**Enrollment is open for Fall 2023!**
Prairie Flower will be open again in the fall, with expanded options for care in our nature-based, child-led and unhurried childhood setting. We are offering three daily programs:
Please fill out our Expression of Interest form for Morning Song / Day Song and PoemTree to begin the process of enrollment in these programs. We hope to hear from you soon! **Meet Our New Center Director & Lead Teacher**
We are so excited to welcome Monica Marcomb to the Prairie Flower community as our new center director and lead teacher. A resident of Ames, Monica brings many years of experience in early childhood education, a love of the outdoors and a commitment to child-led, nature-based learning. Read Monica's letter of introduction, and help us welcome her to our community. **Location Update**
We are excited to announce that after several months of searching for the right location, we now officially have a new home. We recently finalized an agreement with Bethesda Lutheran Church, in the heart of Ames, to rent two spacious classrooms in their lovely building at 1517 Northwestern Ave. The grounds include a grassy yard and large garden space, and the site is close to a network of wooded trails that will let us continue to explore and learn from nature. Read more details in our Facebook announcement. Welcome to Prairie Flower Children's Center!
Prairie Flower is a play-based, love-centered, nature-immersed creative early childhood education center based in Ames, Iowa, that serves Ames and the surrounding communities. Our programs are also belonging-based, which means we want to instill a sense in children -- through experiences of love, joy, kindness and empathy -- that they belong unconditionally.
Nature is the crowning strength of our curriculum; we consider the natural world a co-teacher. We strive to create a warm, nurturing environment based on meaningful work, play and connection to the natural world and its seasons. Our programs are based on empowering the child to feel capable and to find out who they are as a human being, and what they like. Importantly, we seek to honor unpressured childhood as a critical time for healthy development. In addition to the preschool-mixed-age kindergarten, we offer a parent-child playgroup for children from 14 months to 3 years olds; an outdoor nature club for 5- to 12-year-olds; and many seasonal community events, celebrations, and parent education programs. We invite you to explore our site and learn about our unique vision for early childhood education. Please feel free to contact us with any questions! Support Us!
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