The Rose Garden Early Childhood Center

The Rose Garden Early Childhood Center offers full-day programs for children 18 months to 5 years old.

Our teachers are specially trained in the LifeWays model. Our materials are natural and sense-nourishing. Our curriculum is geared toward age-appropriate early childhood development. Our playground is designed to allow children to grow confident in their bodies and the physical world while encouraging cooperation, imagination and curiousity.

The Rose Garden Early Childhood Center is a place of respite for parents and children where tender seedlings can grow strong roots.

 

Our Building

The Rose Garden Early Childhood Center is housed in an award-winning renovation built in 1928 and brought back to life in 2009. It was originally a Catholic school and is now a mixed use building with commercial spaces on the first floor and residences on the upper two floors. Next door, there is a convent of retired nuns who love looking out the window to watch the children play in the protected green space.

 

Our Outdoor Space

In a play-based curriculum where children are developing physical and social-emotional skills, they need plenty of room to move. The outdoor space at the Rose Garden Early Childhood Center is big; it extends from one end of the building to the other and includes berms, mature trees and a sidewalk for riding tricycles.

It’s a “loose parts” playground which means that instead of a lot of equipment (there is a tire swing and a climbing structure), we have many stumps and logs. When a child approaches these “loose parts”, they need to decide what to do with them. The child’s engagement with the materials tends to be in keeping with their skill base, so there are less accidents in loose parts playgrounds. It also encourages development of imagination, determination and cooperation. Many projects involve getting friends involved in order to achieve the task, as in moving logs from one end to another in order to create something imagined by a child.

In addition to stumps and logs, there are flower beds and a sand area. There is a shed that houses outdoor tools, wagons and sleds. There are rain barrels, a compost bin and a vegetable garden. Our playhouse has a living roof. Since children learn through experience, participating in gardening and playing with materials from nature gives them a sense of stewardship for the environment. Through outdoor play, children build healthy bodies and a strong relationship to the elements and the seasons.

We always dress for the weather, which is a lesson in itself. In summer, we spend an extended period of time outdoors but in the deep winter, we limit the time to what would serve the children’s well-being.