About
At Village Playgarden, we are an intentional community that offers support for families who are looking for a place where their children can play, create, explore, and engage the magic of their own imaginations. Children are gently supported in social interactions, carefully brought into awareness of the world in which they live, and lovingly taught reverence and respect for all living beings and the environment. We curate a developmentally appropriate child-centered environment that protects the sanctuary of childhood and supports a child's natural unfolding as the foundation for preparing them for their next stages of learning. Our early childhood curriculum is based on an immersive relationship with the natural world; daily and seasonal rhythms that serve young children and their sensory, social, emotional, and cognitive needs; and the transformative power of community building. We believe that this kind of early childhood education provides the foundation for a healthy development and the possibility for a better world.
We are committed to child development
Our curriculum is influenced by a number of well-known early childhood philosophies like Waldorf early childhood education, healthy attachments, nonviolent education and parenting, developmentally led play driven learning, anti-biased curriculum, arts integrated curriculum, and nature immersion learning. We strive to see the whole child and support their individual developmental journey while simultaneously curating a community based expereince that supports children to integrate into their own bodies and be able to cultivate the capacities to meet the other. Most importantly, our philosophy is is rooted in love; love for children, love for creating community, love for the earth, and love for the possibility of a healthy, peaceful world.
We are committed to social justice
The ethos of the Village Playgarden community and all of its programming is rooted in our deep committment to the principles of justice, equity, and inclusivity. Our work seeks to acknowledge and support the forms of struggle for a just and equal world in the realm of racial justice, LQBTQ rights, women's rights, immigrants rights, disability rights, and climate justice. Furthermore, our work seeks to play conscious role in the healing of marginalized and oppressed communities by providing a sanactuary of acknowledgenment and inclusion; and a place where the children can be seen and welcomed in their full cultural selves and met with community expereinces that support their healthy growth and development.
Wildseed Farm
Wildseed Farm, a regenerative farm at the base of the San Gabriel mountains is the container that holds the Village Playgarden Community. On ancient Tongva land, the original people of the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles basin, we have worked in earnest with a consciousness towards land regeneration, respect for the wildlife interface zone, to bring healing to the land and the those who inhabit it. In that process we cultivate a 3/4 acre of organic, regenerative, and biodynamic gardening as a result of soil regeneration, carbon sequestration, and an effort towards right relationship with the land. Our goal is to feed Village Playgarden children directly from the land of Wildseed Farm, using year round harvests of organic produce toward the Healthy Food Program.
Healthy Food Program
Our Healthy Food program feeds all of the children in all of our classes three whole food organic meals prepared from scratch. Children do not bring food from home, but rather eat family styled meals three times a day with their class community. Our meals are organic, vegetarian, and based on the principles of the importance of whole foods at the foundation of children's healthy sensory, physiological, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Our menu development and meals are prepared by a dedicated chef on location, and we are able to accommodate most menu needs due to allergies and food sensitivities. The Healthy Food program is included in the tuition cost.
