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Essência Kids Playgroup
- Every Thursday 10-14
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School Project
We are working intensely and joyfully to launch the 'Little Group' for children aged 2-6 by the end of this year.
If you are interested you can come to our Thursday Playgroup or send us a mail.
Welcome!
"Our vision is to create a temple for the new earth children. A mystery school. A place where we explore the deeper mysteries of life together. In small groups, we allow the children to fully explore and experience the earth they have chosen to inhabit and the body they have chosen for this lifetime. By guiding the children to connect with nature through all their senses, they can explore their emotions and sensations within their bodies. This is supported by adults who have the skills to create a safe and loving environment, allowing the children to feel secure and free to express all kinds of emotions.”
Practical info
The kids temple Essencia is a place for children and parents to heal, unlearn and remember our power and essence.
Time
Monday to Friday
9.15 to 15:00
Age Group
2-6 year start Fall 2024
6-10 year start Mid 2025
Food
Daily vegan lunch and snacks is included
Price
488€ Monthly without parents
388€ Monthly accompanied
30€ Tuesday drop- in stay and play. - sign up is needed
Spots
Total spots 12
Language
Primary: English
Secondary: Portuguese
PEDAGOGICAL FOUNDATIONS
A Modern Mystery School
We define our school project as a mystery School. We dive in to exploring the mysteries of life, where nature spirits, angels, elves is as real as you and me.
We allow the children to fully explore and experience the earth they have chosen to inhabit and the body they have chosen for this lifetime. By guiding the children to connect with nature through all their senses. Many of our principles is based on forest schooling and free education (unschooling), whose essence is to:
- Respect the process of the unique development og each child
- Trust in life and the possibility that every human being is here to learn and experience.
- Embrace that we are all **born with an innate drive to learn**.
Trauma Release Approach
The Children will have the opportunity to learn and play in a safe and supportive environments. Our educators are trauma informed and educated and experienced in working with kids. Therefore we invite and welcome all feelings and emotions allowing the child to feel secure and free to express everything alive in them in a safe and loving environment, where they feel held, seen and supported.
We believe that every child is unique, and we tailor our activities to suit their individual needs and interests.
Inspiration & Guidance
We draw our inspiration from authors such as Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf pedagogy), Maria Montessori, Aletha Solter (aware parenting) and the Unschooling Philosophy.
Parent involvement
Essência Kids Temple is run by parents as an evolving organism. If you are a home and unschool family who dream about co-creating and lifting together this project might be something for you.
lets share our knowledge, wisdom and gifts, with the children, so we can create a strong and healthy new earth.
As a parent in Essência Kids Temple, you are a part of the daily life, and you will become a part of our community. We strive towards having one representative of each family to lead or assist one day a week.
Every month we invite all children and parents to a family day, where we celebrate, eat and come together as a community. There will as well be working days during the year, where we work together to improve buildings and the physical spaces of our kids temple.
Kids Activities on our land
"Little Group" Principles
For the little ones in Essencia we create a safe space for them to explore our mother earth- mama Gaia. The planet that we choose to incarnate on in this lifetime.
In the group for the smallest ones we will explore the richness and the abundance of Gaia, with all our senses.
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We will be outside most of the time to feel the elements all year long.
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We are surrounded by nature.
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We will feel, play and be creative with all the textures and colors that we are surrounded by in nature: sand, soil, leaves, flowers, plants, water, stones, wood, etc.
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Making colors out of plants
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Flower mandalas
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Seeding, planting, nurturing and harvesting our own vegetables, herbs and flowers
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Creating our own naturing meal.
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Giving thanks, gratitude and appreciation back to the earth
We will explore this magical and amazing body that we are been gifted with by:
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Dancing,
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Regulation games
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Making sounds and singing
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Animal imitation play
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Walking barefooted on the ground
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Exploring our fundamental motor senses: the vestibular sense, the tactile sense and rhythm proprioceptive sense in natural surroundings.
"Young Group" Principles
When a child is around 6 year old, we will create an individual ceremony where the kid is walking through a sacred portal into the next level of the mystery school of life.
In the young group for the bigger ones, we will invite the children to create their own ceremonies and rituals, we will explore how the individual child's soul wants to express itself, by introducing a variety of different activities like: art classes, Yoga, dance, gymnastics, natural building, music/singing, writing and designing.
We begin to bring all the sensations and feelings they explored in the early childhood in to expressions.
Daily Rhythm
How a normal day could look like
09:15 to 9:30 - Welcoming children and free play.
9:30 to 10:00 - Opening Ritual, singing and sharing circle.
10:00 to 11:00 - Care of plants and contact with Nature and mama earth.
11:00 to 12:00 - Activity - sensory artistic, movement ect.
12:00 to 13:30 - Lunch including participation in its preparation and collection.
13:30 to 14:00 - Relaxation/nap/ storytelling
14:00 to 14:45 - Free play
14:45 to 15:00 - Closing ritual, gratitude and Goodbye Circle
Daily Meals
Vegan lunch is served every day
Vegan meal is included in the price. We will as well provide self made healthy snacks such as fruit sorbet, smoothies, seasonal fruit or healthy snacks included in the price. Essência is a non violent ecological laboratory of life for life promoting 100% organic, on the basis of no harming animal products on site. Dairy free, gluten free, love full and Life full.
School Principles
For Children & Parents
The kids temple Essencia is a place for children and parents to heal, unlearn and remember our power and essence.
It is a safe container for children to unfold their being and gifts in and with the nourishing nature of Essencia in the Algarve.
Safe Container
In the kidstemple we also create a safe container for the parents and the spaceholders to hold each other, listen to the needs and support eachother in their growth and their paths.
We do that in our daily life by practicing
non-violent and constructive communication, having listening spaces and facilitating mama and father circles and hosting talks and event where we focus on how we as parents and caretakers can support our children and ourself in releasing pent-up feelings, unheald traumas.
Daily Structure
Every school day we create sharing and gratitude circles to open and close the temple.
We are sharing from our hearts and from a point of appreciation.
Together with the kids we support and explore our Creativity, Playfulness, consciousness and awareness.
We create a clear day structure. Together we harvest in our gardens every day and cocreate lunch together with the children.
Space Holders
Depending on the amount of children The ratio will be 3(4):1 children per spaceholders. 1-2 main spaceholders, 1 assistant and 1 parent.
This is in order to give the most
personal care and relationsship to and with each child. We believe that children need at this stage of their lives a warm, loving and personal caretaker to be around, because that will give them a sense of security and peace, so they can relax in to just be, play and learn.
Visions, dreams & reflections
What we offer you as parents
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Parent Community
We bring together a community of children and parents, who are involved in the growing of the kidstemple.
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Healing Workshops
We offer workshops about ecoconstruction, soundhealing, dancing, painting, exploring plants & animals, cooking, gardening, relating games, Yoga, parcour, crafting and sports.
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Parenting Workshops
We are creating seminars & workshops for the parents about topics of parenting, self love, painbody, pregnancy and the children of this new time quality.
Different School Programs
Come & live with us
We are welcoming new families on our magic land with kids that would like to have their kids in the school and be a part of our community.
Stay and Play
Especially for the younger ones we recommend this until the kid feels safe being away from the parents. We know the cost and potential traumas it can create to separate kids to early from it's parents. Luckily we have magnificent place so in a transition periode you can stay on the land to work, walk in the forest, do yoga or just relax and make your child feel safe because your are still on the land.
Drop you kid
When your child becomes older and feel safe being held by our land and space holders it's possible to be as a Kindergarden and drop your kid in the morning and come back in the afternoon.