The Hangout Spot, LLC

08/31/2026

Great read!

IEP goals for elopement should teach safety and self-regulation and not just reduce incidents. Here’s are 18 edit and paste examples.

08/31/2026

We had such a great time at the Kids Marketplace in Stamford this weekend!

Latham Park was packed with families, sunshine, and kids running their own vendor booths, easily one of the most fun community events we've been a part of.

We loved getting to chat with so many parents, hand out some goodies, and talk about what we do at The Hangout Spot.

Thank you to the Stamford India Center for putting together such a joyful, well-organized event. We're already looking forward to next time.

If you stopped by our table and want to keep the conversation going, we'd love to hear from you. And if you missed us, we'll catch you at the next one!

08/28/2026

A final reminder!

We're so happy to be heading to the Kids Marketplace at Latham Park this Sunday, August 30th, and we'll have a table there all day!

Stamford India Center put together something genuinely special here, every single booth is run by a child, their own products, their own pricing, their own pitch to customers. Real, hands-on entrepreneurship, and we love getting to be part of a day built around that.

Come say hi. Your kids can stop by and design their own business card, complete with their own business name, logo, and job title (CEO? Founder? Inventor? Their call), and it's a great, low-key way to meet our team and learn a little about what we do at The Hangout Spot.

Admission is free, event runs 1:30 to 7:30 PM. Come cheer on all these young business owners with us, and swing by and get to know us while you're there.

Big thanks to Stamford India Center for putting this together and welcoming us to be part of it. Can't wait.

08/27/2026

We're so happy to be heading to the Kids Marketplace at Latham Park this saturday, August 30th, and we'll have a table there all day!

Stamford India Center put together something genuinely special here, every single booth is run by a child, their own products, their own pricing, their own pitch to customers. Real, hands-on entrepreneurship, and we love getting to be part of a day built around that.

Come say hi. Your kids can stop by and design their own business card, complete with their own business name, logo, and job title (CEO? Founder? Inventor? Their call), and it's a great, low-key way to meet our team and learn a little about what we do at The Hangout Spot.

Admission is free, event runs 1:30 to 7:30 PM. Come cheer on all these young business owners with us, and swing by and get to know us while you're there.

Big thanks to Stamford India Center for putting this together and welcoming us to be part of it. Can't wait.

08/26/2026

As we look out to the beginning of another school year, we thought this could be a valuable read for our community!

Research on early childhood development consistently points to the same thing: group play is one of the most effective ways young kids build social skills.

According to a recent piece from Kids First Services, kids who regularly take part in group activities show real, lasting improvements in social skills, ones that carry with them well beyond the preschool years.

Full article here:

https://www.kidsfirstservices.com/first-insights/the-benefits-of-group-play-for-young-children

Something we see all the time and love talking about: group play isn't just fun, it's doing a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to building social skills.

When kids are in a small group working toward something together, building, playing a game, whatever it is, they're practicing so much at once. Sharing. Waiting their turn. Reading how a friend is feeling. Figuring out what to do when things don't go their way. It's a lot to juggle, and honestly it's pretty amazing to watch happen.

It's not only social either, working through a shared challenge with peers helps with problem solving and creative thinking too.

If you've got a child who could use more chances to build these skills, we'd love to have them join us. Give us a call at 203 354-9257 to get the conversation started!

08/25/2026

We're so happy to be heading to the Kids Marketplace at Latham Park this saturday, August 30th, and we'll have a table there all day!

Stamford India Center put together something genuinely special here, every single booth is run by a child, their own products, their own pricing, their own pitch to customers. Real, hands-on entrepreneurship, and we love getting to be part of a day built around that.

Come say hi. Your kids can stop by and design their own business card, complete with their own business name, logo, and job title (CEO? Founder? Inventor? Their call), and it's a great, low-key way to meet our team and learn a little about what we do at The Hangout Spot.

Admission is free, event runs 1:30 to 7:30 PM. Come cheer on all these young business owners with us, and swing by and get to know us while you're there.

Big thanks to Stamford India Center for putting this together and welcoming us to be part of it. Can't wait.

08/24/2026

Kids don't need a lecture on how to make friends. They need somewhere to actually practice.

Everything else is details.

Here's what that practice actually looks like: small groups, real situations, kids figuring out how to join a game already in progress, how to handle it when someone says no, how to keep a conversation going past "hi." Our team is right there, but we're not running the show. We're there to nudge things in the right direction and let the kid do the actual work, because that's the part that sticks.

Some kids need this because things haven't quite clicked yet. Some kids are doing fine but could use more reps. Both are completely normal, and both are exactly who we built this for.

Fall Season starts August 31 and runs through November 25, at both our Norwalk and Stamford locations.

Curious what that actually looks like day to day? Give us a call, 203-354-9257, or shoot an email to [email protected]. We're happy to walk you through it.

08/21/2026

Please join us in welcoming Lucas Hammersley to The Hangout Spot team!

Lucas comes to us as a Registered Behavior Technician, most recently with Action Behavior Centers in Fort Worth, where he worked directly with kids on the autism spectrum and got really good at staying calm and steady even when things got hard.

Before that, he spent time coaching kids Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (he's a blue belt himself), building out a curriculum for kids ages 3 to 14 around discipline, coordination, and steady growth over time. Sound familiar? A lot of what he was already doing aligns really well with what we do here.

He's also spent years running large teams under real pressure, coordinating events with tens of thousands of people, so he knows how to stay organized and clear-headed when a lot is happening at once.

We're really glad to have Lucas here. Welcome to the team, Lucas.

08/21/2026

As a parent, there are few things better than hearing your child talk about a friend.
Seeing them get invited to play, walk into a group with confidence, or come home excited about who they sat with at lunch can make all the difference.

Every child deserves to feel like they belong.

At The Hangout Spot, we help children build the social skills that lead to real friendships and lasting confidence. Through guided practice, encouragement, and meaningful interactions with peers, children learn skills they can carry into school, extracurricular activities, and everyday life.

As the new school year begins, it's the perfect time to give your child the support they need to start the year feeling connected and confident.

Our Fall Season runs from August 31 through November 25, and we'd love to help your child build friendships that extend beyond our walls.

To learn more or reserve your child's spot, call us at 203-354-9257 or email us at [email protected].

08/20/2026

Here's a finding that made us pause: young kids will believe the confident kid over the correct one, every time, even if that confident kid has been wrong before.

Researchers at the University of Montana, publishing this year in Child Development, found that younger children consistently trust whoever sounds sure of themselves, and it's not until around age 8 that kids start weighing whether that confidence is actually backed up by anything. Before that, loud and certain just reads as smart and likable, whether or not it's accurate.

If you've ever watched a quieter, more thoughtful kid get talked over by a more confident one on the playground, this is exactly why. It's not that the quiet kid is wrong more often. It's that confidence is doing a lot of the convincing, regardless of who's actually right.

This is a big part of why we care about building two things at once, not just one. We want kids to build real, earned confidence, not just volume. And we want every kid in the room learning to actually evaluate what they're hearing, not just default to whoever said it loudest.

Both of those are skills. Both of those get practiced here, every session.

Read more about the study here:

New research from the University of Montana and its partners suggests children begin to think more critically about confidence by age 8, evaluating both the speaker and the context of the information.