Fall '26 Thursdays-Flexible Four-Pack

About the Class:

Fall 2026 Season: "Exploring the Great Outdoors " Focus Skills: Focus/Engagement & Awareness I'm so excited to share that Explorers by Nature Fall Play classes are now open for enrollment! Join us for any four of our eight-week Fall "Exploring the Great Outdoors" season! This option offers families more flexibility, and a lighter commitment! Why do these Skills Matter to Toddlers & Preschoolers? A child's level of engagement is related to the amount of time they spend participating in an activity in a focused manner, interacting with peers and teachers and/or using materials in an age-appropriate manner. Awareness means being aware of one's own actions, thoughts and feelings. These two skills are interwoven, and work in harmony with one another. When a child is engaged or focused, they are aware of the activity they are working on, and to some degree (depending on age/developmental stage) their thoughts and feelings on the activity, their surroundings and peers around them. Engagement and focus build upon self-awareness. Engagement and awareness are foundational and critical skills for our children to begin developing from a young age. They are building blocks to a larger set of executive functions that we pull from to manage our emotions, attention and behavior. How do Young Children to Learn these Skills? Engagement and focus are so often confused with a child's ability to sit still, which is a huge misunderstanding of what these skills look like as little ones are learning them. In reality, the process of learning to show engagement and focus, is often messy, active and noisy! Because, learning to control your own attention and awareness involves trying out different roles, activities, playing and moving! A young child's brain is primed to rapidly form new connections, urging them to experience as much as they possibly can, as they engage in many different activities, exhibiting awareness of the wonderful world we live in. Our outdoor classroom of Lake Murray provides the perfect setting for the Fall Season: "Exploring the Great Outdoors" where explorers and their grown-ups (guides) will build on our Fall Focus Skills: Engagement & Awareness through play-based learning in this exciting eight-week season.