Grammie here, Wild Child’s Program Director. I wanted to share a little bit of my view over the past few months. These are some of the uplifting scenes we get to observe daily while working at Wild Child:
- Two two-year-olds cooperating to build a tall block tower, instead of the normal scene which inevitably devolves into block throwing & tears as one child rushes to knock over another’s masterpiece.
- A four year old running to get “boo boo band” or icepack for friend who was hurt in a minor fall on our 2ft tall slide.
- Another two year old initiating sharing: ” You wanna use the pink marker? I’ll use the purple one!”
- A three year old voluntarily sharing her snacks from home with all her friends at the Watering Hole.
- A usually reserved 3 year old dancing and stomping with his peers to the Animal Freeze Dance.
- A younger guest among our regulars who — at just 18 months old– was formally an extreme crier each time daddy attempted drop-off, now jumps right in to play as soon as I welcome her in my arms.
And possibly the best sign of all? Everyday we always have at least one child crying and fighting when it is time to leave. We hate the tears, of course, but the message is clear: We’re doing something right!
From the outside, it may just look like playing silly games . . . you see simple throw away crafts and coloring pages, or chaotic running around. Actually, what we do at Wild Child is so much more.
It is all about fostering development of the children we serve. They practice physical skills such as hand eye coordination and fine motor daily with those crafts (and some of SUPER CUTE, have you seen what we’ve been making lately on Facebook?)
Following directions, using tools, fair play, cooperation, and so many other essential skills are caught, not just taught, during our Supervised Play sessions. We have direct instruction by our teachers like myself and the other Wild Child Guides, but the most beautiful thing to watch is how the children also teach each other. This is especially powerful due to the fact that we welcome mixed aged groups in the same classroom, so we often have children from 1-5 or 6 all learning together on a weekly basis. This is invaluable for those children without siblings at home.
Inspired by nature, all of our classes focus on a different species or part of our natural world. It is clear that children take key lessons home with them. We’ve heard reports from parents of their 2 year old child singing the Habitat Song on repeat, or their 3 year old pretending to be an elephant all day long, and their children now being fervent bug rescuers thanks to all our bug hunts.
We also cover language development and math awareness daily in both our Pre-K: Learn & Play and Toddler Fodder & Fun classes, and they are picking up their letters and numbers, too — but in my book, all of the above are far less important than my goals for my own grandchildren and all of the children who visit Wild Child. My priority is to promote resiliency and self-efficacy in our children. When children feel confident in their abilities to learn tasks they are eager to try new experiences. They are also much more willing to jump into the fray, get comfortable playing with peers, and form meaningful relationships within our community.
Our mission at Wild Child is support families’ physical, socioemotional, and intellectual needs through connection, play, and learning that honors our inner nature. We are proud to provide stimulating activities in a fun, supportive environment for learners of all ages, especially our wild animals of the “tiny human variety”. Our children grow strong, capable and confident. Nevertheless at the end of the day, it still looks like, and IS play! (And we wouldn’t have it any other way!)