A mother and her young son work on an activity together that helps teach fine motor skills, creativity, and letters.

Operation Little Learners

Interactive Parent-Child Education Program

Operation Little Learners is an interactive education program for parents and their children to enhance child development. Parents learn to be the primary educator of their child with tools to enhance child development and early learning, as well as parent-child bonding.

About This Program

Operation Little Learners at is an educational program that acts as a much-needed platform to help support and build confidence in parents in their roles as their child’s first teacher. This program guides and provides tools to parents to enhance key areas of early childhood development and offers an opportunity for parent-child bonding.

This class also provides the setting for both parents and children to make new friendships and feel part of a community, which is critical in the lives of military families. Additionally, parent-child bonding can predict a child’s ability to develop healthy relationships, handle conflicts, and have an overall higher quality of life well into adulthood. The classes provide a variety of activities that enhance cognitive, emotional, social, motor, and other skills of children ages 18 months through 5 years old.

Frequent moves due to military orders are unique stressors of military family life. These moves can come without warning and without control over future location. The move can often cause economic hardships and feelings of isolation. Coupled with potential short-term deployments by the service member, military life can result in the military family feeling untethered without the support of their own family or an established local network to rely upon. Many junior-enlisted active-duty spouses are young, new parents, away from the familiarity of their home community.

This class provides the setting for both parents and children to make new friendships and feel part of a new community. From a physiological and sociological perspective, we know a parent’s bonding with their little one can predict the child’s ability to develop healthy relationships, handle conflicts, and have an overall higher quality of life well into adulthood. As such, the Armed Services YMCA has created Operation Little Learners, which fosters a connection to a community of support, as well as fun and engaging activities to ensure that parents and their child/children learn ways to grow together as a family.

Operation Little Learners education program builds confidence in military parents in their role as their child’s first teacher. Children ages 2-5 participate in activities to prepare them for kindergarten. Operation Little Learners:

  • Provides activities to enhance cognitive, emotional, social, motor, and other skills.
  • Focuses on phonics, writing, science, and math skills.
  • Provides fun and engaging activities to ensure that parents and their children learn ways to grow together as a family.
  • Provides a connection to a community of support.

Many of our ASYMCA locations offer Operation Little Learners. Find your local branch to inquire about the availability of this program in your area.

Be a Foundation for Learning

The Armed Services YMCA is committed to providing this important, early education and social development program to more families, and at more locations nationwide. You can give a military child the solid foundation that a successful future is build upon.

Give Today