NEW MILFORD, Pa. — A year ago, the coronavirus brought so much uncertainty to schools and early learning programs, including Endless Mountain Learning Center in New Milford.
Jolene Conigliaro is the owner and director of the center that works with students between 3 and 10 years old.
Conigliaro says they were getting emails from parents asking what they should be doing at home for the kids, so Conigliaro put together kits for the students to keep their brains engaged and mailed them to each of the 74 students.
"How do we put child care in the mail, like how? What do we possibly do for families? We do a lot of learning through play, and I had no idea how I could possibly package that up and help them in their own homes."
Over the summer, there was still uncertainty for kids returning to the classroom. That's when Conigliaro and her administrators began brainstorming.
They looked into subscription boxes for kids. Conigliaro says some of them were great but felt they lacked something, so they decided to create their own subscription box based on their own curriculum.
"In here is 18 activities. This is our spring edition, and they have a curriculum guide with all of the activities that are listed inside of it. Each one of the activities goes through a process," Conigliaro explained.
Each box comes prepared with every possible item you'll need to do the activities that come in the box.
"For the families that did not need to return to care or weren't comfortable returning to care, this would be another option for them."
The subscription boxes began shipping out in December, and they're catching on quickly. This is the only second round of shipping the subscription boxes, and Conigliaro says they are shipping them all over the country.
"Our first 30 days, we sent boxes to Arizona and California, and at that point, it was super-exciting."
There are also variations for the subscription service if you have more than one child under 10.