Early Explorers Preschool

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Early Explorers Preschool Licensed in-home preschool for children ages 3-5 years old. Adventures in learning await. I am CPR and First Aid certified.

My name is Kari Meeks and I have been an early childhood educator for the past 10 years. I am also a mom to 4 adult children and 2 beautiful grandchildren. I have always had a passion to make a difference in the lives of young children and can't wait to bring that passion into my own preschool!

10/05/2026

It’s getting a little spookier in here 🎃 👹

🍁✨ Our classroom is feeling like a little autumn wonderland! ✨🍁This week we are diving into leaves, trees, and all thing...
09/28/2026

🍁✨ Our classroom is feeling like a little autumn wonderland! ✨🍁

This week we are diving into leaves, trees, and all things fall… with just a tiny sprinkle of Halloween fun starting to appear around the room. 🎃👻

The room is packed with invitations to sort, count, build, match, create, pretend, scoop, explore, and imagine—all while learning through play.

From sensory bins and leaf activities to woodland small worlds, pumpkins, acorns, potions, and spooky little neighborhoods, there is something around every corner begging to be played with.

And this is exactly why I love what I do. 💛
Preschool should feel exciting. It should feel inviting. It should make children curious the second they walk in the door.

Basically… if you’re a grown-up looking at these pictures thinking, “I kinda want to play there too”… mission accomplished. 😂🍂

🍎 Apple Week has officially come to an end! 🍏What a fun couple of weeks we’ve had exploring apples in just about every w...
09/25/2026

🍎 Apple Week has officially come to an end! 🍏

What a fun couple of weeks we’ve had exploring apples in just about every way possible!

This week brought one of our favorites — apple volcanoes! We made predictions, watched closely, and got VERY excited when our apples started bubbling and overflowing. 😆🧪🍎

We also continued learning about the different parts of an apple, practiced cutting and gluing, strengthened those little fine-motor muscles, and worked on following directions and completing activities independently.

But around here, learning isn’t only what happens at the table. ❤️ We’re learning when we gather around an experiment together, take turns, ask questions, help a friend, choose a book to share, proudly carry out our Helper of the Day job, and celebrate one another — including a very special birthday girl this week! 🎂

And of course, we had to finish Apple Week with our own little orchard full of apple trees. 🍎🌳

The best part? They may just think they’re having fun… but there is SO much learning happening underneath it all.

Goodbye Apple Week — you were a good one! 🍎🍏

🍎 Week 1 of Apple Week is in the books! 🍏This week was such a good example of how much learning can happen when kids are...
09/18/2026

🍎 Week 1 of Apple Week is in the books! 🍏

This week was such a good example of how much learning can happen when kids are given the chance to touch it, taste it, make it, move with it and play with it.

Our room has been completely “apple-fied” so the learning keeps going even when we aren’t sitting together for a lesson. We have the apple life cycle displayed, apple-themed activities tucked into different areas, and our dramatic play center became a little fall apple stand where friends could pretend to buy and sell c***r, caramel apples, cookies and other goodies. They’re playing… but they’re also practicing language, counting, pretend money, turn-taking and social skills without even realizing it. ❤️

We packed a LOT into our first week:
🍎 We made crockpot applesauce, with the kids helping add ingredients and watching ordinary apples turn into something we could actually eat.
🍏 We had an apple taste test, trying different varieties and recording our opinions — a little science, vocabulary, graphing and decision-making all rolled together.
🎨 We used real apples for apple stamping, giving us some wonderfully imperfect little apple prints. (Because preschool art should definitely look like a preschooler made it! 😂)
🍎 We used apple name cards for games that had us recognizing our own names and our friends’ names while moving around the room.
✏️ We kept working on our letters, pencil skills and visual discrimination with some table activities.
🥁 And because little bodies are NOT meant to sit still all day, we mixed in music and movement with our rhythm sticks and took plenty of learning and friendship time outside.

And one of my favorite parts? Watching the friendships continue to grow. ❤️ Whether they were working side-by-side at the table, cheering each other on during a game or just being goofy together outside, there was a whole lot of learning happening that will never show up on a worksheet.

Next week… we’re not done with apples yet! 🍎🍏 We have even more apple fun coming — and I may have saved a few of the messier experiments for round two. 😜

I have a few rare preschool openings available! 🌿🦊🍎I currently have space on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays — choose 2 o...
09/15/2026

I have a few rare preschool openings available! 🌿🦊🍎

I currently have space on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays — choose 2 or 3 days a week with flexible drop-off and pick-up anytime during my operating hours of 6:30 AM–5:00 PM.

For ages 3–5
📍 Spring Grove
💲50/day
🍳 Breakfast, lunch & snacks included

But what really comes with that $50?

A whole lot of childhood. ❤️

We get messy. We explore. We cook. We paint. We build. We dig. We spend LOTS of time outside. We learn about apples by making applesauce, farms by brushing our pretend horses, nature by actually getting out into it, and friendships by spending our days playing, laughing and learning together.

Here, learning doesn’t mean sitting at a table doing worksheets all day.

It looks like muddy shoes, science experiments, sensory play, stories, music, dramatic play, nature walks, art projects, cooking, exploring and those wonderful little conversations that happen when preschoolers are busy discovering their world. 🌿

We absolutely work on the skills they’ll need for kindergarten — letters, numbers, names, cutting, writing, listening, following directions and independence — but we do it while still letting them be 3, 4 and 5 years old.

Because they have plenty of years ahead of them to sit at desks.

