Serendipity Preschool launches Discovery Room program

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Neighbors | Submitted.Daniel Mangiarelli gets ready to knock down his building with the wrecking ball.

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Neighbors | Submitted.Children from Serendipity Preschool get up close and personal with nature in the outdoor Land Lab.

Serendipity Christian Learning and Development Center is dedicating a new classroom in its current center at Westminster Church, 119 Stadium Dr. in Boardman.

As part of the curriculum, the “Discovery Room” offers children fun activities each month in addition to their regular classroom experiences. Throughout October, the children experienced a construction site with each visit to the Discovery Room. They had the opportunity to design and build structures with different materials available to them. The idea for the innovative program came from Director Sandy Knaus.

“It is very important to give kids various hands-on experiences at this age. We can’t wait to see the creativity this will spark within them,” she explained.

With an assortment of wooden blocks, scrap material, PVC pipes of various sizes, hammers, screws, screwdrivers, wrenches and drills, it is noisy fun for the children. As the room changes monthly, the children will learn about magnetism, inclines and ramps, reflection with mirrors, sound, water and the sense of touch.

Serendipity offers an on-site land lab for preschool children.

At least once a month, children attending Serendipity Preschool have the opportunity to experience nature up close and personal. The wooded property behind Westminster Church on Stadium Drive is an “outdoor classroom” with trails, bat houses, salt licks, hawks, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, deer and animal tracks.

Here. the children learn what happens to a tree when it falls in the woods, how animals find food and shelter and what happens to different trees as the seasons change. Children keep a journal throughout the year with pictures they have drawn to illustrate their experiences. Dressing for the weather is part of the experience.

”We have gone out with umbrellas in the rain, snow boots to investigate animal tracks and windbreakers to understand what part wind plays in the forest,” said Knaus. “More and more research indicates the importance of children spending time in nature or natural settings. We have the perfect opportunity to provide them with that experience here.”