Children’s Urban Garden & Atelier’s Early Childhood programs offer an extension of the family experience, an intermediate step for the child between the home and formal schooling. Activities support the healthiest possible development of young children by providing an aesthetically pleasing and nurturing environment in which their imagination and creativity may flourish.
Garden Gate Program (2.8 – 4 years old)
Monday – Friday 2 - 3 days, 9:00am – 12:30pm
Oak Leaf Program (4 – 6 years old)
Monday – Friday 2 - 5 days, 9:00am – 2:00*
* extended day option may be arranged up until 3:30pm
Acorn Aprés-School (5 – 11 years old)
Programming opportunities forthcoming
Summer Program
8 weeks late June - early August (3-11 years old)
2016 Summer Program Dates TBA
Mixed-Age Preschool & Kindergarten
A warm, protective environment creates a secure base for children to explore the broader world and develop confidence. Spaces are created with a feeling of warmth and simple beauty, filled with an abundance of natural objects that invite imagination and interaction through free play. This environment, together with the wondrous world of the outdoors, provides endless material for the important work of young children: play.
The structure and routines of both preschool and mixed-age kindergartens are largely the same, appropriately increasing the length or complexity of various activities or tasks as the children mature. Every day is infused with a predictable sequence; each week has its rotation of activities and each season embraces appropriate activities and celebrations – all of which are carefully crafted to provide a sense of security, confidence and delight: the very best atmosphere for healthy development and learning. The children are active participants in all aspects of the day: welcoming friends as they build imaginary worlds together during free-play, helping one another fill watering cans, measuring flour and kneading dough for bread or preparing vegetables for soup, setting the table and serving classmates at snack time, exploring color with wondrous liquid water colors, modeling with warm, sweet-smelling beeswax, learning stories, singing songs and playing partner games during circle time, working on a seasonal craft project.
All of these rich, purpose-filled activities foster healthy growth physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally to provide a firm foundation for future learning and development. They provide the very medium through which children develop gross and fine motor skills, cultivate flexible thought, learn & practice positive social skills, and build self-awareness and self-esteem.
Our programs nurture the wonder-filled, imaginative world of young children, the bedrock of early childhood, in a variety of ways: Children are provided with a variety of rich experiences both in the classroom and outside in nature. The ‘lessons’ in these experiences are not explained to the children, but the experience itself is allowed to live in the thoughts of the children to digest at their own pace. A focus on free play and imagination helps children create mental images which support creative thinking and mobility of intellectual concepts.
The opportunities found in unstructured play with peers develop healthy social skills: negotiation, patience, leadership, collaboration and self-regulation. Children are constantly observed and supported in this organic process through gentle guidance and positive example.
The power of abstract thought which begins to blossom during adolescence, is strengthened by a child’s ‘work’ during childhood’s early years. The skills, capacity and flexibility gained during this important preparatory developmental phase yields strength for building multiple intelligences into adulthood.
Garden Gate Program (2.8 – 4 years old)
Monday – Friday 2 - 3 days, 9:00am – 12:30pm
Oak Leaf Program (4 – 6 years old)
Monday – Friday 2 - 5 days, 9:00am – 2:00*
* extended day option may be arranged up until 3:30pm
Acorn Aprés-School (5 – 11 years old)
Programming opportunities forthcoming
Summer Program
8 weeks late June - early August (3-11 years old)
2016 Summer Program Dates TBA
Mixed-Age Preschool & Kindergarten
A warm, protective environment creates a secure base for children to explore the broader world and develop confidence. Spaces are created with a feeling of warmth and simple beauty, filled with an abundance of natural objects that invite imagination and interaction through free play. This environment, together with the wondrous world of the outdoors, provides endless material for the important work of young children: play.
The structure and routines of both preschool and mixed-age kindergartens are largely the same, appropriately increasing the length or complexity of various activities or tasks as the children mature. Every day is infused with a predictable sequence; each week has its rotation of activities and each season embraces appropriate activities and celebrations – all of which are carefully crafted to provide a sense of security, confidence and delight: the very best atmosphere for healthy development and learning. The children are active participants in all aspects of the day: welcoming friends as they build imaginary worlds together during free-play, helping one another fill watering cans, measuring flour and kneading dough for bread or preparing vegetables for soup, setting the table and serving classmates at snack time, exploring color with wondrous liquid water colors, modeling with warm, sweet-smelling beeswax, learning stories, singing songs and playing partner games during circle time, working on a seasonal craft project.
All of these rich, purpose-filled activities foster healthy growth physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally to provide a firm foundation for future learning and development. They provide the very medium through which children develop gross and fine motor skills, cultivate flexible thought, learn & practice positive social skills, and build self-awareness and self-esteem.
Our programs nurture the wonder-filled, imaginative world of young children, the bedrock of early childhood, in a variety of ways: Children are provided with a variety of rich experiences both in the classroom and outside in nature. The ‘lessons’ in these experiences are not explained to the children, but the experience itself is allowed to live in the thoughts of the children to digest at their own pace. A focus on free play and imagination helps children create mental images which support creative thinking and mobility of intellectual concepts.
The opportunities found in unstructured play with peers develop healthy social skills: negotiation, patience, leadership, collaboration and self-regulation. Children are constantly observed and supported in this organic process through gentle guidance and positive example.
The power of abstract thought which begins to blossom during adolescence, is strengthened by a child’s ‘work’ during childhood’s early years. The skills, capacity and flexibility gained during this important preparatory developmental phase yields strength for building multiple intelligences into adulthood.