The United Way of Williamson County, Williamson County Parks and Recreation Department and The Honest Company celebrated the opening of the Born Learning Trail in Champion Park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 18.[/caption]

The United Way of Williamson County celebrated the opening of a Born Learning Trail at Champions Park in partnership with The Honest Company during a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 18.

The trail is part of the nonprofit’s Born Learning initiative, which focuses on early childhood education.

“[This trail is] part of our investment in early childhood education,” said Laurie Garza, director of resource development and marketing for the United Way of Williamson County. “[This trail will] help parents and caregivers prepare their children to enter school ready to read, ready to learn and, more importantly, ready to succeed academically.”

The trail includes signs that feature activities for parents and caregivers to engage in with their children to teach literacy and language skills. Activities include making up stories or songs related to something found in the park or identifying shapes and animals in the park, Garza said.

Volunteers from The Honest Company’s Austin office helped install the signs along the trail in Champion Park at 3830 Brushy Creek Road.

Christopher Gavigan, The Honest Company co-founder and chief purpose officer said it was important for his company to give back to the community.

“My co-founder Jessica [Alba] and I, we knew it was … our duty to do good by doing well, and doing well is engagement with the community by giving back,” he said. “What I love about this is, yes, we give products and we teach about a healthy lifestyle, but healthy is also in connection with nature and the earth, and … children in a highly digital world need to get out. They need to engage with their world, and this is an opportunity to do that.”

UWWC has one other Born Learning Trail at Berry Springs Park in Georgetown, and Garza said the organization hopes to add trails in other parks throughout the county.

“Our goal, as United Way of Williamson County, is to get these installed in all of our communities in the county. Right now we have one in Georgetown and now one in Cedar Park, so we have lots of opportunities and room for growth,” she said. “It’s one more thing we can do as a community that is easy, simple and makes sense that we can invest in our kids.”