About Little Garden Patch Farm

We offer a community of joy and friendship that supports children as they grow and learn through hands-on play and discovery, arts & crafts, active play and imagination as well as gardening and encounters with our many farm animal friends.  Our program and our various play and learning areas are designed around the hands-on, whole child, developmental approach to education. 

Here children can visit with the ducks, chickens, goats, pigs, and ponies.  They can climb a tree, play on the swings and trampoline, make up games of pretend, and bake up mud pies in the outdoor play kitchen.  They can help with the garden, make a project in the outdoor art studio, put on an outdoor play or puppet show, or learn something new in the science area.   Flowers, fairy gardens, wild birds, helpful insects, and the occasional wild deer are all part of the rich backdrop that fuels our outdoor play and learning. 

What's more, an ever increasing body of scientific research validates programs like ours as being not only best for children's emotional and physcial well being, but also for their intellectual development -- including STEM based learning (Science, Technology, Engineeringm, Math).  Read: Send children outside: Nature is the best training ground for STEM career .

With this in mind, Little Garden Patch Farm emphasizes "first order" experiences such as hands-on science, cooperative group activities, engaging sensory play materials, nature immersion, plus real world skills and process-oriented arts and  crafts designed to spark social learning, individual creativity, and confident self expression.   

Although Little Garden Patch emphasizes outdoor time, children love our indoor spaces too!  However, please note however that we primarily use our indoor playroom during extreme weather events or for children arriving for early morning drop off.  Please send children in weather appropriate gear!

And cooking projects now take place either at the socially distanced tables in the picnic area or on the kitchen deck.  

When pressed back into servie our playroom offers a reading area, toys and games galore, plus additional creative projects such as sewing, crochet, weaving, fuse beads, drawing/coloring, and paper crafts.   Children also enjoy our dollhouse area, the Lego table, , and the ever changing array of fun hands-on quiet time projects.

What Little Garden Patch does not offer is an institutional setting that makes children feel as if they've been at school all day long.  Instead we offer what many have called a "childhood wonderland" -- a combination of an extraodinary outdoor space plus a cozy home setting that nurtures and recharges children's minds and bodies.

We also generally do not offer "screen time" once children arrive at the farm.  Families should plan to leave all hand-held gaming devices, tablets, lap tops and other electronics at home.  Instead we play, move our bodies, create, dream, and connect -- with other people, the animals, and our natural world. 

Mission

To reconnect kids with nature.  To nurture the values of compassion, creativity, and stewardship.   To provide a safe, family home setting where kids can build community and experience a sense of belonging.

Description

• An exceptional licensed  after school care and  summer day camp prProgram for school aged children, kindergarten through 3rd grade.
  
  
• Community Care License Number 444413332
  

Hours of Operation

• After School Care Hours: 

  • Open Monday - Thursday from 1-6 pm and Fridays from 12:00-6:00 pm for afterschool care during the school year.   (Please contact us to confirm current hours.)

  • Closed for child care Saturday and Sunday and holidays, including Winter Break and in most years, Spring Break.
    
    

• Farm Camp hours are observed during  the Summer months.  Farm camp hours are as follows:

  • Hours for Summer are M-F, 8:30 -6:00.   

  • Although summer sessions run 9-5 or 9:30-5:30 for full day and 1-5 or 1:30-5:30 for afternoon half day, later pick-up until 6 pm and early drop off at 8:30 (or 12:30  pm for afternoon half day) may also be arranged, for an added fee.

  • Little Garden Patch closes at 6 pm sharp.  No care is available after this time.  No exceptions.

  • An after hours late fee of $1/minute is applied if pick up is after 6 pm sharp.  Please don't be late!

Prices & Policies

• Summer Camp Sessions are $40 for the half day (4 hours) and $60 per full day (8 hours).
  Additional hours may be added, within business hours, for $8/hour. 

  • Learn more about our Summer Camp programs.

• Full time after school care is $7/hour for those attending 15 or more hours per week   and $9/hour for those attending less than 15 hours per week.

  • Learn more about our After Care program  

Philosophy

• All children deserve to feel safe and valued and to explore their potential in a nurturing, supportive environment.  Supplying this is our primary goal.
   
• We also aim to provide a developmentally based, primarily child-led program that emphasizes play and self discovery. 
  
  
•  Many children in todays world experience a "nature deficit" due to being cooped up indoors Monday - Friday in school and in more traditional care settings.  Current research tells us that providing a rich outdoor enviroment that children can access daily can remedy to this situation, helping children grow and develop more fully in many surprising ways.  Little Garden Patch Farm's programs are devoted to providing this access and to helping children better understand the natural world that supports them.

Influences

Linnaea's philosophy and approach to working with children is the result of 30+ years of experience in diverse educational and care settings as well as the influence and mentoring of the many extraordinary teachers and caregivers she has had the good fortune to work with and learn from over the years.   Other notable influences  include:

Maria Montessori - " Making use of his own will in his contact with his environment, he (the child) develops his various facilities and thus becomes in a sense his own creator. We should regard this secret effort of the child as something sacred. "

Erik Erickson - "You see a child play, and it is so close to seeing an artist paint, for in play a child says things without uttering a word. You can see how he solves his problems. You can also see what's wrong. Young children, especially, have enormous creativity, and whatever's in them rises to the surface in free play."

Alfred Adler - "The educator must believe in the potential power of his pupil, and he must employ all his art in seeking to bring his pupil to experience this power.

Jean Piaget -  "The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.