The Butterfly House, Alexandria

Our Philosophy We integrate emergent, child-centered, play-based curricula, and the theories of Loris Malaguzzi, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Howard Gardner, and Arnold Gesell, into a holistic approach to early childhood education. Based on these principles, we offer children a path to self-expression, communication, logical thinking, and problem-solving. We encourage diversity in all aspects of our program, invite family participation, and foster positive community relationships. Our Program At The Butterfly House (ages two to five years) and Caterpillar Club (ages six weeks to 24 months), children interact daily, not only with children their own age but with older and younger children. A diverse, mixed-age grouping gives every child an opportunity to successfully interact and allows for a gradual transition from one age group to another, thus minimizing anxiety by maintaining caregiver consistency. Each week, we expose children to language, math, media, geography, science, and social studies, as well as opportunities to participate in drama, music, art, and physical education activities. We operate our program both indoors and out, as outside play is essential to healthy physical and mental development. Children spend a minimum of one hour outdoors every day except for in inclement weather. Certified Outdoor Classroom Our philosophy is heavily based on outdoor learning experiences. Children engage in unstructured gross motor experiences, teachers facilitate open-ended learning opportunities, children engage in both parallel and cooperative play, and the larger community collaborates together in order to take care of our natural space. Because there are no pre-established rules to these activities, children often use creativity and problem-solving skills to create them. The regular use of creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills in an unstructured outside setting helps children build critical skills and abilities that will serve them in the classroom and in future careers. Our Outdoor space provides the perfect setting for all subjects! To learn more, please call us or send us an email. Please be sure to mention that you found us on CareLuLu.