Sweet Peas Kindergarten
The kindergarten classroom looks warm and inviting. There are mostly handcrafted toys: wooden blocks homemade from tree branches, silks and cotton cloths encouraging open-ended creative play, cloth dolls, etc. There is also a nature table reflecting the seasons. Each day on the nature walk the children gather new pieces to add to the nature table. Rhythm of the Day, Week, and Season Every day there is a clear rhythm for children to follow. As the day progresses activities alternate between open-ended, child-directed activities and more inward activities like circle-time, story time and eating snack together. Children learn organization skills by following this rhythm and feel secure because they know what to expect. There is also a weekly rhythm: Tuesday is soup-making day, Wednesday painting day, and Thursday is baking day. Finally, there is the seasonal rhythm. We celebrate seasonal festivals and incorporate certain seasonal kindergarten activities. Activities in the Kindergarten: Play Time Play is a child’s work! Early childhood play is vital to a child’s growth. By socializing with other children through play, children have the opportunity to creatively imitate what they see adults doing and during this process they learn important life lessons including how to interact socially. In addition to playing indoors, children play outdoors in large sandboxes, jumping on wooden structures, using natural log stumps, etc. Thus, children experience different natural substances and are encouraged to use their imagination to build a fort, a castle or anything else their creative minds envision. We allow children to go out in the rain and walk and play while it’s raining unless it is thundering. How refreshing to see children splash and experience a rain puddle! The children also help with gardening - sewing seeds, planting herbs, etc. They can witness the plants growing and harvest and eat them when ready! We also have tricycles and scooters for the children to use outdoors. Cooking, Baking and Cleaning Up Children begin to learn the responsibilities of taking care of themselves. They learn these skills by chopping up vegetables once a week for soup, making applesauce, and baking bread. Especially bread baking once a week is a special weekly process that becomes quite meaningful to each child as they form their bread and share it with others. The whole class also helps together cleaning up the kindergarten room daily. Watercolors Learning to work with watercolor once a week and initially only using one color and adding to the rainbow produces many fine young artists. Handwork and Crafts Besides paper crafts the children pursue simple sewing projects, learn to fingerknit with yarn and might do some wet felting. Lunch Lunchtime is shared each day with fellow students who sit outdoors and enjoy the fresh air as much as possible. Parents are welcome to share this experience any day of the week. The Sweet Peas Kindergarten is open 5 days a week; 8:45am till 2:45pm Monday - Fridays. On Thursday afternoons the children share their home-baked bread and some of the songs and verses they learned with their parents during a short social gathering. Children can be dropped off starting at 8am, and we offer aftercare until 4pm every day. Information on Tuition and Fees and an application form can be downloaded from the sidebar. Please contact us to arrange a visit of the Sweet Peas Kindergarten. |
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The children play with items found on our nature walks.
