In January 1976, visionary child-and-family advocate Dr. Georgia Davis opened the doors to Funshop in a Springfield church. It was designed to be a safe haven where overscheduled parents and children could enjoy the rare gift of time to talk and play together, just for fun. For a few minutes every week, no errands, phones or to-do lists. Just playing and paying attention to each other.
This year, Funshop celebrates 40 years of stopping time, making memories and celebrating childhood. Operated by the Springfield Park District, it’s a colorful, happy, hands-on world apart where children’s voices are heard, ideas welcomed and love of life encouraged.
A good idea grows
Funshop founder Georgia Davis was the only teacher in the beginning. Funshop history describes six-week programs of 45-minute classes that met in area churches. Each class offered a few well-chosen activities for children infant to three years accompanied by a parent. The first class was 10 mothers and 10 children. Tuition was six dollars for all six weeks.
By the late 1970s, Funshop had moved into Springfield Park District’s Nelson Center in the vast Franklin Room overlooking the ice rink, and the teaching team had expanded to five – necessary because the group had to set up and put away the entire experience every session.
Today, co-directors Sharon Entwistle and Linda Berberet schedule eight teachers, ten 75-minute classes per week, three sessions per year, for thousands of children infant through age five, in a beautiful stand-alone facility designed specifically for Funshop in Lincoln Park.
“We think it’s just amazingly wonderful to create and be part of a program where children and parents feel connected, loved and valued,” says Entwistle.
Constant, and changing
Longstanding routines teach and encourage. New friends sing familiar songs. Pictures on the Funshop Facebook page show the train, slides, toy bins, circle time, story time and more that have long been centerpieces of the experience.
One of the biggest changes, according to Entwistle, is the number of grandparents who bring children for working parents. Jerry Cox and Carole Wilson take their two-year-old twin granddaughters, Harper and Carson, to a morning session. “Their favorite things are the train and the slides, story time, circle time and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,’” says Cox. “They learn how to get along with others, what to do and not to do. I think that’s good for every child.”
Cox enjoys the time, too. “I have seven grandchildren, these are my last two. I love them all, but I wasn’t able to spend as much time with the others. Every hour I spend with them is a treasure. I’ll always remember that.”
Grandparents Pat and David Howard take two-year-old Xander to a morning session. “The fun it’s providing is exactly what I was hoping for,” says Pat, who took her sons through the program years ago. “He always goes to the tool area where Bob the Builder is, he loves going down the slides, and he likes finding the colors and shapes toys in the bins. He will go to story time, but he really prefers just to play and run around from one thing to the next.”
The staff encourages this freedom for children. Pat says, “They told me, ‘If kids don’t want to do something, give them time. All children may not want to do all things, but it’s OK. Maybe next time they will.’ The staff is so supportive.”
Making the message look easy
Children exploring and playing is the outward sign of success at Funshop where children do the work of learning at their pace, in their ways and the parents’ role is to just hold the door open and share their undivided attention. Sounds simple. But, undergirding the fun is a carefully planned, thoroughly researched, well maintained structure that supports every good thing about teaching and learning with young children.
The staff selects age appropriate toys for each session and puts them in exactly the same places so children can find them easily. Special occasions and field trips move along at a peaceful pace. Positive language affirms every participant’s worth and ability. And daily routines, including giving a meaningful job to every child, create order.
“This is vital,” says teacher Cindy Caggiano. “It creates a positive, non-threatening learning environment where attempts and accomplishments are applauded and celebrated, and mistakes are viewed as opportunities to learn. It is never too early to learn that you put away what you get out, clean up what you mess up, and that there is a time to play and a time to work.”
Pat Howard has seen this at home, too. “Xander hadn’t really liked to clean up, but we play the cleanup game at home like we do at Funshop, and it makes it better.”
This is one of countless positive interactions and program-to-home crossovers the leadership can be proud of through the years. At the heart is the belief that children begin learning the moment they are born, and learn most when their adult caregivers share ongoing, meaningful communication and experiences in early childhood. Funshop helps.
“We take our experiences and our education and share it with our families,” says teacher Tammy White. “We let them know everything is OK. We have been in their place. We teach them to stop, take a deep breath and relax (S-T-A-R); to enjoy each and every moment, everything is a learning experience. We help build memories.
“Funshop is magical,” says White. “All worries are gone once you walk into the door. There is no place else on earth like Funshop!”
The next 40
Funshop and the Springfield Park District will celebrate their milestone at Kids ’n’ Family Music Fest, Sunday, July 24, 3-6 p.m., in Lincoln Park, 1601 N. Fifth Street, near the playground. So far, the entertainment includes musical antics with Miss Carole from Macaroni Soup, Chris Camp the Whip Guy, face painting, an ice cream social and more. Park in the Nelson Center lot. Free. 544-1751 for more information.
For summer session registration information, a look at the staff and 35th anniversary book, and much more visit http://www.friendsoffunshop.wordpress.com. Scholarship information for any session is available on request. To be a part of Funshop’s history in an ongoing, tangible way, click on the fundraising link.
DiAnne Crown is a regular contributor to Capital City Parent who encourages parents to spend more time being fully present with their children.
This article appears in Capital City Parent May 2016.
