Join the Play & Learn Program
Our Program
The Play & Learn Program is here to help you learn how to use play to build your baby’s brain and help them succeed throughout their life. Our team of early childhood experts will share fun and easy strategies to support your child’s development. When you sign up for one of our 20 weekly classes, you’ll be able to meet other families, learn about child development, and enjoy music, art, and other activities with your child.
There is no cost to attend sessions at The Children’s Storefront; we are a nonprofit and offer our program to all families in our community.
Our program is offered in both English and Spanish, and we have virtual and in-person options. Check out our schedule below and register for a class today!
New families must first attend a Saturday morning orientation before registering for class. If you cannot attend on Saturday morning, please email program@thechildrensstorefront.org to schedule another time.
Our Age Groups
3-12 Months
1 Year Olds
2 Year Olds
3 Year Olds
2 + 3 Year Olds
We serve families with children from 3 months through 3 years old.
Join Us Today!
Registration is required for all classes, including drop-in and cohort classes.
Program Descriptions
General Sessions
Brilliant Babies
Celebrate the Brilliance of Your Baby’s First Year! Our Brilliant Babies session is a gentle, joyful, and welcoming session designed specifically for the incredible first year of life. Together with their caregivers, infants will explore their world through soft sensory play, soothing rhythms, and interactive discovery. Facilitated by our Program Coaches, this relaxed session is the perfect place to nurture your baby’s developing brain, celebrate early milestones, and connect with a supportive community of local families.
Designed to support:
- Sensory & Brain Development: Hands-on exploration of diverse textures, sights, and sounds that map the neural pathways of your baby’s growing brain.
- Early Communication: Interactive singing, reading, and mimicking activities that build the foundation for language, listening, and vocalization.
- Motor Milestone Progression: Playful activities designed to build the core strength needed for rolling, sitting up, reaching, and crawling.
- Caregiver Community & Support: A dedicated space for parents and caregivers to share experiences, build friendships, and find a village right here in Harlem.
Wonderful Ones
Celebrate the Wonder of Being One! Our Wonderful Ones class is a vibrant, welcoming space designed specifically for the unique energy, curiosity, and rapid growth of one-year-olds. Together with their caregivers, Wonderful Ones will explore the world around them through purposeful play, joyful music, and hands-on discovery. Facilitated by early childhood-trained Program Coaches, this relaxed and fun session is the perfect place for your little one to take their next big steps in learning as you support and follow their lead!
Designed to support:
- Supporting Brain Development: Nurturing rapid neural growth by combining sensory exploration with interactive music and language-rich stories that spark early problem-solving.
- Socialization & Parallel Play: At one year old, children are transitioning into “parallel play” (playing near each other rather than with each other). This relaxed group setting provides a safe, comfortable environment for them to begin interacting and socializing with peers.
- Active Developmental Milestones: Through targeted, hands-on creative activities and music, the session supports rapid cognitive growth, language acquisition (through shared reading), and fine/gross motor skills during a crucial year of discovery.
- Caregiver-Child Bonding through ‘Serve & Return’: Because caregivers and children participate side-by-side, the session intentionally strengthens the attachment bond through shared joy and interactive play.
- Community Building & Equitable Access: In alignment with The Children’s Storefront’s mission, the program is designed to bring families together in a supportive network, completely free of charge, ensuring every child has access to support and being the experts of their little ones.
Terrific Twos
Our Terrific Twos session is an energetic, engaging, and supportive space designed to channel the incredible independence, language explosion, and active imagination of two-year-olds. Attending together with their caregivers, toddlers will navigate their expanding world through collaborative play, interactive storytelling, and hands-on creative projects. Facilitated by early childhood-trained Program Coaches, this fun and dynamic session gives your toddler the perfect environment to build confidence and express big feelings, all while strengthening their bond with you.
Designed to support:
- Supporting Brain Development: Fueling cognitive milestone progression through expressive storytelling and choices that strengthen independent thinking, spatial awareness, and memory.
