Children come into life with a sense that the world is a place of wonder and magic. They feel completely connected to and mindful of everything that surrounds them. Stillness, peace and life energy that emanates from the natural world are essential to experiencing the wonders of life.
The natural environment with its diversity of elements provides children with a sense of adventure, expanding their horizon and exposing them to the unplanned and unknown. Through creating their own creative, physical challenges and risks, children practice problem-solving and decision-making and in so doing, learn much about their strengths and limitations. This is their preparedness for life.
Play is Children’s Serious Work
We value and emphasize the fundamental role of creative play in early child development. Therefore, self-directed play is at the core of our education philosophy. The role of our teachers is to support the imaginative source that the child possesses through the provision of simple, natural play materials that nurture the child’s senses and maximize imaginative potential. This free flow of imagination in childhood forms the foundation for free-flowing thinking as an adult. The manner in which a child plays may offer a picture of what her/his path may be as an adult.
There is a growing body of scientific evidence supporting the fact that imaginative play is fundamental to the social, cognitive and emotional development of children. Imaginative play provides children with a chance to rehearse a wide range of life situations. It helps children build emotional affect and provides them life-long coping skills. Research has even suggested that self-directed play can potentially guard against modern-day childhood and adolescent disorders such as anxiety, depression and ADHD.
EcoKids Preschool and Kindergarten 