KnowledgeNest MicroSchool

From inside to outside the fun never stops here! 🥰

The time has come to wish our little chicks (not so little anymore) the best and send them on to a learners farm. 🥰

We’re so lucky to have a community of families that support our dreams and goals.

🤟🏻

Good news! Come one, come all it’s your lucky day! We only accept cash at the Nesters Farmers Market, but don’t let that stop you!

Now accepting all foreign currency, including Pokémon dollars! 🙌🏻

Yesterday, we arrived at the “but how will we pay” point and instead of just handing over some pretend money… we made some! We looked at examples and talked about what they all meant and then they got to create. 🥰

It’s their world, we just live in it. 👏🏻

We used our fine motor skills in so many ways yesterday!
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And we had an absolute blast doing it! The learners were engaged with the play dough making for over 90 minutes. 🤩
That’s what I love about the recipe we use… it’s no heat other than warm water, so they can do every step. Everyone got to squeeze, mix, pound, stretch and roll their own little ball and then mix it with their chosen color. Pink or gold. And then they got scented! ☺️ Strawberry for the pink and bergamot with vanilla for the gold. And we couldn’t resist adding some sparkle. ✨

We also added a potion making station and they are using their fingers and hands for all kinds of cool things in it. Can’t wait to see how it evolves. We’ve already had one kiddo ask if he can make potions to specifically sell at a booth in the Farmers Market across the room. 🙌🏻

What potions would you make?

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Five little bees in the flowers and trees 🌼🌳

Buzzing all day in the warm spring breeze ☀️🌿

Honey so sweet 🍯
And tallow so mellow ✨

Stop by our booth and say, “Hello!” 👋🐝💛

Our Farmers Market is the place to bee! 🥰

A glimpse into our new dramatic play center… The Farmers Market! 😍 We are still filling it with some things (looking for crocheted foods if you know someone) and today the learners will start making signs for things.

Also throwing in a look at the rearranged cozy corner and library space in the playroom. 🤩

Being learner led means we change things around a lot, but this might be my favorite set up ever. 🤟🏻

What would you add to your farmers market?

Free social play only works when children are given both freedom and support.

As Lead Companions, one of our most important responsibilities is to be the safety base within that play.

Children are not born knowing how to consistently set boundaries with peers, recognize boundaries being set by others, or navigate the emotional complexity of conflict and repair. These are learned skills, and they are learned over time through lived experience and guided support.

In play, we actively teach and model the language of boundaries.

Phrases like:
“I don’t like that.”
“Stop, that doesn’t feel good.”
“Can I have a turn when you are done?”
“I hear you, and I still feel upset.”
“I need space.”
“I want to keep playing, how can we fix this?”

We also teach children how to hear those same words from others without shutting down or escalating.

Just as important, we support children in learning that the person across from them is also a human being with feelings, needs, and perspectives. Conflict is not treated as failure. It is treated as practice.

We guide them through negotiation, repair, forgiveness, and grace. Not by removing the struggle, but by staying present inside it long enough for skills to form.

This is the part of learning that cannot be rushed. It cannot be replaced with instruction alone. It has to be lived, with support close enough to hold safety, but far enough to allow growth.

In this way, play becomes more than play.

It becomes the training ground for lifelong relational skills.

Free social play is one of the most powerful learning tools in a child’s development, yet it is often the most misunderstood.

When children are given time and space to engage in unstructured play with one another, something deeply important is happening beneath the surface. They are not just “playing.” They are learning how to be human in community.

In free social play, children practice negotiating ideas, expressing needs, listening to others, navigating disagreement, and repairing relationships. They learn how to lead and how to follow. They learn flexibility, patience, creativity, and problem-solving in real time, with real emotions and real outcomes.

These are not separate from academic learning. They are the foundation that academic learning is built on.

In adulthood, these same skills show up everywhere. In workplaces, relationships, parenting, leadership, teamwork, and communication. The ability to collaborate, adapt, self-regulate, and persist through frustration does not begin in adulthood. It begins in play.

Free social play also directly supports reading development. Language is strengthened through conversation, storytelling, and imaginative role play. Children expand vocabulary naturally as they create worlds, assign roles, and negotiate narratives. They learn sequencing, cause and effect, perspective taking, and symbolic thinking, all of which are essential for reading comprehension.

When children are given time to play freely, they are also building the cognitive and emotional wiring that allows reading to make sense and come alive.

Play is not a break from learning. It is where learning is most fully alive.