Nature Playgroups in Prospect park
Let’s Playgroup is an outdoor playgroup that meets year-round for children 2-8 years old.
We meet every day to observe, explore, play and create using only elements we find in nature.
* Registration for Fall 2023 is now open. *
OUR WORK
Let’s Playgroup exists for children to connect with the sense of wonder nature offers. In nature, children find freedom and privacy. They learn the time of things; they learn patience. Nature provides everything we need – the right leaves, the right seeds, the right fruits, the right sticks…
Simple observations of plants, animals, weather and the changing seasons inspire creative ideas, contemplation, and imaginary play to which everyone is invited. Each child goes at their own pace. Much like the germination of a seed, an idea takes hold and spreads to the other children, nurturing social connectivity and communal respect. There is no competitiveness.
As teachers, we strive to reconnect with our own childhood to unlock creative playfulness that help us relate to the children and experience the world in the way they do.
PHILOSOPHY
” As the child plays, he is entering a consciousness that has access to what can be remembered only in play. This remembering is vast, for it includes not only personal experience, but the child’s link to sensation and memories beyond his capacity to explain or understand. The child has become a listener who speaks through himself what has been heard but cannot yet be defined – a knowledge unconscious but awakening”
Richard Lewis
Living By Wonder – The Imaginative Life of Childhood.
By playing, children experience a freedom of BEING, here and now, in all their entirety. By playing together they create their own rules and learn their own limits. The outcome of this “encounter” is what we call ‘childhood culture’. Our work is based in the exploration of this culture, where to play is a universal language of knowledge that initiates human beings into a life of freedom, happiness, independence, unity, balance, harmony, humanity and greatness.
ABOUT
My name is Lele Luiza.
I was born in Brasil in 1967. My experience working with children started during the time when I was still studying Fine Arts at UFMG. In 1993 I met Lydia Hortélio, the founder of Casa das 5 Pedrinhas Foundation and learned for the first time about childhood culture.
After that I travelled all over Brasil investigating what children do while not under adult supervision. I discovered a vast and incredible world! So fascinating that from that time on I decided not to become the art teacher I set out to be, but instead to focus on researching childhood culture. Observing and learning from the children I met, I came to realize that my work would be to do all I could do to validate what children already know and to keep their learning connected to their feelings, senses and mind, all as a whole. During this investigation I discovered that the best environment for one child growing up is to be in nature and in engagement with another child.
I took pictures and made short films and in 1995 I focused my work on one project called “Video Letter” – producing videos of children playing and making their own toys and then sent those videos to children from another area or even another country. We connected children that did not know each other, or even spoke the same language and discovered that regardless of geographical or social differences they all were connected by the same universal language – the language of play. This language is essential for children to grow.
Shortly after completing the project, I opened playgroups in various schools, gave workshops to public school teachers and also got hired by the Brazilian government to work with children in risk situation (many of them living in slums, others in camps after loosing their homes due to floods). In 1999 I received a grant to develop a project named “Undolasi – A documentation of Childhood Culture” – workshops and a documentary about a group of children in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
In 2002 I moved to NY and opened playgroups in Manhattan and Park Slope. In 2004 I created Let’s Playgroup. In 2015, the stream of imagery of children caught up in the midst of the migration crisis from the Middle East, caught my attention and spurned me to get involved. I went to northern Greece and worked with other volunteers at EKO camp, after which I created Childhood Rescue Project – a 501c non profit organization, whose goal it is to protect children in risk situations, to retain or regain their childhood through play while living in such harsh conditions. In 2016 Let’s Playgroup closed its indoor space and since then our home is Prospect Park, Brooklyn – a dream came true and I am in nature every day, rain or shine.
Testimonials
Let’s Playgroup was Isaac’s first school experience and we feel incredibly lucky that it was with Lele, Peter and Dani. Under the guidance of his teachers and with the wonders of an outdoor classroom, Isaac’s connection to nature has grown incredibly. I notice that when we take simple walks around the block the way he stops to study a stick or collects seeds is a direct result of his time at Let’s Playgroup. He had initial separation anxiety but Lele really understands children and she was able to read his needs and help him make this transition. His confidence in himself and his physical abilities is stronger. His imaginative play is brighter. One of his favorite activities at home is to play school, acting as one of his teachers and searching the house for sticks! Isaac will miss his time at this magical playgroup but what he has learned and the connections he made will stay with him.
