Our After School Care Program
The after school care program at Little
Garden Patch Farm is ideal for those famlies in search of a
more nurturing and joyful after school experience that
supports healthy "whole child" development in a safe homelike
setting. Our lower teacher-to-child ratio means that we
can provide each child with the attention, enouragement,
and guidance that he or she needs to thrive physically, emotionally,
intellectually, and socially.
Children at Little Garden Patch Farm also
experience a fun, engaging, and enriching program that
includes:
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healthy outdoor play and movement,
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hands-on science and nature
learning, including farm animal encounters and gardening |
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child-led imagination and
pretend |
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social learning, including setting
healthy boundaries, sharing, and respecting self and others
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and of course, creativity and
self-expression through arts and crafts and storytelling.
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Plus
our popular afternoon snack and story time introduces children to
delightful characters, fascinating facts, and new understandings of
ourselves and the people and creatures that share our world.
What does Little
Garden Patch Farm NOT offer? Once children are here at the
farm there is no "screen time" of any kind. This means no TV
or videos, no hand held gaming devices or video games, no Ipad time,
or computer access. Please be sure your child leaves these
items at home.
Our only "screen time" is during after
school pick up. Because younger children
must wait
in the car while we finish our pick-up route we do provide a movie
in the shuttle van. Children in first grade and up may watch
the "in flight movies" Mondays through Friday and kindergarteners
may watch a featured children's film on Fridays and other minimum
days. All movies are carefully selected for age appropriate content.
More About After School
Pick-Up:
We currently offer after school
pick-up and transportation exclusively at
Main Street Elementary and at
Soquel Elementary. We are not able to offer any other
after school pick-up and transportation options at this
time.
If your child attends a
different school and you are able to arrange your
own transportation to Little Garden Patch during our normal
business hours, then we would be happy to talk to you about
arranging a pre-registration visit for you and your child.
Please keep in mind however that we
follow -- and will always follow -- the
Soquel Elementary School District schedule. Please
check this against your school's own calendar to see if
there will be conflicting dates for minimum days, teacher
in-service days, and holiday breaks and inform our staff
accordingly. Please inform LGPF staff at
least two weeks in advance if your child will be absent
(due to a district calendar conflict) in
order to avoid billing for days that your child
will not attend due to alternate vacation days. Please
note that in most cases, LGPF cannot accomodate requests for
full-day care or early drop off (i.e. before 1 pm M-TH or
12:30 pm on Fridays) when your child's school vacation,
minimum day, or teacher in-service day schedule conflicts
with the Soquel School District schedules. We
appreciate your understanding and apologize for any
inconvenience.
Our
Outdoor "Classroom":
Little Garden Patch is primarily an outdoor
program with a rich and
varied outdoor classroom. When you come for your visit
here is what you will find...
Just inside the entry gate
parents will find our sign in area and our individual
cubbies where children may store their coats and back-packs
and other gear -- as well as finished projects to go home.
Spare clothes are kept here, as well as some of the arts & crafts
projects that are in progress.
Some of our farm animals can be
viewed from here too. Say hello to our pot belly pigs,
our goats, and our "big pony" Mia. She is too large to
let the children into her pen, but she loves to greet them
affectionately over the barn door.
Once past the front yard and entry
area, children will find our outdoor picnic area.
Our picnic area includes shade cloth coverage for hot days,
seating for 14 children, a
big trash can of course, and a host of small two legged
"composters" -- also known as ducks and chickens -- who love
to wait for leftovers! There is a stage and a puppet
theater as well as a chair for teachers to read to the
children while they eat.
Close by is our little "reading
room" which hosts a large selection of books
and hands-on displays on a
frequently lchanging variety of kid friendly topics from Bird Facts to
Fall Changes to Butterflies or Frogs, the Science of Rot,
Seed Growth, and even the Winter Olympics. Also
in this space is a small but popular fairy garden where children can often be found arranging
and rearranging the fairy garden decor and acting out the
days dramatic adventures.
Next down the path is the
sand table and the tree fort.
A comfy hammock chair and some benches offer rest to the
weary and provide cozy places to nestle with a book, a
friend, or a water bottle. There is also a little nook
with toy tables which host toy barns, a dollhouse
and a variety of plastic toy animals and dolls. A
large toy box/bench holds more items for use here and in the
sandbox.
Children will find lots to do
further down the path in the outdoor art studio.
Here covered tables, activity cards, and shelves full of
supplies offer endless creative investigation. Whether
your child would like to participate in the featured craft,
make something all their own, or just sit and draw they are
sure to enjoy this imaginative space. This area
also hosts painting easels for creating large masterpieces on
paper in washable paint.
Turning the corner here, we pass a small green house, and
the entrance to our child-friendly raised bed
vegetable garden and approach
the water table and the seed planting
table, .
Keep going! We're not done
yet. Next comes the rope swing, the
trampoline, one of our outdoor
hand-washing stations, the swingset and
slide, a big hammock, the LGPF
outdoor play kitchen,and the corral for
the mini ponies, Pearl and Cookie.
The children love to brush them and feed them carrots from
the garden. Right
between the play kitchen and the corral is a covered
swing glider where children love to rest together,
giggle, and share their dreams and secrets. A doll
cradle and sturdy baby dolls provides more prompts for
imaginative play.
Add to all this our planting
projects, garden watering, watching the ducks and chickens
play, visits with the other animals, all of our
outdoor toys (fairies, toy farm animals, dinosaurs, sand
toys, board games, etc.) and of course
our monthly theme-related activities and children have no shortage of things
to do when we are outside!

