Fayette Co-Op Earns Grant to Install Playscapes, Mud Kitchen

One of the first rules parents learn when they enroll their children in Fayette Cooperating Preschool is “Don’t dress your kids up.”

Children at Fayette Co-op play outside every day at the preschool, which has locations at 109 Rosemont Garden and 3564A Clays Mill Road.

And getting messy is not discouraged.

Co-op’s early childhood programs use discovery-based, hands-on learning.

Children move from room to room at their own pace, playing and working with age-appropriate toys and tools that help them develop motor, social and cognitive skills.

In addition to a qualified teacher and a teacher’s aide, two or three parents assist in the classroom each day on a rotating schedule.

Each day, kids at Co-op head outside to do the all-important work of childhood – play.

And outdoor play just got a little more fun and a little messier thanks to grants from the Bernheim Foundation and LFUCG as well as the efforts of Michael DeLetter, a local Boy Scout.

If you stop by one of the playgrounds at Fayette Co-op you will see new natural playscapes, including raised bed gardens, stepping logs, a living willow hut, and messiest of all, a mud kitchen.

DeLetter, working on his Eagle Scout award, painted the shed at the Rosemont Garden location and installed new rain barrels to provide water for the gardens and mud kitchens.

Fayette Co-op is still hard at work raising funds to add a new set of Outlast Blocks, large wooden blocks designed to be used by kids outdoors.

You can donate now through Dec. 12 through the Good Giving Challenge at BGgives.org/fayettenursery.

Co-op recently earned a third grant, this one from Target for a program called Books@Breakfast.

This grant will promote family involvement in literacy for early childhood.

Families will enjoy a story time and a craft, and each child will get to take a book home.

The program starts in January 2015 and will be open to the public. Find all the details on Co-op’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CoOpSchool

Info: Fayette Co-op call 276-6350 or e-mail coopschool51@gmail.com or www.coopschool.org.