“It can be hard to describe what our 4-year-old daughter Esme learned over the last year when she participated in Let’s Playgroup. The difficulty lies in trying to figure out how to assess learning. Typically we talk in terms of skill or performance, but those metrics fail to capture what she gained over the year that she spent with Peter, Vivi, and Lele in Prospect Park. Somewhat enigmatically I would venture to say that she gained self-certainty. As I am thinking about it, self-certainty fits somewhere between self-confidence, independence, and calmness. All that time in the meadow under the “magic tree” building pirate ships with sticks, searching for rocks, climbing on everything she possibly could, and just sitting quietly feeling the grass between her fingers cultivated a trust in herself. A lot of it, I think, can be attributed to the unstructured play in which they allow the kids to engage in whatever exploration they can imagine (as long as it is safe), as well as the time that they are allowed to investigate their surroundings, walk through the trees, talk with friends, or to simply be with themselves in nature. Esme cultivated a focus that we notice when we are teaching her to read, when she builds with her blocks, or is painting. A careful and considered attention to her surroundings that was allowed to cultivate outside of the rush of activities and programs that we typically sign our kids up for. I am confident that this will have been one of the most wondrous years of her life, and I hope that the lessons she learned this year will stay with her as she grows.”
“Let’s Playgroup was an incredibly nurturing environment for our daughter Chloe for two years. We saw Chloe thriving and truly enjoying every second at the playgroup. Lele is an extraordinary educator, with a remarkable vision and vocation. She created a unique, inclusive and creative environnement in which each child could find his voice, build confidence, self esteem and develop a strong sense of belonging to a warm community. Lele’s dedication and deep commitment to children and their emotional well being, is contagious. She calls herself a facilitator but she is truly a visionary educator and a role model for children. Through more than fifteen years of experience with children and profound commitment to her vision, Lele has developed a deep understanding of early childhood, of the importance of play, and how to foster creativity and imagination through original and poetic hands-on activities, games and group activities. Chloe will always remember her years at the playgroup as moments filled with joy and wonder.”
“I met Lele when I was looking for a first “school” option for my oldest daughter. Now, nearly seven years and three kids later, I cannot believe how lucky I am to have found her. Lele has a gift. Time spent in playgroup is magical: stories come alive, nature transforms into art, wild two and three year olds become little angels. Playgroup so special because it is child led but Lele facilitated. Lele is genuinely interested in how small children play. And she understands how important that play is to a child’s development and that child’s interactions with the world. Over the years my children have learned so much by being in this environment – and I have gained a warm, funny, smart and invaluable friend. I can’t wait for my youngest to join Lele’s playgroup!”
“I met Lele 4 months after giving birth to my daughter and immediately felt a connection with her understanding and passion for children’s development and the importance of play in their early (and late) lives. When my daughter was about 18 months, she started to attend Lele’s playgroup in Park Slope. It was a magical period for her and for me as well. Lele’s creativity, genuine love for children and knowledge of all things children is inspiring and contagious. Her respect for children’s own thinking guides her activities and builds their confidence and I can still see that positive influence in my daughter’s today. I absolute love her and her work… she is a unique person whose focus seems to be always on the positive potential of the darkest situations, and that is something to cherish and pass on!”
“Working with Lele changed our lives. We have a wonderfully imaginative daughter, one who does things on her own a lot and very differently than most — which can create some challenges. Finding “Let’s Playgroup” was the best thing that could have happened to our family. Lele truly meets the child (and their parents) where they are in every moment. She is exceptionally skilled at reading behavior and finding creative and often brilliant ways to get the children to open up and connect. We watched our daughter blossom in the year spent with her. The confidence and communication we saw happening for her was amazing and exactly what she needed the most. Her bond with Lele exists to this day and she talks about her often (and the other children in the group). That emotional life was truly impacted in a most loving, nurturing way and she carries it with her – remembering her time with Let’s Playgroup! For my husband and I, Lele was always ready to stop and talk about what new things had happened for our daughter, no matter how small. Or to chat about the importance of play and what is going on in the world and how it impacts us, especially from the point of view of the young. The way she sees children (full of potential and genius) and what they have to offer inspires me as a mom and reminds me to slow down and be present when I’m with my daughter. Her dedication is moving and free of judgement and she even helped our confidence as parents! Assuring and educating us. Offering opportunities to see how kids play in other countries and regions and allowing us a space in which to discuss. Her care and love for children is extradorinaiy. We only wish every child could experience what she offers. The environment she creates for them to explore and discover is open and encouraging and full of possibility. I wish our daughter’s entire life (and ours) could be spent in a place Lele helped create! “
Contact
If you are interested in having your child participate in Playgroup or have any questions or comments, please contact us here.