Program Spotlight: Little Explorers Preschool

The Little Explorers program allows children the freedom to play, explore and discover while providing structure and support for individual growth. We provide developmentally appropriate activities and opportunities for each child based on their abilities and interests.

Our daily routines allow for distinct learning. Below is a brief look at our typical day.

- Inside play
- Group clean up
- Circle

- Snack

- Outside play
- Lunch

- Good Bye/Go home

The Little Explorers program maintains an excellent child to teacher ratio, currently we average 4:1. We have a mixed aged classroom (ages 3 to 5), and each child is supported by caring adults. We have blocks, dress-ups, and our play kitchen set to nurture preschoolers imaginations. We use playdough, painting, and drawing on our chalk board to develop fine motor skills. Your child can build their muscles while playing in our sandbox, hiking the trails around Merry Place, or playing ball games on the playground. Our program strives to support all stages of development and to cherish each child’s ability to make meaningful connections with the world around them.

The Little Explorers program approaches academic readiness by fostering a child’s love for learning. Our instructional methods inspire children to engage with the world around them through the process of play (which comes naturally to a preschooler). The classroom encourages children to value the process of exploring and experimenting with raw materials, not just the product. We embrace creativity and we encourage imagination. The children learn to: ask questions, take a guess, predict outcomes, and look for patterns (to name just a few). The skills acquired during this program provide the strong foundation for future academic success.

Little Explorers recently had its end of the year party and the photos listed below are from that day.  There is still availability for Little Explorers for next year.  Call the Recreation Department at 610-446-9397 for more info or to speak to the teacher.

Location Spotlight: Dog Park

Haverford Township Dog Park opened last fall and has been a huge hit among township residents. The Dog Park is a social place for both dogs and owners and is bustling from dawn to dusk.  At almost any time of the day you will find residents chatting while their dogs play.   Above is a video with Eileen Mottola explaining some important information about the Dog Park.

The Dog Park is a 1.5 acre lot divided into a big dog area and a small dog area.  The park is fenced in and bags are available to clean up after your dog. The hours of the park are dawn to dusk.  If you are interested in volunteering or becoming part of "Friend of the Dog" please email us at emottola@haverfordtownship.org.

Click on the image below for a slideshow

Program Spotlight: Playground Program

Children in costumes for
"Wacky Wednesday"

The Summer Playground Program is the most popular program the Recreation Department offers.  The Playground Program gives Haverford Township children an opportunity to enjoy their summer being active outside with their friends.  Game favorites include Dodgeball, Knock-out, Stick Ball and more.  Checkers, Connect Four, Spit and MASH are just a few of the table games we get a kick out of.  Each week has an Arts and Crafts theme, anything from Sports to Carnival, with a different craft related to the theme each day.  On Wednesdays we have a special day at each park.  July 4th Bike Parade, Water Day and a Luau are a few.  "Fabulous Fridays"  gives campers two options.  Go on one of our pre-registered weekly trips, or come to the Haverford Reserve and enjoy games, arts and crafts, and even a water slide on the Turf Field.  Life be in it day is our final celebration of camp.  Activities could be anything from a slip and slide, to a hula-hoop contest to a checkers tournament.  Every child leaves Life be in it day with a prize.

Kids and Counselors stop to
pose for a picture



The Playground Program is at seven different locations throughout the Township.   The locations are listed below.  The program runs from 9-2:30 Monday-Thursday.  The counselor to kid ratio is 10:1. 

Summer Playground Program Locations

Hilltop	Coopertown
Grange	Westgate
Veterans	Merwood
Paddock

To register for the Playground Program for this Summer click the link listed below and find the location you are interested in.  Feel free to comment below with any questions or thoughts.

https://www.haverfordtownship.com/egov/apps/programs/center.egov?fromLink=&path=browse

Click Play to view pictures from the Playground Program 2010

Program Spotlight: T.G.I.F.

  

Thank Goodness Its Friday!  This Winter the Recreation Department offered a new take on friday night programming.  Beginning in the fall, kids ages 8-12 joined some of the Recreation Summer Staff for their playground favorites- dodgeball, kickball, floor hockey, arts and crafts and a featured movie.  TGIF was held on Friday evenings from  6-8:30pm at Coopertown Elementary School.  It was a great way to get keep kids active and engaged during the cold winter months.  It also gave parents a supervised and safe option so they could enjoy some time out.  All for the bargain price of $7 at the door.  We look forward to offering more programs like TGIF at our Community Recreation Environmental Center opening May 2012.  Look for TGIF in our Fall HavaGood Times due out the end of Sept.





Program Spotlight: Artastic

A child works on their craft during
the "itsy bitsy spider" theme

This Winter the Recreation Department started a new program called Artastic.  Artastic is a program that is focused on making fun themed arts and crafts for children ages 4-5.  Each week included a theme, a story, sometimes a song, and a craft.  Themes included "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "If you give a mouse a cookie", and the classic "One fish two fish red fish blue fish" by Dr. Seuss and many others.





Michelle reads a story to the class
before doing the craft

 Hope Taylor-Scott Recreation Supervisor at the Recreation Department came up with the idea for the program.  "We wanted to offer a program that allowed kids to experiment and create crafts based on popular childrens stories.  We were pleased with how excited both the kids and parents were about having a chance to bring home their creations."



 This summer the Recreation Department is offering Artastic.  Click the link below for specific registration information.

https://www.haverfordtownship.com/egov/apps/programs/center.egov?path=details&id=359

Click on the pictures below to view a slideshow of the class

Blogging starts....Now!



Welcome to our brand new blog!  Our goal for the blog is that it will allow us to share information about all of our offerings, but allow us to do it in a much more interactive and enjoyable way.  Stay tuned this week for a new post.