A Waldorf Outdoor Forest Program
(207)-266-1212
THE CHILDREN'S GARDEN
PROGRAM DETAILS
The Children's Garden
A Morning Waldorf Outdoor Forest Program
Ages 4 - 6 Years
Monday - Thursday
8:00AM - 12:00 Noon
Operating from September - June, following a school year calendar.
Tuition
Tuition includes 2 organic meals and 4 hours of outdoor adventure with loving, experienced caregivers. For more information on tuition rates and enrollment, please contact us at thechildrensgardenmaine@gmail.com
Enrollment
To enroll, or join our wait list, please contact our school director at thechildrensgardenmaine@gmail.com.
Daily Rhythm
good morning & breakfast
unstructured imaginative play
circle & puppetry
daily activity
daily walk & outdoor play
lunch
storytelling
goodbye
By integrating the forest school ideals into our curriculum, children experience the outdoors rain or shine. Each day we value the practical arts, domestic arts and adventures by including in our rhythm:
song - movement - puppetry
yoga - planting & harvesting - caring for animals - storytelling - birthday celebrations
circle & movement
fairy tales
mindfulness - candle & verse
rest time - indoor & outdoor play
seasonal celebrations - daily walks
water & sensory table play
crafts - finger knitting - felting - bread baking - maple tree tapping - seasonal festivals - & foraging
LOCATION
"As teachers, we must provide the environment. All aspects of the school are harmonious expressions of the inner qualities, attitudes, capacities and intentions of the teacher."
- Rudolf Steiner
The Children's Garden schoolhouse is in an insulated yurt located on The Fountain Farm in Hancock, Maine.
The Children's Garden is an insured Maine licensed Small Childcare Center. Our schoolhouse yurt is tucked in the woods surrounded by gardens and animals. The homelike indoor space provides a safe, warm place for warming up. Light, natural fabrics and wooden toys create an environment where children can imagine, grow and create.
Outdoor play takes place on our farm. With over 60 acres of meadow, woods trails, orchard, blueberry fields, greenhouses, pond and streams; each day is a new adventure! Our outdoor play space is designed using natural materials including stumps, sand pits, mud baking stations, tools, tree swings and gardens.
641 Eastside Road Hancock, Maine 04640
PHILOSOPHY
“Where is the book in which the teacher can read about what teaching is? The children themselves are this book. We should not learn to teach out of any book other than the one lying open before us and consisting of the children themselves.”
― Rudolf Steiner, Rhythms of Learning
At The Children's Garden the children are our curriculum. Each day at The Children's Garden we value earth's wonders, practice reverence, explore the Maine woods and practice skills and academic foundations that will guide these children to become happy, grateful members of our society.
At The Children's Garden, we provide the children with the outdoor environment to explore the natural world and see the earth's wonders. We provide a calming and relaxing indoor environment where children are encouraged to learn, think and grow. Our daily rhythm is designed to weave out breaths, and in breaths, creating a safe, secure learning atmosphere. The Children's Garden is a natural, playful and holistic transition from home, to school.
WILD FOREST PLAY
FARM EXPLORATION
THE CHILDREN'S GARDEN MISSION
We believe that a child must see and touch; for this is how they learn. We open the doors for observation, movement, experimentation, exploration and freedom to imagine. We encourage to gain confidence, we create a beautiful, secure, and comfortable environment to create trust and freedom to play. Our atmosphere of “home” creates an environment for young children that is calming, open and allows for imagination.
Love, acceptance, respect and reverence are valued.
