Sunflower Play School

05/23/2026

I'm excited about transitioning to summer mode around her! Here's our tentative summer schedule! It's packed with times at the parks, on the trails, summer library activities and soaking up loads of sunshine! Anyone aware of additional summer activities that we might be able to squeeze in before we finalize summer plans?

05/13/2026

🌿☀️🌧️ From Dinosaur Park to Tadpole Catching — The PNW Keeps Us Guessing!
Yesterday: hot and sunny, chasing dinosaurs. Today: cold, wet, and absolutely magical. We caught tadpoles, discovered baby salamanders, found a (very deceased 😄) garden snake, and the rain brought every snail in the neighborhood out to say hello.
This is the Pacific Northwest in spring, and we are HERE for it. 🐸🦎🐌
But beyond the fun — and there was SO much fun — days like these are doing some serious work for our little ones:
🧠 School Readiness — Observing life cycles, asking questions, making predictions ("will the tadpole move if I...?") — that's science thinking happening in real time, long before a classroom ever introduces it.
💛 Social-Emotional Growth — Navigating a wiggly salamander together, deciding who holds the net, celebrating a find as a group — these moments build confidence, empathy, cooperation, and resilience in ways that are hard to replicate indoors.
🌱 Sensory & Regulation — Cold air, wet hands, muddy boots, the sound of rain — nature provides a full sensory experience that helps young bodies and brains learn to self-regulate.
Rain gear on, curiosity cranked up, zero complaints. 🌧️✨
This is what nature-based learning looks like at Sunflower Play School — and we wouldn't have it any other way.

04/25/2026

🌿 Spring is in the air at Sunflower Play School!

We've been soaking up all the signs of the season changing around us, and today at the CASEE Center did not disappoint. We wandered through the forest spotting trillium tucked among the trees, fairy bells nodding in the shade, and all kinds of other blooms waking up after a long winter.
And of course — the creatures are back! We found some very slimy slugs 🐌, and the frogs and turtles have officially emerged from their winter slumber at the pond. The kids were absolutely delighted.

One of the things I truly appreciate about family child care is the mixing of younger and older kids. There's something about being out in nature — watching things grow, bloom, and care for one another — that seems to bring out that same spirit in the children. The older kids naturally step into a nurturing role — reaching back a hand on a tricky trail, kneeling down to show a younger friend something tiny and fascinating in the moss. And the little ones are soaking it up, learning through watching, and feeling so safe in the care of a bigger kid who genuinely cares for them.

Just like the forest in spring, everything here is growing. The older children are developing patience, empathy, and leadership without even realizing it — and the younger children are being gently stretched by peers who are just a few steps ahead of them. Mixed-age play is one of the quiet gifts of family child care, and days like today remind me exactly why. 💚

04/08/2026

Maybe this is why our crew tends to stay so healthy around here? 🤷🏼‍♀️ 😉

Finland is pioneering a new approach to childhood play by replacing traditional playgrounds with forest soil, and the results are impressive. Within just one year, children exposed to this natural environment showed measurable improvements in immune system function, highlighting the powerful connection between nature and health.

Playing in forest soil introduces children to diverse microbes that help train the immune system. This exposure supports the development of healthy immune responses, reducing the risk of allergies, infections, and other immune-related conditions. Unlike sanitized playground equipment, natural environments provide a rich array of microorganisms that encourage resilience and long-term immune health.

Beyond physical benefits, forest-based play encourages exploration, creativity, and connection with nature. Children develop better motor skills, coordination, and sensory awareness while enjoying a stimulating and dynamic environment. Educators and parents alike have observed happier, more engaged children thriving in these outdoor spaces.

This initiative demonstrates that simple changes to how children interact with their environment can have profound health impacts. By prioritizing natural play spaces, Finland is showing the world that reconnecting children with the outdoors isn’t just fun—it’s an effective, science-backed strategy for boosting immunity and supporting lifelong well-being.

04/08/2026

🌻 From barnyard to lakeside — what a day! Our little Sunflowers explored Sweet Bloom Farm with the sweetest little tour guide ever 🐑 🐐 🐔 🐥 then off to Battle Ground Lake for a picnic lunch and a peek at the campground. Summer adventures? We're already dreaming. 🌲☀️ Stay tuned!

04/08/2026

Maybe this is why our crew tends to stay so healthy around here! 😊

Finland is pioneering a new approach to childhood play by replacing traditional playgrounds with forest soil, and the results are impressive. Within just one year, children exposed to this natural environment showed measurable improvements in immune system function, highlighting the powerful connection between nature and health.

Playing in forest soil introduces children to diverse microbes that help train the immune system. This exposure supports the development of healthy immune responses, reducing the risk of allergies, infections, and other immune-related conditions. Unlike sanitized playground equipment, natural environments provide a rich array of microorganisms that encourage resilience and long-term immune health.

Beyond physical benefits, forest-based play encourages exploration, creativity, and connection with nature. Children develop better motor skills, coordination, and sensory awareness while enjoying a stimulating and dynamic environment. Educators and parents alike have observed happier, more engaged children thriving in these outdoor spaces.

This initiative demonstrates that simple changes to how children interact with their environment can have profound health impacts. By prioritizing natural play spaces, Finland is showing the world that reconnecting children with the outdoors isn’t just fun—it’s an effective, science-backed strategy for boosting immunity and supporting lifelong well-being.

04/01/2026

Muddy faces and wild hearts. 🌿 Our little wildlings found a rope swing in the forest this morning and I couldn't be prouder of every single smudge.
In the background you can see the brand new KinderCare — gleaming, tidy, perfectly manicured. And I have nothing against anyone who chooses it. But it got me thinking about what we sometimes trade away in the name of clean clothes and controlled environments.
When kids play freely in nature — without a script, without a schedule, without rubber mulch under their feet — something really important happens. They learn to assess risk on their own terms. They problem-solve without a grown-up hovering with the answer. They get bored, and then they get creative. They fall down, and they get back up. The forest doesn't give participation ribbons — it gives real feedback, and kids are wired for exactly that.
Unstructured outdoor play builds resilience, confidence, sensory integration, and a deep sense of wonder that no curriculum can manufacture. The research backs it up, but honestly? So does the look on a child's face when they're the one who figured out how to get that swing going.
I wish every kid could have a childhood that includes at least a little bit of this — some mud, some risk, some magic. The kind of morning where you come home dirty and completely, fully alive. 🌱

04/01/2026

03/27/2026

🌻 Why do we let kids struggle a little at Sunflower Play School?

Because frustration tolerance is one of the most important skills a child can develop — and it's built through experience, not rescue.

When a block tower falls, a puddle is harder to jump than expected, or a friend won't share the shovel, children are doing the real work of childhood. They're learning to pause, breathe, and try again.

Play and nature-based environments give children the space to feel that frustration — and the support to move through it. That foundation follows them all the way into the classroom, relationships, and life.

03/03/2026

Here's a big February photo dump since I've been so bad about posting recently! We were looking forward to a bit of snow this month, but ended up soaking in a bunch of sunshine and puddle time instead! We've welcomed a few new friends to our crew and finally got Oakley fully vaccinated so that he's able to come out on adventures with us. Nothing like puppies and kids running through the woods! 😁 It was also a busy advocacy month. Rough budget year for childcare but we accomplished some great work, protecting investments in the states child care subsidy system and hopefully setting things up to accomplish more in the coming years as the states overall budget improves. 🤞🏼