Our philosophy states that we believe that children learn best through their natural curiosity:

We know that children are active, physical learners and require the opportunity to fully explore their environment indoors and out. In other words, it’s natural and even necessary to get messy.

In his book; Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul, Rusty Keeler a renowned Canadian Landscape Architect, talks about how messiness in outdoor play is important to learning and how to explain that to parents:

“Childhood is supposed to be messy and natural playscapes (outdoor play areas) offer a kind of messiness that inspires learning and creativity. Children make mud pies out of mud; they pile up leaves and carry them around; sand and dirt are good for digging in. Two vital tricks are: having an extra set of messy clothes on hand to change into and reminding parents to dress their children appropriately for play. If parents feel uncomfortable with the mess, tell them ‘the dirtier your child gets at school, the better the reader they will become.’ When they scratch their heads, and look doubtful, explain that the experiences a young child has from playing set up the foundation for further learning. The skills they learn on the playscape, such as having the confidence to try things they’ve never done before, will later translate to the school setting. For example, the world of reading – sounding out letters and words they’ve never seen – could seem daunting unless children have had positive experiences stretching themselves, gaining confidence, and growing through play. A natural playscape makes it easy for children to find challenging ways to dig, jump, stomp, and splash – and yes, get messy in the process – all on their way to becoming better readers.”

Adapted from ExchangeEveryDay, an online free daily newsletter that K.I.D.S. Inc. subscribes to. To subscribe go to www.ccie.com/eed