The joy of teaching child development classes is to work alongside parents and children–all in service to a happy childhood!
Every class unfolds to the wonder of childhood, as we are in the learning and growing together. Indeed, a very peaceful class experience.
Playgroup Los Angeles was created in response to the glaring need for a natural, authentic, and organic parent-child classes, preferably outside in the cradle of nature. The class experience is informed by a holistic curriculum and guided by theory and best practices in early childhood education. It has been a profound adventure of connection for the past decade.
When Playgroup Los Angeles was envisioned, one of the goals was to have class at one of LA’s most enchanting botanical gardens. Therefore, it is with great enthusiasm that I announce that the Los Angeles Arboretum will begin its first-ever nature-based Mommy & Me class in partnership with Playgroup Los Angeles.
The Arboretum shares the foremost value of unique whole-child experiences and programs, and celebrates the great benefits of our nature-based Mommy & Me Class.
From the Arboretum:
THE VALUE OF OUTDOOR PARENT-CHILD LEARNING:
Why does nature-based learning matter? Nature-based learning provides children with boundless opportunities for mindfulness and self-centering. By organically inspiring children to stop, listen, and look around, immersion in nature fine-tunes children’s observation and self-soothing skills, allowing them to check in with the world around them. In addition to fostering stewardship for the environment and respect for other living creatures, strengthening immune systems, cultivating executive function and socialization skills, and setting up patterns for an active lifestyle, research shows us that outdoor learning supports a broad spectrum of healthy child development. According to a study by the American Institutes of Research, outdoor classrooms and other nature-based learning experiences significantly boost academic performance. They found that students in outdoor science programs improved their testing scores by 27 percent! Whereas the traditional classroom can be concurrently overstimulating and limiting, learning with, in, and through nature offers children the opportunity to engage all of their senses in vibrant ways, touching and experimenting with things in a way that the pages of a textbook in a classroom could never do. Additionally, as children are naturally inclined to play when outdoors, nature-based learning supports play-based-learning, a powerful tool in emotionally imprinting learning on the human psyche (for children and adults alike!). “Acorns & Oaks” provides children with the opportunity to reap all of these benefits while simultaneously bonding with you through joyful joint activities. (And don’t forget that strong immune systems, playtime, socialization and physical activity are just as good for adults too!)
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