Amherst, MA – Over seventy-five families spent Monday morning learning about nature at the Hitchcock Center in Amherst. Children and their adults enjoyed nature play, creating, and exploring the educational offerings throughout the center’s “living building.”

Family center and playgroup coordinators from the early childhood programs run by the Collaborative for Educational Services invited the families to join in the activities, which included Friends with Scales (meeting Speedy the box turtle and Cornelius the corn snake), Mother Nature’s Story Time, Squirrel Fun, Nature Play and Now You See Me, Now You Don’t (learning about creatures in the wild who use camouflage).

These early childhood centers are funded by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, through the Coordinated Family and Community Engagement (CFCE) Grant. The centers provide programming for children and parents that help strengthen the path to learning with diverse and helpful programs for children and adults. All children at Monday’s event received copies of “I am a Scientist” to continue their learning at home.

The family centers and playgroups are for families and children from birth to kindergarten, located in seventeen local communities and run by the Collaborative for Educational Services in Northampton, MA. The programs are free and run all year round. For more information about these programs, visit www.collaborative.org/early-childhood/parents, or contact Emily Bouvier at early childhood@collaborative.org

The Hitchcock Center is located at 845 West Street in Amherst, offering a wide range of adult education programs aimed at fostering greater environmental awareness, literacy and action. Learn more at www.hitchcockcenter.org