Program areas at Birdsall House
The mission of Birdsall House is to provide quality, respectful child care programs that help children and families be their very best. Birdsall House has been recognized as a Breastfeeding Friendly center and workplace, and as a Missouri Move Smart Center.The Birdsall House curriculum pulls from the Reggio Approach, the teachings of Magda Gerber, Jean Piaget and many other theorists who support play. The curriculum focuses on positive interactions, the arts, and science. Kelly created an environment in which the children are free to learn and explore what they are interested in and to develop at their own pace.Following the Magna Gerber and Reggio Emilia philosophies of respect for and trust in the child to be the initiator, explorer, and self-learner, Birdsall House teachers spend most of the day outside. Their outdoor classroom is designed to encourage creative and cooperative play. Children build confidence as they balance, climb, run, jump, and play in ways only limited by their imaginations. The willow tree has been a castle, a caf, and a jungle, inhabited by dinosaurs, dragons, and fairies. This time spent outside naturally increases a childs interest in science and math. Exploration, observation, and experimentation are the natural outcomes of allowing children to play freely in nature. Even their infants enjoy time outside, often napping in the shade of a tree.Birdsall House grows many different fruits, vegetables, and herbs in the outdoor classroom. Children are free to pick mulberries, raspberries, cherries, peaches, strawberries, mint, and whatever vegetables are in season. Everything grown in the outdoor classroom is edible, including the clover that covers the ground.Birdsall House inside classrooms are designed to encourage play that promotes social and emotional development. With a mix of open-ended toys, household items, and objects from nature, the children build, cook, dance, sing, and learn in a natural way. With an emphasis on science and the arts driving the curriculum, classrooms are rich in books, maps, musical instruments, dress up clothes, puppets, and art supplies.