Kids Play Garden

Looking for SUMMER camps, classes and creative learning? We’ve got you covered! Check out all our offerings!
Up to age 12 with different themes and age appropriate activities🌱💚
https://kidsplaygarden.com/charleston-camps-parties/

Let us be your C A L M in the midst of the chaos. ✨

We're here bringing mindfulness, cleanliness and happiness to kiddos and their families every day. We're continuing to uphold our high quality of care, while also adding in additional policies and procedures to respond to what's happening in the world.

🌿 Limited number of children in the center
🌿 Additional cleaning times throughout the day
🌿 Limited hours of operation to allow for additional cleanings
🌿 Fewer toys in the center, less germs spread
🌿 No outside toys allowed
🌿 Flexible drop-in model to allow you to receive only the care you need

As we continue to put you and your family's safety as our top priority, we want to remind you of what things look like at Kids Garden these days. 🌿

We ask that you do not bring outside toys, and encourage you to purchase pre-paid hours so you can further your contactless drop-off.

As always, our lines are open and inboxes ready should you have any questions about our new procedures. We're here to support and empower you to make the best decisions for your family.

We hope to see you soon... Until then, PEACE, LOVE & PLAY! 💚

At Kids Garden we rely on imagination and the art of creation to guide what we do here. We learn, we create, we grow.. And the richness of it all colors our days. We use nature, stories, loose parts, open-ended manipulatives, a variety of textures + more to encourage these abilities. We ask open-ended questions like, ‘What’s your plan here?’ or ‘Tell me more about what you’re working on.’ What spills out is often like nothing we’d expected, and we’re always excited to learn about the world's children create for themselves. Children have this incredible ability to combine reality and dreams, to build a world beyond our own imaginations, and us educators are enthralled by their ideas!

We’re so excited to have our friends back in this space with us! ✨

Both locations will be open at 8, and ready for your sweet children to return to us! We are so grateful for the continued support, and look forward to returning the favor over the coming days and weeks. Kids Garden Community is THE BEST! 💚 🌿

How many of you parents out there have eaten a whole lot of *interesting* dishes from your children’s play kitchens over the last few weeks?

Hands up if you appreciate pre-school teachers just a little bit more after this time in quarantine? 😂

Families! We miss you. We love seeing your faces on the screen and in the photos you share with us, but we can’t wait to see you again in person! Make art together, play games, dream, create, share a meal… Kids Garden is just an empty center without the hearts and minds of your children.

If you’d like to learn more about our plans to reopen, check out our latest newsletter. To stay up to date with all things Kids Garden, click subscribe!

We’ll be back to creating together before we know it! Healthy and happy thoughts to you all! 🎨

https://mailchi.mp/kidsplaygarden/update-for-families-regarding-health-safety-policy-changes

Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. OH it’s so hard sometimes!
Yoga is so much more than something fun we do every afternoon.. We’re moving our bodies and finding our breaths, but we’re also growing kid’s confidence, encouraging inclusivity, improving our concentration, coordination and balance, managing stress, and more!

As we prepare to reopen our centers, we want to assure you we will do so as safely as possible. We’re leaning into our deeply rooted, green cleaning practices and eco-friendly childcare model, making sure we’re doing it all... and then some. We’re consulting with local officials. We’re asking our teachers to take extra precautions both in and out of the centers. We’re working to serve the childcare needs of our community, while taking the extra steps to care for the health of all involved.

As we continue to make plans, we hope you feel comfortable enough to reach out with any questions you may have. We’ll keep you informed on our social media channels as plans develop… 🌿

🌿🌿🌿

Happy Mother's Day, mamas! We hope you feel loved, seen and celebrated today and every day! 🌷

We want to give a big shout out to all the front line workers out there fighting the good fight. We would not be healing and seeing progress without your hard work, determination and selflessness.

We are proud to know and support these folks and their families!!❤️ THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO!

Our teachers are the heart of what we do! ❤️
Their creative brains, helping hands and giving hearts make Kids Garden the flexible, creative arts drop-in learning center that it is! It takes a special kind of teacher to work at Kids Garden, being flexible, adaptable and creative at a moment's notice! We feel SO grateful that these teachers chose Kids Garden to share their talents and hearts!

❤️ Let's spread some love across the internet -- share a story of a Kids Garden teacher you know & love in the comments!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is THIS SUNDAY!

Don't forget about the mamas in your life! 🌷

https://squareup.com/gift/7DET49NPVZ2Q2/order

Buy yourself some time and your children some excitement! ☕📚

[04/29/20]   Every weekday morning at 10AM, you can find us singing, dancing and learning together online. Come join us! 🌿

Quarantine has got us feeling like Mother's Day should last a little longer this year... How about a whole month? 💐

We're marking packages, memberships, camps, the whole deal, 10% off starting now through Mother's Day. We know this time hasn't been easy for any of us. We wish things were well enough for our doors to be open now, letting us care for your kiddos and give you hard working parents some time and space. We'll be ready when it's safe to be together again, but until then -- get yourself (or a friend, spouse, daughter, sister) some time alone down the road.

Mamas, tag someone you'd like to see this post 😉

https://squareup.com/gift/7DET49NPVZ2Q2/order

Happy 7 years to us! 💚

Happy 7 years to us! And to all of you who make what we do possible, AND FUN! 💚

We look forward to the day we can play, create and learn together again 💚

Every day is Earth Day at Kids Garden! Oh how we miss recycled building with our friends in the center. Have you used cardboard to make or create while at home?

