Westcoast Wave Newsletter - May 2026
Welcome to the May 2026 Newsletter!
May is a special time in British Columbia as we celebrate Child Care Month—an opportunity to recognize the vital role early learning and child care educators play in the lives of children, families, and communities every day. Your knowledge, care, creativity, and commitment form the foundation of strong, responsive early learning environments, and this month invites us to pause and honour that work. May is traditionally filled with appreciation campaigns, professional development opportunities, and community events that recognize and celebrate child care providers across the province.
In this edition of our newsletter, you’ll find professional learning opportunities, helpful resources to support reflective and playful practice, and community highlights that connect and strengthen our sector. Whether you’re focused on leadership development, supporting children’s learning through play, or staying connected with peers, we hope these updates feel meaningful, relevant, and supportive during this month of recognition.
As always, we want to thank you for the dedication you bring to your role and the positive impact you have on children and families across our communities. Your work matters—not just this month, but every day.
The CCRC team is grateful to walk alongside you, offering support, connections, and resources throughout the year. We’re proud to celebrate Child Care Month with you and look forward to continuing this work together.
With appreciation,
The CCRC Team
BC's Path to Universal Child Care Podcast
Help us spread the word about our podcast, BC’s Path to Universal Child Care, and become a listener if you are not one already. Listen now to this month's episode of BC's Path to Universal Child Care Podcast Season 5, Episode 7: Nicky Byres - Organizational Leadership in Childcare
Child care and early childhood education in BC continue to evolve, and we’re here to help you stay informed. Each edition, we gather insights and timely updates for families, early years educators, ECE students and service providers. We invite you to listen together with colleagues and share your own experiences and perspectives as part of this ongoing conversation.
Listen to past engaging episodes as we wrap up season 5, wherever you get your podcasts, and on our website under News & Articles.
Administration & Management for Child Care Course (AMCC)
“I feel like I learned something new every week and [the course] helped me refresh some of the information I already had.”
“Everything was incredibly helpful. Learning about the policies and how to improve them was so helpful and important to learn about. I was really lost about what to learn and know when it comes to managing a childcare facility, so this really brought some guidance and gave me a lot of incredible resources to look at.”
Participants who took our 40-hour Administration and Management for Child Care Instructor-Guided course have lots of great things to say. Join a group of peers and an instructor for a comprehensive overview of all aspects of leadership development full of learning, reflection, and discussion. Thanks to generous government funding, we are offering this course for $100 to all participants.
You can still register! It’s not too late to join our AMCC Instructor-Guided course which starts on Saturday, May 23, 2026.
Westcoast Professional Development & Learning
Looking for a way to stay engaged with your peers and learn new skills? Check out the professional development courses happening at Westcoast!
Our courses and workshops support the implementation of the BC Early Learning Framework, Schedule G of the BC Child Care Licensing Regulation and the Early Childhood Educators of BC Code of Ethics.
Create a free WCCRC account to register for our courses, workshops, access certificates and view your transaction receipts.
Sign in or create a free WCCRC account to get started.
To view previous and upcoming workshops, visit our calendar page.
Before registering, check out our Workshop FAQ's, Policies and Online Workshop Basics.
Westcoast Family Centres offers engaging workshops and groups that provide resources for parents and families in the Lower Mainland. Our programs range from parent education to parent support groups to activity programs for children. Our evidence-based programs and workshops are focused on strengthening your connection with your child and family, and foster connections with other families in your community.
Learn more about our upcoming groups offered this Spring on our events calendar, from Empowering Mom's Group in Farsi, Successful Co-Parenting, and other drop-in programs such as Baby & Me, Power of Play, Little Explorers and more!
WELL News
The WELL team had the pleasure of sitting down with staff members from the Vancouver Public Library recently, and together we discussed how we at the WELL may enhance our services to the community through support from the VPL, be they potential future brainstorming meetings or simply by directing more people towards their services. Amongst the services that are provided by the VPL, are Early Childhood Educator Workshops, Storytime Kits, and Books to Go. These may be good options for families and educators if they enjoy similar items from the WELL and the WCCRC and have a VPL branch in their area.
Family Support Institute’s ‘findSupport BC’ Resource
The Family Support Institute of BC has launched findSupport BC, an online tool designed to help families, caregivers, and professionals quickly locate community services and programs across the province. Users can search by need, location, or service type — from disability supports to counselling and early childhood resources — making it easier to find the help that fits each family’s unique situation. This free resource aims to reduce barriers and connect people with timely, relevant supports with just a few clicks.
