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

The trail is part of the United Way’s Born Learning initiative, which focuses on early childhood education, and is the second such trail in Williamson County. UWWC previously installed a similar trail at Berry Springs Park in Georgetown.

“[This trail is] part of our investment in early childhood education,” said Laurie Garza, director of resource development and marketing for UWWC. “[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 10 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.

Garza said the organization plans to add similar 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.”

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

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

“What I love about this is, yes, we give [our company’s] 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,” he said. “They need to engage with their world, and this is an opportunity to do that.”

Pathway to success

The United Way of Williamson County has two Born Learning Trails at two Williamson County parks, including one trail at Berry Springs Park, 1801 CR 152, Georgetown, and one at Champion Park, 3830 Brushy Creek Road, Cedar Park. Laurie Garza, UWWC director of resource development and marketing, said the nonprofit would like to install Born Learning Trails in every community in the county.

1. The Born Learning Trail uses the same signs along each trail that help teach children by encouraging them to explore and play in nature. Each sign has different activities associated with letters, shapes or activities painted on the ground.

2. Along the trail, signs include information on how to encourage children to grow their confidence, such as parents and caregivers having their children describe what they are seeing in nature and children being encouraged to do the things they like to do. 

3. Other signs along the trail ask parents and caregivers to play games with their children, including hopscotch, which can help children learn while moving. Through such activities children can learn to identify numbers and be active.

4. Some signs include asking if children can find objects in nature that are the same shapes as those painted on the ground. The shapes can be used to help children look at the world in new ways, according to the Born Learning Trail program.