Here's to hoping we can make the most of this Earth Day... whether that's using recycled goods to make art or build, spending some time outside, or just a good old 'pause in gratitude' for all that the Earth provides! 🌎 Happy Earth Day to our Kids Garden family!!

Buy yourself some time to have a cup of coffee or ease into the day, by setting out some independent activities the night before. Keep is simple, and FUN!

While the impacts of this time are still uncertain, we are clear on our desire to weather this storm together as a community! We know some of us are greatly affected by this season, and others may not be affected as much. If you desire and are able, we'd like to invite families to give their future selves a gift, and support our small, local business. Buy a gift card that you can redeem for some alone time down the road, or a date night out with your spouse. We imagine your future self will be grateful, and we sure know our Kids Garden family will be too! We can't wait for the days we can open our doors and greet your smiling children once again. Until then.... Take care, get some sunshine and make a little time for play. ☀️

https://squareup.com/gift/7DET49NPVZ2Q2/order

Fine Motor Friday ✍️

Taking activities and putting them on a vertical surface is SO FUN!
… Also, it’s great for many reasons! Using a surface that’s right in front of a child’s face promotes visual attention, hand-eye coordination, increases and strengthens shoulder, arms and hands!

So much fun with Online Preschool 💚💚💚

HAPPY SEVENTH YEAR ANNIVERSARY KIDS GARDEN! 4/8/2013 While raising my first son Tristan I couldn't get over the fact that every educational center and childcare seemed to require a waiting list and a yearly commitment. Financially and emotionally that didn't work for us so I put my frustrations into action and we built something together! Tristan was an inspiration and team player reminding me that we could make our dreams a reality. Seven years later at home with both my boys, Tristan and Sunny, I'm still believing in the dream and so grateful for the years of growth and learning with so many incredible families. Thank you for believing is us!! Thank you especially to those first solid families you know who you are that said "WHAT IS THIS? You mean you can just drop off?" and "Ok-I'll try it!" Your ripple created such a WAVE and our Garden is continuing to grow! We look forward to seeing all our families soon and sending so much love during this time. From our family to yours! Keep sprouting and growing through the weeds we will blossom together!

How to Talk to Your Kids About Coronavirus | Parenting Tips & Advice | PBS KIDS for Parents

"Why are we home?" "Are we going to get sick?" "When can we go back to school?"

We're in uncharted waters here, friends. And at times it's felt scary to be a parent of littles. Figuring out how and when to share age-appropriate information with our children was quite a learning curve... We took some time and read through the resources.. Here's a great one we found.

https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/how-to-talk-to-your-kids-about-coronavirus

➕ Wash your hands!
➕ Catch that cough!
➕ "Rest is best."
➕ Practice healthy habits.

pbs.org With coronavirus being a concern for grown ups, kids might also be worrying. Here's how to talk about COVID-19 with your young children, plus ways to practice healthy habits all year round.

Sometimes a box is just a box…
And SOMETIMES, it’s a car speeding down the race track just as the timer runs out… Your car won the race!! 🏁

What can you make with what you've got at home?

[04/06/20]   By combining movement with a form of learning, children are 90% more likely to remember what they learned. It's also especially fun to pull out an instructional song when things feel stressful or aren't going as planned while you're navigating these uncharted waters… Check out one of our favorites: Jack Hartmann
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVcQH8A634mauPrGbWs7QlQ

[04/04/20]   Employers: Are you looking for a way to support your staff while they learn the ropes of this whole WFH with kids thing? Consider sponsoring some online classes for their kiddos as a virtual high-5, hug, helping hand, ‘hey I see you’.

#weseeyou #linkinbio #wfh #workingparents #flexiblechildcare #onlinepreschool

"The Goldfish (Let's Go Swimming)" by The Laurie Berkner Band (20th Anniversary Edition)

Movement is good for everyone, we know this. It helps relieve stress, boosts energy and improves mood... Movement is important for kids too! It helps their focus, memory, attention span, emotions, even their decision making... PLUS, who doesn’t need to take a moment to move and groove, and be silly with your kids right now? This is one of our favorite songs. Press play and find out just how stress-relieving movement can be! 🐠

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg-wnQKRHTs

This classic Laurie Berkner Band song for kids features some very silly fish who want to take showers, ride their bicycles, and brush their teeth. But - wait...

Join us for online classes! Want to try for FREE??
Message below and we will see you online💚

We’ve been overwhelmed by the goodness we’ve seen in the world over the last few weeks… Sharing these examples with our own children, and teaching lessons about kindness in our online preschool, have felt so relevant when conversations about ‘why we’re here at home, and not at school’ come up. Here’s an excellent resource we found: it’s full of videos, books and other ideas. ❤️
https://parentselfcare.com/blog/20-minute-kindness-lesson-for-young-childrennbsp

Clean Up Song for Children - by ELF Learning

We use a clean up song at Kids Garden, and the children love it! Even when the center is full of busy children, the song comes on and they all know just what to do -- singing together, we work hard to put the toys away. We typically give children a 5 minute warning and 1 minute warning before we start the process, so they've got some time to prepare. Our favorite way to get our friends to join... Have a clean up song race! Who can clean up before the song is over? It never hurts to acknowledge everyone's efforts as we see them working hard, we usually notice a big proud smile when we do. Give it a try and let us know how it goes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY-H2WGThc8

Download the Clean Up Song Here: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/kids-songs-1-lets-take-a-walk/id1253834693?l=en https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/elflea...

Who’s ready for Online Learning with us daily?
10am today! Link in our Instagram Bio