Play Is Learning: Why It Matters More Than We Think
Play is an important way to support your child’s healthy development and helps your child learn about themselves, others and the world around them. Play helps your child grow in all 5 major areas of child development.
Play helps children build:
Physical skills like crawling, climbing, walking, running, using their fingers, seeing and hearing
Social skills like cooperating, sharing, being polite, taking turns, and leading and following others
Emotional skills like identifying and dealing with feelings
Cognitive skills like problem solving, using their imagination, figuring out how things work, and learning shapes, colours and numbers
Language skills like learning the names of things, forming sentences, telling stories and listening
Helping children build these skills through play is essential because play nurtures their natural curiosity, strengthens their social and emotional development, and lays the foundation for lifelong learning.
Importance of unstructured, outdoor play
Unstructured, outdoor play is an excellent way to help your child develop skills in all 5 areas listed above. It also allows them to learn to play with others, use their imagination, plan, manage risks, and build self-esteem and resilience. Examples of unstructured, outdoor play include:
Looking at bugs and other wildlife
Collecting stones, leaves, flowers and other natural “treasures”
Playing with dirt, sand or water
Playing with your child
Set aside time to play with your child each day. You can:
Take them outside to play or go for walks
Read books, listen to music and sing songs with them
Play simple games together, like peek-a-boo or pretending to be animals
Use supervised bath time to interact and have fun with your child
Do arts and crafts together
Show them how to do something you enjoy, like puzzles or dancing
Play for babies (birth to 6 months)
In addition to the activities already listed, you can help your baby to play and explore by:
Holding them, touching them, and cuddling them skin-to-skin
Smiling back when they smile and making lots of eye contact
Repeating and responding to their coos and babbles
Giving them lots of supervised tummy time
Holding up bright objects that make noise when your baby hits them
Letting them feel things with different textures
Putting them in front of a mirror
Going for walks in the fresh air and letting them sit on the grass to explore nature
Play for toddlers (6 months to 3 years)
In addition to the activities previously listed, you can help your toddler play and explore by:
Giving them lots of free, unscheduled playtime to be creative and see where their imagination leads them
Offering choices and letting them decide what they play
Encouraging both active and quiet activities
Giving them praise and proudly showing their work
Taking a break when they seem tired, hungry, uninterested or over-stimulated
Toys
The best toys encourage your child to learn, explore and use their imagination. The toys do not have to be fancy or expensive, or specific to any gender. Additionally, fewer toys can improve your child’s ability to engage in play as too many toys can be overwhelming. Try putting a small number of safe toys within reach of your child so that they can engage freely with these toys. Toys can include:
Items you have around the house
Cardboard boxes
Pots and pans
Plastic bowls for filling and dumping
Clothes for dress-up
Classic toys
Blocks and nesting toys
Stuffed animals and dolls
Trucks, cars and trains
Balls
Nature’s toys
Dirt and sand
Water
Stones
Safer toys
Prevent injuries to your child by:
Ensuring toys are well-made and fit your child’s age
Not using toys with broken, sharp or loose pieces
Avoiding toys with small batteries
Ensuring your child cannot take batteries out of toys
Ensuring your toy box lid can’t trap your child inside or slam down on them
Not using toys with strings, cords or ribbons longer than 15 cm (6 inches)
Avoid small toys that can fit inside your child’s mouth
The Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Center Society (VAFCS) has been providing quality programs and services to the Vancouver's urban, Indigenous constituents for over 50 years.
The Centre provides programs in health and welfare, social services, human rights, culture, education, recreation and equality for all genders of Aboriginal Peoples of all age groups. To find out more about their programs and events, visit their website at https://vafcs.org/
Reading Buddies Program at Vancouver Public Library
VPL’s Britannia branch at 1661 Napier (just off Commercial Dr.) is going to be running Reading Buddies from Wednesday April 15 (teen training) to Wednesday May 13, 2026.
Reading Buddies pairs a child in Grade 2-4 with a teen “big buddy” for a fun and informal reading practice once a week. The goal of the program is to give middle-years children opportunities to work with teen mentors, who will demonstrate their love of reading and help their buddies become lifelong readers. Reading Buddies is not a tutoring program.
Dates and times:
Wednesday April 15 from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm for Big Buddy for teens’ training.
Wednesday April 22 to May 13 from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm for sessions with Little Buddies.
Register online!
Teen volunteers: https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/699e0c8e491b809c6f1c313d
Little Buddies : https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/699e0c8b1e64afd01e5dc6b5
For more information call 604-331-3690