Your community’s youngest learners and the teachers who help mold their minds are being celebrated this week as part of a national observance. Running through April 17, the Week of the Young Child highlights the importance of quality early childhood education through daily, themed, hands-on activities. Research shows that 90% of brain development occurs before the age of 5, making high-quality early childhood education crucial to the start of a young person’s life.

Karen Corekin-DeLaMer, of Northern Door Children’s Center in Sister Bay, says it is why they and other early childhood education centers invest significant resources into their work, especially when it comes to the teachers who will be in the classroom with students.

Quality early childhood education is also credited with improving school readiness, increasing academic achievement and enhancing social skills. Early childhood centers will celebrate the Week of the Young Child with a variety of activities, with Northern Door Children’s Center focusing on children’s authors such as Eric Carle, Laura Numeroff and Mo Willems.