Wildflower Child & Family Center will lead change in the way that early childhood education and care functions in Dayton, Ohio. We are a high quality nature-based child care center for 3 and 4-year-old children using a child-led, process-based, and multi-generational approach. We partner with other agencies and serve as a hub for educators to gather and learn, thus increasing the capacity of nature experiences for children in early childhood settings in the Miami Valley.
In a child-led and developmentally appropriate Reggio-Emilia inspired "classroom" teachers observe the interests and skills that children demonstrate through play and in our daily interactions with nature. Next, staff curate activities and provocations while visiting locations on the 900 acres of Carriage Hill MetroPark that deepen understanding and allow for more exploration and discovery through all domains of learning. Literacy, mathematics, social emotional learning, science, fine and gross motor skills, artistic expression, and music all happen outdoors as well as back at our home base. Children and teachers reflect with each other and more teacher reflection occurs through our process of learning which is then also reflected back to our families through the parent app StoryPark and daily/seasonal conversations. Those observations then returns to what the children are noticing and wondering about into the next cycle of learning. Topics of interest can happen on a weekly basis, last for a month or even continue through a season. There might be multiple interests happening at the same time as well. This is how learning occurs naturally and as we follow the seasons of the natural world, we follow the children's needs who are in front of us in a responsive and intentional manner. While the cycles of nature continue year after year, no year is the same at Wildflower Child & Family Center!
