, The Children’s Storefront assisted in creating a new organization that now stands on its own, Storefront Academy Charter Schools. Today, the educational philosophy developed by The Children’s Storefront over 50 years provides the foundation for their charter schools in Harlem and the South Bronx.

The Children’s Storefront Today
Returning to our early childhood roots, The Children’s Storefront is once again charting new waters, this time engaging parents around child brain development in the first thousand days of life; and, more importantly, providing the know-how and confidence with which to spur the growth of their children’s brains.

In 2019, The Children’s Storefront piloted a state-of-the-art Learn and Play Center, welcoming local families with very young children for guided interactive sessions emphasizing child discovery activities and healthy interactions between adults and their children. In 2020, we launched our online Virtual Learning and Play program to engage families safely during the Covid pandemic.

Over time we will further offer a host of services to bolster parent/caregiver learning, including child development workshops, a multi-faceted resource center, and one-on-one learning opportunities drawing on the expertise of New York’s health care centers, colleges and child serving institutions.

“I like being in this program - it has changed a lot in my life and my children's lives.” – Virtual Learn and Play Program Parent"

Since 2019, The Children’s Storefront has engaged over 300 adults plus their children in our programs. We asked parents and caregivers for their feedback through confidential surveys and are excited to see ways we are making a difference for them.

Because of the Virtual Learn and Play Program:
• 100% feel more confident as a parent or caregiver and 100% have a better understanding of how playing with their child strengthens their child’s brain.
• “I started using serve and return technique more consciously. Observing other parents interact with their children was inspiring.”
• “During the pandemic, the introduction of sensory play helped us cope with long afternoons of boredom. I don’t get as frazzled as I normally would.”
• “It has been very encouraging to get tips for dealing with my daughter. I feel more empowered and confident in my abilities to deal with daily challenges as they arise.”

Virtual Learn and Play Parents Use What They Learn
• 90% have new activities that they’ve built into every day routines with their child and 90% have new ways to build their child's language skills.”
• “The activities suggested for each class have been very helpful in showing me how everyday items can become toys and objects of learning.”
• “We now read every night - she enjoys the routine. I use the goodbye song for leaving the park or time to tidy up toys at the end of the day.”
• “It's become a habit to always repeat what my child tells me and I feel like it encourages her. My child has developed an extensive vocabulary!”

The Children’s Storefront Programs Provide a Sense of Community
• 100% of Virtual Learning Program participants have felt supported and a sense of community with the families and staff in the program and 99% of Learn and Play Center participants said they would return.
• “This program has kept me steady many times. Positive feedback has been reassuring.”
• “Excellent staff and supportive community! Having friends in class was lovely and made my child connect better online.”
• “This is a really great space and I love all the backgrounds and people.”

Enthusiasm for The Children’s Storefront is Strong
• 100% would recommend the Virtual Learning Program and 97% would recommend the Learn and Play Center
• “This is an amazing program with amazing teachers. Can't wait for in person.”
• “Everything about this place, the environment and the people, made me feel welcome.”
• “It has been so great for my daughter to have new things to explore.”