Wonder Garden

Wonder Garden still has spaces available for this summer's camps!

We have space in our summer day camps!

These camps are geared toward children ages 3-6.
Camp is a great opportunity to see if we might be a good fit for your family and how we support the youngest learners in our community.

Come spend the summer days exploring urban nature in our neighborhood!

Free Family EVENT!!

🎉 Get ready for an afternoon full of fun, community, and celebration at the We Are Bethel Celebration! ☀️🎉

🗓 Saturday, May 30
⏰ Noon – 4:00 PM
📍 Petersen Barn (870 Berntzen Road)
🎪 60+ booths with activities
🎶 Live performances
🚒 Fire truck
🍔 Food trucks
🏃 Gunny sack races & more!

👋 The Early Childhood Hub of Lane County will be there! Stop by our table to say hello! We’ll be giving away FREE books 📚 and sharing helpful resources and support for families with young children.

✨ Fun for the whole family! don’t miss it!

We can’t wait to see you there 💜

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🎉 ¡Prepárate para una tarde llena de diversión, comunidad y celebración en el evento We Are Bethel Celebration! ☀️🎉

🗓 Sábado, 30 de mayo
⏰ 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
📍 Petersen Barn (870 Berntzen Road)
🎪 Más de 60 puestos con actividades
🎶 Presentaciones en vivo
🚒 Camión de bomberos
🍔 Variedad de comida para disfrutar
🏃 Carreras de sacos y mucho más

👋 El Early Childhood Hub of Lane County estará presente aportando nuestro grano de arena a la comunidad. ¡visita nuestra mesa para saludarnos! Estaremos regalando libros 📚 y compartiendo recursos y sobre todo, apoyo para familias con niños pequeños.

✨ ¡Diversión para toda la familia! No te lo puedes perder!💜

All in favor of recognizing that parroting information is not the same thing as deep learning say “I.” ✋🏻✋🏼✋🏽✋🏿

Our educational system for school age children needs to be revamped so that it does NOT "suck the joy" out of children's lives.
Children of all ages should be able to continue to learn through play!

Can We At Least Agree to Stop Sucking the Joy Out of Their Lives? I was sitting on a bench near a playground merry-go-round watching our three and four-year-olds play. A pair of boys decided...

This often gets overlooked or is not known at all.

Heavy work can be a great tool in your tool kit as an early educator when you know how and when to use it!

Okay, we’re gonna let you in on a little secret…

While everyone is obsessing over fine motor skills, tracing, worksheets, and pencil grip… gross motor movement and heavy work are where so much of the real development is happening.

Of course fine motor skills matter. But development happens in sequence.

Before the hands can control a pencil well, the body first has to develop:
• Core stability
• Shoulder strength
• Bilateral coordination
• Postural control
• Body awareness
• Sensory integration

And that development happens through movement.

Lifting.
Pushing.
Pulling.
Dragging.
Climbing.
Digging.
Carrying.
Building.

Heavy work activates the proprioceptive system: one of the nervous system’s most powerful organizers for regulation, coordination, motor planning, attention, and spatial awareness.

But heavy work is not just a “pre-writing activity” or a stepping stone to academics.

The human body is biologically designed to move, resist force, carry weight, climb, push, pull, and engage with the physical world across the entire lifespan.

Children don’t outgrow this need. Adults don’t either.

Research consistently links movement and proprioceptive input to:
• Stronger emotional regulation
• Healthier nervous system function
• Improved executive functioning
• Better focus and attention
• Greater confidence and resilience
• Stronger cognitive performance and learning outcomes

Yet somehow we’ve normalized expecting children to sit still for long periods while minimizing the very systems the brain depends on to learn well.

The irony?
The path to healthier development, stronger learning, and even better handwriting often starts far away from the worksheet.

It starts with movement.

So stop obsessing over worksheets and start obsessing over: climbing, carrying, balancing, lifting, pushing, hauling, digging, jumping, dragging, rough-and-tumble play, obstacle courses, uneven terrain, and whole-body movement.

These are such meaningful and sweet moments!

Children’s play often reflects our natural drive to create and build.

Children thrive when their uniqueness is celebrated. ✨

Instead of pushing them into paths that don’t fit, notice what sparks their curiosity and joy, and nurture that. 💡🌱

As Seth Godin says:
“Don’t waste a lot of time and money pushing kids into directions they don’t want to go. Instead, find out what weirdness they excel at and encourage them to do that. Then get out of the way.”

Big believer in this!

Let children MOVE

What if kids aren’t struggling to focus because they won’t sit still - but because they can’t?

Angela Hanscom highlights that movement is essential for building attention, self-regulation, and readiness to learn. When kids climb, run, and explore, they’re strengthening the very skills they need to focus in the classroom.

Instead of asking for more seat time, maybe we should ask:
👉 Have they had enough time to move?

Read more here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-real-reason-why-kids-fidget_b_5586265

“In order for children to learn, they need to be able to pay attention. In order to pay attention, we need to let them move!” – Angela Hanscom