I call it tiny. My kids call it nature.
Sunflower blogger Victoria won 4th place in KaBOOM!’s recent guest blogging contest. For those of you who missed it, check it out below and on KaBOOM!’s Play Today blog. Then read more great Sunflower posts by Victoria here. ... read more
The essence of Seedlings
My daughter Emily started Seedlings last week. The first week of Seedlings, I took lots of pictures trying to capture the essence of what makes this program so unique. But this picture is the one that I keep coming back to time and time again. ... read more
Go With the Flow
“Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re ... read more
No place we’d rather be
by Jennifer Sneeden It begins in the cozy corner. Twenty-five little bodies, squeezing into the small space that has served so many purposes over the past year. These children relish the physical closeness, the proximity to one another. They all read more
Seedlings Spaghetti Day 2012!!!
Spaghetti Day: it’s an annual end-of-year event in our Seedlings program. It’s oily. It’s gooshy. It’s a multi-sensory experience! And, seriously, where else in the world can you experience this!? (I love Sunflower!) ... read more
Make it Safer. Add Risk.
We’re working hard to shift the conversation regarding child safety to include risk as a conduit for learning, rather than a situation that must be avoided. When adults who design childhood play spaces have the ability to assess risk and ... read more
Remembering Play at the US Play Coalition Conference
At Sunflower we believe the world would be a healthier, happier place if we all played more– even adults! Here's how Susan remembered play recently at the 2015 US Play Coalition Conference on the Value of Play. (Turtle WOO!) read more
Brothers and sisters
I’m sitting down to write about siblings, and all sorts of thoughts are swirling through my mind. Running down to our basement playroom with my two sisters after dinner, to play with our “village” of doll houses. Christmas ... read more
Sunflower and Neapolitan Ice Cream: Trinities of Bliss
What do Neapolitan ice cream and Sunflower Creative Arts have in common? They both offer a trinity of bliss for parents. Sunflower mom Sophie Evans cracks open a tub of Sunflowery goodness and tells the story of what drew her to our programs in ... read more
Weaned on play
by Wynna Dunmyer, Sunflower mom My baby weaned, again. At Bridging Day last week, Griffin my 5 year old last baby, weaned. This time it was from Seedlings, the amazing play-based cooperative program that gave him space and time to grow and ... read more
Their Right to Play
I have always felt the need to fiercely protect childhood and play. Why? Kids at play epitomize exactly what we as adults all strive toward: living each moment with energy, confidence, fully engaged and capable, fearlessly exploring ... read more
Balancing Risk and Safety
In my work with children and families, I have been thinking more and more about risk assessment, the importance of risk for healthy development, how to balance risk with reasonable safety, how experiences managing risk build capable children who read more
I call it tiny. My kids call it nature. | KaBOOM!
Congratulations to Sunflower blogger Victoria Green, 4th place winner in KaBOOM!‘s national guest blogging contest. Go Victoria! Check out her (awesome if we do say so ourselves!) winning entry on KaBOOM!’s Play Today blog here: I ... read more
Crossing the Bridge
This morning my six-year-old son, Dylan, will cross over the Seedlings bridge for the final time (that’s Seedling talk for Graduation). To the outside world it might seem like an ordinary event, but for us–the Glas family– it’s the ... read more
Helper day
Sometimes, when I’m a helper at Seedlings, I’ll see a stream of older folks walking by the playground. Our program shares space with a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, which hosts classes for seniors at the same time we’re ... read more
Bring that beat back to me again…
I recently got back from an amazing vacation, visiting a wonderful, playful, up-for-anything friend and seeing my most favorite band in the world (Dave Matthews Band ♥love them!♥). I went completely on my own–no kids, no husband–and ... read more
So hard to leave…
Everybody who’s ever taken a class at Sunflower and then stayed afterwards while their kids played on the playground has, at some point (usually after a long, long time of playing) heard these words from Susan: “Take your children and leave!” ... read more
Not Just for Kids
I spent my first week in Växjö, Sweden, pedaling the hundreds of bike paths strewn across the county. One especially sunny weekday afternoon I was speeding around the lake enjoying the feeling of being thousands of miles from home. As I rounded ... read more
Experiencing Risk
To seven-year-old Jonathan it was the edge of the world. To everyone else at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex it was just the tall diving platform. After climbing the stairs I inched my way to the edge of the 33 foot tall precipice and looked ... read more
Imagination Made Real
The sledgehammer swings up to the dripping stone ceiling and comes crashing down. Rock splinters under the force of the falling hammer. The cave’s dank, dampness permeates his every movement. Sweat dripping from his sore muscles, he fights ... read more