At the heart of our early childhood program is our understanding that self-initiated play is critical to the healthy development of all young children. As soon as they learn something new, they start to play with their new capacities, practicing and testing their skills until they tackle more and more difficult tasks. Therefore, ample time for creative play is part of each morning. Open-ended toys made from natural materials, like silk scarves, knitted wool puppets, wooden blocks, and shells, acorns and stones collected from their nature walks, nourish the child’s developing senses, flex their creative muscles and imaginative capacities, and further develop their emerging fine motor skills. In addition, structures that they can move, that they can explore with their whole bodies, crawl over and into, combined with environments that invite movement, help to develop their gross motor coordination. We believe that creative play is the child’s most important developmental tool, whether to discover new skills, work with experiences, or express happiness and sorrow. Through the activity of imaginative play, children develop physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally.