Montessori schools have been gaining in popularity in the last decade. While it is better than conventional childcare center methodologies in some aspects, the Montessori approach still lacks in its ability to truly nurture young minds. Creative Minds Preschool is designed based on the Waldorf philosophy which creates an environment that encourages imagination, creativity, and confidence.
Montessori’s are big on structured play determined on preset objectives created by the teacher. . At Creative Minds we believe in teacher guided,open play, where the children are able to use their imagination to play and learn in a way that the young developing brain needs. How many adults remember being outdoors with nothing more than a friend, a bike and a tree, creating a beautiful castle, or scary pirate ship? You could play for hours and hours and return the next day to the same place in your mind. Unfortunately for children today, imaginative play has been replaced by computers, tablets, phones, and toys that leave no room for imagination. Regardless of the changes in our society, what has not changed is the way a child’s brain develops. Research strongly suggests that the alarming increase in Autism, ADHD, and other developmental disorders can be directly correlated to the the lack of creative play of young children. While this is not the only reason for the increase, it plays a significant role. At Creative Minds, children will be given the opportunity to take their play in the direction their minds take them. In most other schools, the blocks stay in the block area, the food stays in the kitchen area, etc. If our children desire to build a house for their dolls with the blocks, or they desire to turn the entire classroom into a museum or aquarium, then with the teacher’s guidance and support, it will happen. When the ideas are actively formed by the young minds, natural “out of the box” thinking is cultivated and positively enforced. Waldorf curriculum has taken the best of many methodologies and extended the concept to form a teaching methodology that reaps the inner creativity of every child.
Not only are the children given the opportunity to learn at their own pace, but they also get high exposure to music, arts, and physical play. In addition, weekly cooking, craft, and gardening activities will be experienced. Our children will have large blocks of time daily in which they will participate in activities creating and exploring the environment around them. This sets the foundation for a love of learning and success socially, emotionally and academically.
At Creative Minds we empower the children to create and play without any distraction or rigid scheduling which frequently interrupts their activity. Teachers play an active role by supporting the children and engaging with them in order to be a model for imagination, socialization and language. This over time nurtures the concentration and deep thought process, which is a rudimentary trait needed for a successful school experience One of the biggest complaints from school teachers today is the lack of focus and attention skills the students exhibit. By developing independent thinking and ability to attend to a task for long periods of time, Creative Minds students will be ready for elementary school. And because our approach is based on research and best practices for a developing mind, our graduates will be less likely to struggle in the years to come. Waldorf method has been proven to be very effective and will no doubt produce the leaders of the next generation.