Newsletter
Vroom is expanding in Oregon! The Vroom initiative provides free brain-building activities that parents can do with their young kids (ages 0-5) to encourage key math, reading, and language skills and is now in a community near you. Using a network of 25 regional pilot sites and statewide partnerships with the Oregon Healthy Authority (OHA), Department of Human Services (DHS), and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), these early learning tools are reaching families where they live and access parenting resources. Why has Oregon made Vroom a priority? Because it works for all families! The Vroom tools (including the Daily Vroom app) are free, multi-lingual, and effective.
Parents who use the Vroom brain-building activities report a greater understanding of the importance of the first 5 years of life for their child’s cognitive development, and they also report more direct parent-to-child interaction with their kid as a result of being exposed to the Vroom tools. Vroom encourages the kind of “serve-and-return” interactions and relationships that science tells us are effective for encouraging healthy cognitive, social, and emotional development among young children. The 1,000+ Vroom activities are also fun! As one father from Central Oregon described his experience with Vroom, “it has enriched the time I spend with my daughter.”
Vroom has been particularly well received among early childhood specialists. As one home visiting professional with the Healthy Families network put it: “I was introduced to Vroom…and I immediately thought of my daughter (a young, working mother) and my grandson. I love the app not only because it gives me great ideas and insight for the time I spend with my grandson, but also how it can support my daughter in her busy daily life. Vroom provides her with ideas for play in their everyday routine, gets her talking and expanding her son’s vocabulary and provides her with the reason that these interactions are important!”
The simplicity of the Vroom activities makes them an easy addition to parents’ existing routines – perfect for bedtime, bath time, and more – as well as for an organization’s existing parenting services. Want to join the more than 70,000 families in Oregon who have been introduced to the Vroom tools and learn more about this exciting program? You can either contact your regional pilot site to request Vroom materials and information, or you can contact Ari Wubbold, Oregon’s Vroom Coordinator. Contact information for both can be found here.
You can also download the free Daily Vroom app at www.joinvroom.org. Check out this free Vroom resource that has 32 brain building activities for children ages 1-5 that also build math skills. Print them out, put them on your fridge, cut the cards out, and carry them – whatever helps to remind you that these great moments are all around you in the things you already do. Please help us spread the Vroom message with Oregon’s families. It’s making a difference!