Lafayette Ready Start

🧸 Tiny Hands, Big Milestones! 🧸

Are you watching your 3-year-old learn to navigate the world? At age three, fine motor skills take a massive leap forward. Those little hands are working hard to coordinate smaller muscles for big tasks!

Here is what typical fine motor development looks like at 3 years old:
🌟 Milestone Checklist
✋🏽Hand Control: Copies a circle with a crayon.
👖Self-Care: Unbuttons large buttons independently.
🥄Utensils: Uses a fork efficiently during meals.
◼Building: Stacks a tower of 6+ blocks.
✂Scissors: Snips paper using child-safe scissors.
📖Pages: Turns book pages one at a time.

🎨 Easy Ways to Play & Practice
❤Play-Doh: Rolling and squeezing builds hand strength.
🗜Threading: Stringing large beads onto yarn improves focus.
🖌Finger Painting: Enhances sensory awareness and control.

Every child develops at their own unique pace! Celebrate the small wins as they build independence

❤️💛💙 Follow Us Friday!!

Help us grow!

Do you know someone who has a young child? 👶🏾👶🏼👶🏿

Do you know someone who teaches and cares for young children? 🏫🍎✏️

Are you looking for information on early childhood education programs?💞🏫🧩

Invite them to follow our page! We will continue sharing developmental information, local resources, and enjoyable activities!

❤️💛💙Lafayette Ready Start is out in the community today! 🚙📚

Come see us, create art, do crafts, sign up for the summer reading rewards program, and have a blast!!!

Unearth a story! 🦖🦕
Lafayette Public Library

🎉Today we are celebrating YOU! 🎉

A massive shoutout to all the incredible directors in our Early Childhood Network! 🍎

✨ Your passion, dedication, and regular collaboration are building a stronger foundation for our little ones and shaping the future of our community. Thank you for your tireless work and for everything you do to support early learning.

This week we held our last Director's Meeting of the 2025-2026 school year and we were honored to award some amazing and dedicated individuals who collaborated, encouraged, and shared input this year to make our meetings as successful as possible.

Recognition and appreciation was awarded to Kimberly George, Mariette Hebert, Michelle Bogen, and Rori Brooks for their dedication to encouraging all directors to participate in monthly meetings. These ladies gave their time monthly to operate a call tree to notify all the director's of centers in the network about upcoming meetings and encourage participation.

Additionally, 4 ladies were recognized and given a present for their dedication to attendance of our monthly Director's Meetings and Network Collaborations!
Mrs. Rori Brooks attended NINE this year!

Mrs. Pam Fusilier attended SEVEN this year!
Mrs. Kimberly George attended SEVEN this year!
Mrs Mariette Hebert attended SIX this year!

Thank you, ladies, for being present, encouraging, and willing to give input to help On Track by 5 and Lafayette Ready Start best support you and your centers and ultimately, our littlest learners! ❤🏨

Join us at the Main branch for Story Castle Storytime, a star-studded lineup of storytelling, music, fingerplays, and other activities! Story Castle Storytime is open to ages 3-6 years.

Ever wonder why your 2-year-old loves playing with small objects? They are building dexterity! 🛠️

Fine motor development isn't just about fun; it’s the foundation for independence. By strengthening those small muscles, your toddler is learning to feed themselves, turn pages in a book, and soon, write their name.
Try these simple games this week:
✨ Tearing newspaper into strips and crumpling them.
✨ Using tongs to transfer cotton balls.
✨ Placing shapes into a puzzle.
🤍 Tip: Focus on the fun, not perfection!