Although our previous preschool was very expensive and prestigious, Leilani had cried often about not wanting to go, now it is the opposite, I have a hard time getting her home.

The playground is awesome. Indoors, additionally to the educational toys there are dolls, plastic dinosaurs and animals as well as trains; There is dressup and pretend play, free play, creative play, and after having had Leilani in a school for a year that did not have any of these makes me really appreciate the difference. Leilani loves the loft area, a special area that gets opened occasionally, they climb up on the ladder, and play with the “special” toys that are up there.

The teachers are all super nice. They know all the names of kids and family, and they work with kids socially and teach them not to only play with their friends and within their cliques, but also play with others. I am so impressed how they work with behaviorally challenged kids and integrate them within a short time, I could not believe the change in behavior I have seen in at least 2 kids within a short time.

Leilani made huge progress, her communication and conversation skills I find impressive, she shows much more empathy and is able to listen longer (unless of course we preach or lecture her…). She writes her name in upper and lower case letters, and now starts reading the regular way. She does beautiful artwork, drawing, painting, that was an area she had regressed so much in within the previous year, and I am so happy that she developed that interest again.

I was a little scared of the co-op experience at first, but it is a real community, and very enjoyable, and educational for the parents. Leilani loves my workday, then I am teacher Sonja, and I often get to do art projects with the kids, that’s a lot of fun for me almost as much as for the kids.

Nelson Van Judah was commissioned in 1967 to design our large outdoor play area. He was asked to make use of the materials we had readily available to us. Those were telephone poles, barrels and pipe. The nursery schools fathers executed the design The result was the unique playground we have today. Where else could a child climb into a telephone pole fort…

The unique playground features climbing structures, swings, slides, as well as a tire hill.

Below is a gallery of children playing in our play yard, click “FS” for full screen and “SL” for slide show.