Employees from GE in Shelton volunteered to clear overgrown brush in order to make way for a natural playground at the Redwing Pond House Preschool on Milan Street.
About a dozen GE employees were at the preschool by 8:30 a.m. Thursday, clearing a copious amounts of tall brush by hand to make room for the playground.
The GE crew was connected to the preschool through the Valley United Way’s Corporate Volunteer Council.
The Valley Indy snapped the photos you see here and then engaged Jacqueline Lema, the school’s director/head teacher, in an e-mail Q&A about the project.
The school is at 21 Milan Street, part of the Ansonia Nature Center. Click here for the preschool’s website.
The Q&A starts after the photo gallery:
Valley Independent Sentinel: What’s a natural playground?
Jacqueline Lema: “A natural playground is an area where children can play with natural elements such as sand, water, wood, and living plants. A natural playground allows children to explore freely in a safe outdoor environment, inventing their own activities and games encouraging creativity and providing numerous developmental benefits.”
VIS: What was the GE crew clearing today — is that where the playground will go?
Lema: “The volunteers cleared a large area very close to the preschool that is easily accessible and has a beautiful varied landscape. They removed invasive tall vegetation and created paths and small gathering places — exposing beautiful trees, bushes and play areas that were previously completely covered.”
VIS: “When do you expect the natural playground to be ready?
Lema: “Believe it or not, the children can, and will!, be able to be out exploring the area tomorrow! Although it is an ongoing process, and we have plans and hopes for adding and including many interesting and exciting elements in the upcoming months. It will continue to evolve with the children.”
What goes into the creation of a natural playground?
Lema: “The best way to describe it is to have the space include lots of ‘loose parts,’ meaning a large variety of items that the children can use to design their own areas and games. Sections or slices of trees (discs) can create paths, be used as a platform or display, can be stacked and used to build, and much more. Loose parts also include stumps, stepping stones, sand, gravel, small stones, twigs…anything that the children can find, collect, and use creatively. The area is well thought out, to include places that encourage large motor play (digging, climbing, balancing), cooperative play, quiet places, gathering places, hopefully a mud area, and ideally a large mound of dirt for digging and climbing . . . It requires a great deal of planning and upkeep of the area through weeding, raking, and maintaining plants and trees.”
VIS: Would this natural playground have been possible without the assistance of GE (and Grillo, the Milford company that donated materials)?
Lema: “This project would not be possible without the donation of time (GE) and materials (Grillo). I would also like to add that board members from the Nature Center, as well as a group of Junior Rangers also spent their personal and priceless time working with us today.”
VIS: How many students are enrolled in the preschool?
Lema: “We will ideally have 16 students with 3 teachers on any given day. We welcome 3-5 year olds. The families can choose 2, 3, or 5 days per week, mornings (8:30-11:30) or ‘full’ days (8:30-1:30). We are still enrolling students!”
VIS: “When did it officially open?
Lema: “We were open for a few months this past spring after obtaining our license from the state, and just began our first full school year on Sept. 4.”
