Birmingham children and their families are invited Saturday, March 14, as ArtPlay Community Education presents a free 10th birthday celebration for Vocabby, the taxicab mascot of the Vocabby’s World program.
Vocabby’s World is a free community vocabulary program, sponsored by the PNC Foundation, and presented by ArtPlay, part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Center for the Arts.
Vocabby’s World is for the child and the guardian, to help create lifelong success in the early formative years. All children from birth to 5 years and their guardians are welcome. Through new adventures each month, Vocabby takes pre-K children on travels around the world as they learn vocabulary words through art and science integration. Vocabby’s World provides hands-on activities that reach families in Woodlawn and surrounding neighborhoods. Free books, curriculum and art materials reinforce the new vocabulary learned. Each lesson is themed and features words describing topics like weather, activities, animals and more.
The birthday party for Vocabby will start at 10:30 a.m. in UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Come join the fun with cake, activities, performances and plenty of smiles. This free event will be a birthday adventure kids will not forget. Register and reserve a spot at the celebration.
Since its start, Vocabby’s World programming has reached nearly 17,000 participants. In the last three years, Vocabby’s World programming has expanded significantly thanks to ongoing partnerships with Harris Early Learning Center, local Head Start and Early Head Start centers, the Woodlawn Street Market, IMPACT grant families, and local pre-K schools.
In 2024-2025, Vocabby’s World partnered with UAB Live HealthSmart Alabama to expand into the Titusville community, serving more than 1,344 children across the Greater Birmingham area.
The program is changing lives through education. When parent LaQuetta Danzy and her family first started attending Vocabby’s World with their child Faith, it introduced them to other families and became something they looked forward to each month.
“Our whole family came — my nephews, my mother and all of us together,” Danzy said. “The impact on my child was tremendous. It helped her develop stellar learning skills. She fell in love with dance and eventually became a part of ArtPlay. All of this started when she was just 3 years old. I saw such excitement in my child because of this program.”
Vocabby’s World meets the third Saturday of each month at Woodlawn United Methodist Church, 139 54th St. North, and usually has between 15 and 50 children with their families.
Check out upcoming lesson themes, including “Watching Clouds” on March 21 and “What’s in the Garden” on April 18, and follow Vocabby’s World on Facebook and Instagram. For more information and a free “Adventures of Vocabby” book, email petersoe@uab.edu.
