Ft. Sanders Shades of Development

Sensory Night is right around the corner! 💗
These inclusive evenings are designed for guests with special needs, autism, or sensory processing differences, and their families. Enjoy the museum in a calm environment with reduced noise, dimmed lights, and limited attendance.

🕔 5:00–7:00 PM
📝 Registration required

2026 Dates:
💘 Feb 3 – Valentine’s Day themed
🌸 Apr 7 – Spring themed
🏖️ Jun 2 – Beach themed
🦸 Aug 4 – Superhero themed
🎃 Oct 13 – Sensory Trick-or-Treat ($5 child admission)
🎅 Dec 8 – Sensory Santa ($5 child admission)

👉 Register now - https://ow.ly/R2Xr50Y1nWG

January 15th is National Hat Day! I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than by having our “Hats Off to the New Year” Parent event! ✨🎩👒👑

Thank you to all the parents that came and got to get crafty with our super creative students! ☺️💚

Here are some of our favorite art pieces from last month! 🦃🍽 We can’t wait to see what our friends make for the Holiday season! 🎄🎁

Shades is hiring! Do you want to join a great team of afterschool providers? Look no further! We offer flexible hours, competitive pay, and a fulfilling career path 🎉

You can apply directly below:
Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/job/afterschool-staff-elementary-multiple-sites-hiring-now-bb01f8ea140790b5
Handshake: https://app.joinhandshake.com/emp/jobs/10488152

Or feel free to send us an email! [email protected]

Our sportsy Fort friends made some silly baseballs Yesterday!! ⚾️♥️

Craft time outside is just more fun! Sometimes it just takes something as simple as a change of scenery to add that fun and exciting twist on doing an activity. After reading the book "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert our Fort friends collected leaves from the playground and made their very own leaf men 🍂

Our Fort Sanders staff understood the assignment! They picked a storybook character and dressed the part. And they all did an amazing job! 👏

Happy National Lights on Afterschool!!! Our SHADES friends had a blast with our Stormy STEM night! ⛈️🌈🌪️☀️❄️✨

Thank you to all of our families that showed their support and love of our afterschool program! 💚

Our kids are not the only ones getting ready for their Lights on Afterschool events. Wait till you see what fun things Ms. Logan has planned for Ft. Sanders Weather STEM Night themed event this evening. It will blow you away! 🌬️💡💚 #shadesofdevelopment #afterschoolalliance #lightsonafterschool #ftsandersshades #afterschool4ll #lightsonafterschoolknoxville #tnafterschoolnetwork #easttnafterschool #afterschoolworks #afterschoolmatters #SHADES

What's better than a birthday celebration? When you have two birthday celebrations! Happy day to these birthday twins! We hope your day was perfect! 🎂

Mr. G always makes our days brighter with his fun dance moves! Our kiddos pay extra close attention to make sure they are getting all the information so that they can get their dance moves right! This is a great way for them to exercise and use all of those gross motor skills.