Engaged Early Education

05/05/2026

It’s almost summer so that means I’m back to scheduling family events! I’m so excited to host a seed planting booth at Prairie Moon Farm’s Spring Market on Sunday! Come plant some seeds with me and run with the reindeer 🌷

11/19/2025

We will accept toy donations from Nov. 1st -Dec. 10th. Start cleaning our your closets and toy chests now and get ready to donate on Nov. 1st! Steps to Donating/Redistributing Toys this Holiday Season: Step 1: Clean out your basement, closet, and garageIt all starts with you locating toys you would....

08/12/2025

If you can, head over to their Amazon list to try to snag some last things needed for this massively necessary event this year. A study found that 44% of families surveyed would go into debt this year just for school supplies because of rising expenses. Let’s help our neighbors!

The countdown is on! Ready Set School is this Friday and Saturday, and we still need backpacks to reach our goal.

We want every child to walk into the first day of school feeling confident, prepared, and proud, and your donation can make that happen.
There’s no time to wait. Shop our Amazon Wishlist or drop off a backpack today and be part of the final push to get 2,000 students ready for the year ahead.

Amazon Link here➡ https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2AJWMFBEM0L0U?ref_=wl_share

08/05/2025

Please consider checking out this event and volunteering to help distribute needed school supplies and backpacks to over 1800 families! Volunteers are needed for just a couple hour shifts - hope you’ll consider joining and to see you there!

- Ms. Veronica

Ready Set School 2025 is almost here, and we still need volunteers for our distribution event on August 15 and 16, especially on Saturday, August 16.

There are 28 shifts available throughout the day on the 16th, and your help is key to getting 2,000 students ready for the school year. Sign up today and be part of something that truly makes a difference in our community!

✏️Sign up to volunteer here: https://unitedwayjc.galaxydigital.com/need/index?s=1&need_init_id=13797

08/05/2025

Do you have milkweed in your yard or neighborhood? It’s the only host plant for Monarch caterpillars. You can plant seeds this fall for sprouting in the spring too.

It's August, which means monarch butterflies are preparing for their incredible, multigenerational migration across North America. A “super generation” migrates south every fall to overwinter in Mexico and begins the northward trek the next spring. The next three generations push north, fanning out across the United States. There is also a western population that overwinters in California.

But pollinators like the monarch butterfly are in trouble across the United States. Habitat fragmentation and reduction of milkweed, the only food source for monarch caterpillars, have diminished populations since the 1990s.

That's why NFWF promotes a conservation approach that supports monarch butterflies throughout their lifecycle, with a focus on implementing habitat improvements, providing technical assistance to private landowners, and supporting capacity building and outreach efforts.

📷: Monarch butterflies cluster together like this to conserve energy during their migration

07/30/2025

We are getting so excited for our event on Saturday! Come see some friends brought by Extant Relatives, learn about the frog life cycle, play in the lily pond sensory table, create a frog head and so much more! Drop in any time from 10am to 12pm! Can’t wait to see yall there!
Tales of Summer: Frog, Toad & Friends
Optionally RSVP on our website if possible to help us prepare enough materials for our activities. If we run out, everything is first come, first play. If you don't register, no worries, show up and come enjoy the fun!

https://www.engagedearlyeducation.org/events/tales-of-summer-frogs-and-toads-and-friends

07/29/2025

07/26/2025

07/22/2025

Did you know that we have take home learning kits at every event? You can take one home and engage deeper with a subject as a family through exploration and play. This summer we have kits about pollinators, nature storytelling, birds, gardening and amphibians. We are also working on donating more kits to local organizations that serve families, so if you have an organization that you think would benefit from them, please contact our director, Veronica at [email protected].

We are considering other ways to get our kits into the community, especially once our summer event series comes to a close. Are you interested in being a tester of a potential local delivery service of a monthly learning kit? Fill out the form here to get on our interest list and we will be in touch soon when we launch our trial program: https://forms.gle/zEVaAKFkRAit7MR19

07/19/2025

What a neat project to join and learn about moths!

It’s Moth Wall Season! 👀 starts July 19, you can help scientists study and protect moths around the world by sharing your photos of them to iNaturalist.

One of the easiest ways to find moths is to set up a light-colored, vertical surface (like a sheet) and then shine a black light on it. Moths will flock to this wall — hence, Moth Wall. These make for much better nighttime photography backgrounds than other typical moth haunts like bumpy tree bark or piles of dead leaves.

EDIT: Make sure to only keep your Moth Wall up for a few hours at a time to protect your local moths in the long run!

Learn more: https://tr.ee/Iyjn5G 🌙✨

📷 Luna Moth (Actias luna) by iNaturalist user annawinge