EcoKids Preschool & Kindergarten was founded on the belief that the environment is of paramount importance to a young child’s education and beliefs. In a magical way, children are open to their environment. They learn best by doing, and play is the serious work of childhood. As early childhood educators, we want to encourage and protect the sense of wonder nourishing the child’s imagination. We want to create a safe, warm place for children to create, play, work and trust in the world they live in. We believe in the young child’s capacity for creative thinking through the healthy activities we provide. Our educational goal is to build the capacities of young inquiring minds, with an interest in and reverence for the world and human beings, and a love a life-long love of learning.
Our Guiding Principles…
EcoKids’ philosophy is based on a child-centered approach that values experience as being not the best teacher, but the only teacher! We have focused our energies on providing children with a positive, non-pressured, non-judgmental environment. We value collaboration from anyone, and we advocate that children and teachers become co-learners, co-researchers and co-constructors of their education. Everything the child touches becomes a learning experience. The collaborative relationship between teachers and children creates a rich environment that supports flexibility in learning.
Our Vision
To build the capacities of a generation that is the source of change…to work towards transforming the education process beyond “head” thinking to freeing the human spirit and instilling passion for life, learning and service to the world.
Our Values and Beliefs
- Every child is unique.
- Every child develops at his/her own pace.
- Teachers work to create an environment of love and acceptance, which instills passion for learning and life.
- The child is made of body, mind and soul.
- Our intent is to build capacities rather than skills.
- Our intent is to educate the whole child.
- The learning environment is the child’s third teacher.
- We teach children how to think, not what to think.
- Our core values of love, acceptance, peace, respect and openness to the world are reflected in everything we do.
THE POWER OF NATURE & PLAY
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 