Children's Village Philosophy

Children's Village believes that the best learning occurs when children are actively involved with people and materials in their environment. Children bring their own unique understanding of the world to an activity. They can be trusted to use their internal motivation to become immersed in new learning and gain additional cognition. Such learning best occurs in a loving, home-like atmosphere that provides a variety of many challenging, but non-stressful activities. The children then take away from the experience what they need to meet their individual needs.

Project Approach

There are many approaches to early childhood education. For nearly 30 years, we've explored many different strategies, investigating programs like Montessori, High Scope, and DAP.

Our philosophy, what we call the Project Approach, combines the best elements of many of the books, journals, workshops and methods we've studied. Special "Themes" last six to eight weeks and are followed by a "Project Panel" where teachers collect examples of art, drawings and other work to tell the story of the theme. We've discovered that this method, which emphasizes collaboration and cooperation between peers as well as between adults and children, helps us gain a better understanding of how children learn.

Learning Through Play

Children's Village recognizes how critical the ages of birth through age six are to your child's development. And we've observed that most of these skills at these young ages are developed through PLAY. For instance:

• Large Motor Skills: Outdoor play and activities like climbing, bike riding and dance
• Small Motor Skills: Puzzles, beading, cutting, finger play, etc.
• Self-Help Skills: Daily routines such as hand-washing, dressing and manners
• Social Skills: Cooperation with adults and peers, learning how to control and express emotions
• Cognitive Skills: Memory games, storytelling, language experiences, etc.