- Language & Self-Expression: Group activities, songs, and shared books that build vocabulary, encourage sentence structure, and help toddlers name their world.
- Emerging Social Skills: Purposeful play that introduces early concepts of sharing, taking turns, and moving from parallel play into cooperative interaction with peers.
- Confidence & Autonomy: Activities that offer toddlers choices (“Which color?” or “How will you move?”), empowering their need for independence and building self-esteem.
- Gross & Fine Motor Mastery: Fun challenges like balancing, jumping, threading, and handling tools that refine coordination and body awareness.
All-Stars
Where Our Big Toddlers Take Center Stage! Our All-Stars session is a high-energy, imaginative, and engaging space designed specifically for the rapidly expanding worlds of two- and three-year-olds. Attending together with their caregivers, these “big toddlers” will dive into collaborative group play, interactive storytelling, and hands-on creative challenges. Facilitated by early childhood-trained Program Coaches, this dynamic session bridges emerging independence with cooperative play, creating the perfect environment for your child to build confidence, make friends, and shine!
Designed to support:
- Supporting Brain Development: Advancing critical thinking and language complexity through multi-step activities, imaginative narratives, and collaborative problem-solving.
- Cooperative Play & Social Skills: Purposeful activities that guide children from playing next to each other into playing with each other—practicing sharing, taking turns, and team-building.
- Language & Cognitive Leaps: Complex interactive stories, expressive group songs, and multi-step activities that expand vocabulary, critical thinking, and listening skills.
- Confidence & Leadership: Opportunities for children to make choices, lead brief segments, and express their growing autonomy in a supportive environment.
- Advanced Motor Coordination: Fun physical challenges like jumping, balancing, sorting, and using tools that refine both gross and fine motor mastery.
Build With Me
Imagine, Invent, and Construct Together! Welcome to Build With Me, a special installment of our In Practice session style! This open-ended session is entirely dedicated to child-led discovery and the magic of early engineering. Attending together with their caregivers, children of all ages (Babies & Toddlers) will explore a rotating wonderland of wooden blocks, natural loose parts, and unique recycled materials. Without instructions or set guidelines, your little builder is free to stack, sort, balance, and knock down to their heart’s content!
Designed to support:
- Child-Led Exploration: Emphasizing the process of building over the final product, allowing children to take charge, test theories, and solve problems at their own pace.
- Multigenerational & Multi-Age Play: A unique environment where an infant can practice grasping a small wooden block while a 3-year-old works nearby on a complex cardboard tower.
- STEM & Spatial Awareness: Hands-on manipulation of shapes, sizes, and gravity that naturally introduces foundational math, physics, and spatial concepts.
- Fine & Gross Motor Skills: Moving large boxes, balancing delicate parts, and threading or stacking materials to challenge and refine hand-eye coordination.
Create & Play
Dive into a World of Color, Texture, and Imagination! Welcome to Sensory & Process Art, an immersive installment of our In Practice series! This session is a vibrant, open-ended celebration of pure creativity. Attending together with their caregivers, children of all ages (Babies & Toddlers) will discover the joy of making, squishing, mixing, and exploring. In this session, we intentionally focus entirely on “process art;” meaning we value the sensory experience, the laughs, and the creative journey far more than the final masterpiece!
Designed to support:
- The “Process Art” Philosophy: Eliminating the pressure to make something “perfect” so children are free to experiment, take creative risks, and build authentic confidence.
- Sensory Integration & Brain-Building: Stimulating multiple senses at once, which strengthens neural pathways responsible for memory, focus, and emotional grounding.
- Fine Motor Development: Squeezing, painting, tearing, and gripping tools to help build hand strength and dexterity needed for future writing and coordination.
- Emotional Expression: Providing a tactile, screen-free outlet where young children can express big feelings and ideas before they even have the words to speak them.
Summer Sessions
Mindful Movers
Mindful Movers:
Where stories move us! Join us for a playful session that blends the magic of storytelling with active movement. Designed to support emotional regulation and motor skills, Mindful Movers provides the perfect environment for brain-building and bonding. Ready, set, story! This session is intentionally designed to support:
- Brain-Building: Cognitive engagement through narrative.
