Le Lion et La Souris / The Lion and the Mouse

We see children as co-creators (with the world, their communities, families, teachers) of their understandings and personal development. We value the development of a child’s unique imagination as paramount to early childhood education. We want children to feel free to explore their imaginations, intellects, and emotions in a healthy structured environment. We engage children in a way that allows them to be co-coordinators of our programming and activities at the daycare: using an emergent curriculum, developed largely around the interests children already have. We encourage learning beyond the classroom, taking children on field trips to places where grassroots community is really alive (i.e. urban gardens, community centres). We are inspired by alternative models such as the Reggio Emilia approach which see a child’s creativity as an end-in-itself rather than something which must lead to an objective determined by the teacher. We believe that in expressing their ideas and creativity with a great deal of freedom, children become co-creators of understanding and community. We know that we have a lot to learn from children, as they do from us. And we remember, as the fable of The Lion and The Mouse teaches, that the littlest friends can be the best friends!