POSTPONED – Acorns & Oaks

About This Event

Introducing the Arboretum’s first-ever Parent & Me Program!

Be among the first seeds to sprout in this exciting new early childhood series!

Due to an overwhelming response to our sold-out February/March session, we have added a new March/April session of Acorns & Oaks!  REGISTER HERE

Six Thursdays: March 26, April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
9-10am
Non-Members: $160 per child, $60 per additional sibling
Members: $150 per child; $50 per additional sibling
*Limit to two adults max
*For children 5 years old and younger
*For Arboretum members, remember to create your Arboretum account to get the discount at checkout. For instructions on how to create an account click here. To create an account click here.

Acorns & Oaks is a unique, homegrown, parent-child educational program that is rooted in whole-child philosophy & developmental play.

Designed to provide outdoor, nature-based learning experiences for babies, toddlers and children up to the age of 5, the goal is to help our little acorns grow into mighty oaks!  Acorns & Oaks fosters parent and child bonding through tactile play with nature, crafts, songs, stories, and sensory integration. The program provides little ones with a natural environment in which to practice and further develop all growing abilities, particularly gross/fine motor, cognitive, and social-emotional skills. It also offers parents and caregivers the much-needed time to socialize and relax in a beautiful setting.

The program is mixed-age for a “family learning” style, and siblings are warmly encouraged. All domains of development are nourished through intentional teaching and hands-on learning. A simple curriculum, group singing, & nurturing tactile play offer the perfect growth experience. Sessions offer direct contact with nature, crafts, songs, stories, and sensory integration.

One of the most affordable and value-packed parent & me programs in the area, Acorns & Oaks is led by Betsy Edelberg, founder of Playgroup Los Angeles. Acorns & Oaks is mixed age for a family learning style, and siblings are welcome. Questions? Please contact Brooke Applegate at brooke.applegate@arboretum.org

“Acorns & Oaks” classes are taught by Betsy Edelberg (founder of Playgroup LA) who has taught hundreds of parents and children over 12 years! Betsy holds a degree in Child Development. She has certifications in Children’s Yoga, Brain Gym, and training in Waldorf Early Child Education.

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THE VALUE OF OUTDOOR PARENT-CHILD LEARNING:

Why does nature-based learning matter?  Nature-based learning provides children with boundless opportunities for mindfulness and self-centering.  By organically inspiring children to stop, listen, and look around, immersion in nature fine-tunes children’s observation and self-soothing skills, allowing them to check in with the world around them.  In addition to fostering stewardship for the environment and respect for other living creatures, strengthening immune systems, cultivating executive function and socialization skills, and setting up patterns for an active lifestyle, research shows us that outdoor learning supports a broad spectrum of healthy child development.  According to a study by the American Institutes of Research, outdoor classrooms and other nature-based learning experiences significantly boost academic performance.  They found that students in outdoor science programs improved their testing scores by 27 percent!  Whereas the traditional classroom can be concurrently overstimulating and limiting, learning with, in, and through nature offers children the opportunity to engage all of their senses in vibrant ways, touching and experimenting with things in a way that the pages of a textbook in a classroom could never do.  Additionally, as children are naturally inclined to play when outdoors, nature-based learning supports play-based-learning, a powerful tool in emotionally imprinting learning on the human psyche (for children and adults alike!).  “Acorns & Oaks” provides children with the opportunity to reap all of these benefits while simultaneously bonding with you through joyful joint activities.  (And don’t forget that strong immune systems, playtime, socialization and physical activity are just as good for adults too!)