- Emotional Regulation: Learning to find “calm” within the “action.”
- Motor Skills: Developing coordination through purposeful play.
- Bonding: Strengthening the connection between child and caregiver.
We invite YOU to lead a segment of a Mindful Movers session. Do you have a favorite book you read at home? Help us bring it to life through movement!
How to Sign Up:
- Click our Interest Form here to let us know which story you’d like to share
- We will contact you to confirm your slot and help brainstorm movement ideas.
- No experience is necessary—just a love for stories and play!
C.A.P.E.
Developed by the experts at Sarah Lawrence College’s Child Development Institute, CAPE is designed to reclaim the magic of free play in our community. Instead of traditional playground structures, children explore “loose parts” in nature. All children and their families are welcome. This is a “stay and play” session where caregivers are invited to observe their children’s amazing imaginations in action. We’ll be meeting at The Children’s Storefront and exploring the great outdoors through Marcus Garvey Park.
Designed to focus on:
- The Power of “Loose Parts”: Everyday items become telescopes, forts, or spaceships. This fosters incredible problem-solving, collaboration, and creative thinking.
- Building Confidence: By assessing their own physical risks—like what they observe on a nature walk in the community —children build genuine confidence and resilience.
- Sustainable & Local: We use materials found right here in our community, showing families that high-quality play doesn’t require expensive toys.
Stay Safe & Get Messy!
- Supervision: CAPE is a shared family experience; please keep a watchful eye on your little explorers at all times.
- Support: Our Coaches are here to guide the play and keep the inspiration flowing!
- Preparedness: A First Aid kit is always on-hand for peace of mind.
- Dress Code: Wear clothes that love to get dirty! We suggest sturdy, “play-ready” outfits for both kids and adults.
Dads Stay & Play
A Space for Dads, Father Figures, and Their Little Ones! Launching this July, our Dads Stay & Play session is a welcoming, vibrant, and relaxed space designed specifically for fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and male caregivers to connect. Led by Jacob of Dads Stroll Group and attending together with their little ones, dads will have the opportunity to engage in open, child-led play while building a supportive network with other men in the community. Facilitated alongside our early childhood-trained coaches, this session is the perfect landing pad to share experiences, swap stories, and bond with your child.
Designed to support:
- Fatherhood Community & Support: Creating a strong, local network where dads can openly share the unique rewards and challenges of parenting, building lasting friendships right here in Harlem.
- Deepened Attachment Bonding: Giving father figures dedicated, intentional play time to strengthen their relationship and secure attachment with their child.
- Early Socialization: Providing an open-play environment where infants and toddlers can practice early social skills alongside positive adult male role models.
Additional Programs
Caregiver Support Group
Our support group for parents and caregivers is a safe space to explore the joys and challenges of raising a child.
Brain Food Series
Our monthly Brain Food workshops are a hands-on way to learn about using meal time to support your child’s development – and to take home fresh fruit and vegetables!
Big Note, Little Note
Our signature music education program brings Carnegie Hall to Harlem, unlocking the power of music to build brains!
What to Expect
Classes are fun and relaxed! Each class incorporates creative activities, music, reading, and more. Our Early Childhood Coaches facilitate classes and create a welcoming community! Virtual classes are hosted on Zoom, and our in-person classes are held at our beautiful playspace, located at 2002 Fifth Avenue in Harlem, NY.
New Family Orientation
If you’ve never attended a session before, please start by joining us for a brief orientation on Saturdays at 9am. You can create an account and sign up for orientation via our Caregiver Portal.
Health & Safety
We ask that if you feel ill that you stay home for the safety of the families visiting our playspace. All participants must remove their shoes in the playspace. We have socks and shoe covers if you need them.
Registrations for the Play & Learn Program are accepted on a rolling basis, with new classes released two weeks at a time. Registration for special programs is first come, first served. If you need help registering or have a question, please email our Program Team.