But what about when
it rains heavily or turns extra cold?
No problem! Come on in and
take a look at the playroom!
When we need
an indoor place to warm up (or escape a heat wave) or just switch gears, we can head inside
for some time with the toys and
other activities in the playroom. (Masks may be
required depending on current recommendations from local,
state, and federal health agencies.)
However, please understand that in
order to support the children in developing an
affinity for nature and the outdoors we will be outside most
of the time. This means that we do not head inside
every time we feel a sprinkle or it's time to zip on a
jacket! Our philosophy is that if children in
other climes can play outdoors in winter in freezing
temperatures, we Santa Cruzans can surely play outside when
it dips below 60 degrees -- and we can certainly
manage a few Spring showers as well. In fact, most of
the children find it exciting!

The first thing you'll
notice is that we have lots of different little
nooks and interest areas. There's a table just
for the youngest children to color or draw quietly. |

There
are also spaces for dollhouses and related toys, a
couch for cuddling up with a friend or a good book, and a
central table
for games and teacher-led craft projects. |
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At the back of the room is another table for fuse
beads and other quiet crafts or drawing. A
glance out the windows lets us know if it's good
weather to run back outside! We can also watch
the birds coming to our sheltered bird feeders just
outside the windows. |
In
this back corner of the room we have the Play Table
with lots and LOTS of LEGO bricks for building.
We also have plenty of toy cars, action figures,
magna tiles, wooden blocks, and other fun things to keep us busy. |
Our playroom also has tons of stuffed
animals, and dress up clothes, and plenty of
books for children aged 5-9. |
What about homework?
Little Garden Patch teachers routinely sets aside homework
time for kindergarten children as many of them are too
fatigued by evening to successfully complete their
assignments at home. Homework time is typically
around 1:30 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, and (for those with
uncompleted work) Thursdays.
(On Wednesdays we may have special project time instead.)
Older children typically prefer to use their time at Little
Garden Patch for play and project time as their hours here
are much more limited due to their later arrival time.
However, if you would prefer that your older child use their
time at LGPF for homework we are happy to work with you to
set up a Homework Agreement with you and your child
that will help them meet these expectations.
But please understand that for children in grades 1 and up,
we are not able to provide one-on-one homework supervsion
due to the staff's need to assist with and supervise group
play and learning activities.
Cost & Program Options
Little Garden Patch Farm offers
Full Time, Part Time, and Drop-In options.
Full time contracted care
is $7/hour with free afterschool pick-up included when attendance is
for a minimum of 4 hours for kinders or 3 hours for grades 1-5 on regular school days and 5 hours on early
release school days. Parents pay monthly in
advance of care. An invoice will be provided at or prior to
the start of each month. (Payment is considered late if made
later than the 7th of the month.)
Ongoing part Time care is
$9/hour with free pick-up with the same requirement for minimum
hours (otherwise there is a $10 transportation charge for each
pick up). Registration for part time care is subject to
availability, with priority for registration given to full time care
participants.

Forms & Enrollment
Prior
to enrollment all families are asked to schedule a visit for
a brief tour. This provides children the opportunity
to meet the animals and teachers and try on LIttle Garden Patch to
see if it feels like the right place for him or her. It
also gives us a chance to discuss our policies and answer questions
as we discuss whether our program is a good fit for your child's
needs. And most importantly, it give parents (and teachers)
the chance to assess their child's risk managment skills within the
environment to be sure they will be safe with the tree fort, rope
swing, trampline, glue guns, and farm animals.
Because ours is a small
family-run program, and because Little Garden Patch is a
community and a second home to the children enrolled here, we give
careful consideration to whether we can meet the needs of new
families who wish to attend. One tool to help us determine if
LGPF is a good fit for your family is our
Behavior
Agreement. Please be sure to look this form over
carefully and discuss it with your child so that they know what is
expected of them -- and what they have the right to expect of
others. Healthy limit setting and good manners
is an important part of any thriving social community and we
appreciate the important role that parents play in supporting our
community at LGPF in this regard. Thank you!
You will also receive an
Emergency
ID form and a
Parent's Rights form.
And for families in contracted care, you will receive a copy of our
written agreement/contract to review and sign. When you
contact us we will email you a sample copy of the Contract For Care
to look over in advance of your visit.
Please note that
ALL forms must be submitted
before the first day of attendance. This is a
requirement set by state licensing.
Please
email us if
you have any questions or would like to schedule your
pre-registration visit.
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