Right now? I want them to play, explore, wonder, create and LOVE coming to preschool. ❤️

If you’ve been looking for a small, home-based preschool where your child is truly known and loved, send me a message. I’d love to tell you more!

🍎 Apple Weeks are here! 🍏For the next two weeks, our classroom is going ALL IN on apples — and I promise, learning aroun...
09/13/2026

🍎 Apple Weeks are here! 🍏

For the next two weeks, our classroom is going ALL IN on apples — and I promise, learning around here is about so much more than sitting down with a worksheet.

We’ll be counting, sorting, building, pretending, creating, experimenting, tasting, measuring, scooping, pouring and exploring. Our kiddos will be working on early math, science, language, fine-motor skills, problem solving and social skills… all while they think they’re just PLAYING. ❤️

We’ve got apple-themed sensory play, number games, apple tree activities, dramatic play, parts of an apple, building challenges and lots more already waiting for them.

And the fun really starts tomorrow when we make homemade applesauce together! 🍎🥄

Coming up after that: apple tasting, apple stamping, apple volcanoes and plenty of other apple adventures.

So fair warning… these might be two weeks your little one really doesn’t want to miss. 😉🍎

🐷🚜 Farm Week at Early Explorers! 🐄🐑We had a barn-load of fun this week! Our little farmers learned about some of our fav...
09/11/2026

🐷🚜 Farm Week at Early Explorers! 🐄🐑

We had a barn-load of fun this week! Our little farmers learned about some of our favorite farm animals—horses, pigs, sheep, chickens and more—and of course, we couldn’t just TALK about them. We had to get our hands busy!

We designed and built our very own barns (and I absolutely love that no two farms look alike! ❤️), “brushed” our horses with paint, and even practiced shearing some VERY fluffy shaving-cream sheep. 🐑😂

We snuck plenty of learning into our farm fun, too! We practiced our letters S, A and T and added our new letter I, worked on colors, shapes and fine-motor skills, and turned our table into farm fields where tractors traveled along shapes while collecting giant “crops” (buttons!).

And you can’t have Farm Week without a little chicken dancing! 🐔🎶 We grabbed our shaker eggs and danced and shook along to Laurie Berkner’s “I Know a Chicken.” There was LOTS of shaking happening in this preschool. 😂🥚

Even our library joined the farm fun with a sweet farm felt-board story waiting for our little storytellers.

And just look at those farms hanging proudly on our wall! ❤️ Picasso had it right: “Every child is an artist.” Around here, every little artist builds a barn completely their own way—and that’s exactly how we like it.

🍎 Last day of All About Me Week! 🍎This week we learned a pretty big word for little people — UNIQUE! We talked about how...
09/04/2026

🍎 Last day of All About Me Week! 🍎

This week we learned a pretty big word for little people — UNIQUE! We talked about how being unique means, “I am special, and there is no one else exactly like me!” ❤️

We spent lots of time learning to recognize our own names through silly name songs, practicing writing them, cutting them apart and putting them back together, and even doing a little magic painting where our names appeared! ✨

We finished sharing our All About Me bags and loved getting to know all the little things that make each of our friends special. We also jumped into some letter learning with S and A and squeezed in plenty of cutting, painting, counting, creating and PLAYING!

I think it’s safe to say we’ve learned something pretty important already this year: our classroom is full of wonderfully unique little people. 🥰

Next week, we’re heading to the FARM! 🐷🐮🐔

Our first week at Early Explorers is officially in the books! 🍄🌿And what a week it was!We spent lots of time learning ou...
08/28/2026

Our first week at Early Explorers is officially in the books! 🍄🌿

And what a week it was!

We spent lots of time learning our new routines, getting to know our classroom, exploring all of our centers and — most importantly — getting to know each other. New friendships are already starting to form, and I love watching the kids figure out who they enjoy building with, creating with, climbing with and just being silly with. ❤️

We read some great books including “Time for School, Little Blue Truck,” “The Pigeon HAS to Go to School!” and “Now Wash Your Hands!” We’ve also been working hard on washing our hands and learning how to catch those coughs and sneezes. Preschool germs are sneaky little things, so we’re starting early! 😂

Our days were filled with sensory play, Play-Doh, art, building, dramatic play, fine-motor activities, outdoor adventures and LOTS of imagination. We practiced cleaning up before choosing a new center, following our daily routine, participating in circle time and becoming a little more independent each day.

And somewhere in between all of that learning… bracelets were made for friends, giant creations were built, mountains were climbed, masterpieces were created and lots of little conversations and friendships began. 🥹

The first week of preschool is always a BIG week. There are new people, new expectations, new routines and sometimes a few unsure feelings. But every day I watched these little Early Explorers become just a little more comfortable and confident.

I’d say we’re off to a pretty wonderful start. ❤️

Next week we begin our All About Me unit, where we’ll learn even more about the little people who make our classroom so special!

Here’s a little peek at Week ONE! 🍄🦊🌿

I was SO impressed watching this creation come together today! 🥰There was so much problem solving & teamwork happening a...
08/14/2026

I was SO impressed watching this creation come together today! 🥰

There was so much problem solving & teamwork happening as they figured out how to build their magnetic-tile car garage right on the refrigerator. And when parts fell down? No frustration or giving up — they simply worked together, figured out what needed to change, and rebuilt it. 💪

These are the moments I love to watch — little minds thinking, creating, cooperating and learning through PLAY. ❤️

Address

6125 Gardner Road
Spring Grove, PA
17362

Opening Hours

Monday 6:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 6:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 6:30am - 5pm
Thursday 6:30am - 5pm
Friday 6:30am - 5pm

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