Nature-based education connects awareness of self, family, community, and the natural world through the development of personal and social responsibility. Elements utilizes nature-based education as a foundation for all learning in early childhood, including process oriented art, real world storytelling, science as discovery and exploration, and practical life skills. Our child-centralized emergent curriculum listens and documents the interests and wonderings of all children, partnered with the skills that instill lifelong learning and a toolbelt toward continued, and enjoyed, education.

Our indoor and outdoor spaces serve as blank canvases, enabling educators to create and recreate the physical space to meet each child’s needs. These changes offer new and unique challenges that allow children to grow across all domains through interaction with others and the world around them. Ours approach draws from research-based theories such as Reggio Emilia, Montessori, the Swedish EDUCARE System, Project-Based Method, Waldorf, Forest Education, Bank Street, Family Cooperative Approach, and Penny Wilson’s “The Playwork Primer.” Elements knows that any good educational environment is never grounded in only one method of development, rather a dedication to continually learning and growing with and from the children we serve. Elements is committed to offering the most appropriate and holistically centered enrichment to meet the unique needs of every member of our community.

At Elements, each day is a new and plentiful gift to open and explore. Play opportunities are crafted through both structured and unstructured moments. We utilize the 5 elements of fire, space, air, earth, and water to enrich our emergent, child-centered curriculum. Reinforcing the elements as a base to our discovery and process, children participate in full-body play that intrigues, inspires, and invigorates the senses.