The Pacific Crest Trail Association invited us to tell their members a little about Play Frontier in their magazine, since our students may be the youngest little hikers out there on the PCT – and we made the cover! We’re excited to share the story and photos, check them out here.
Read moreThe Origin of a School
Do plAces hAve birthdAYs?
Well, we’ve made it. Our doors have been open for a whole month and each day brings new joys, new excitement, and new adventures. Celebrating our first month with kids got me thinking… do places have birthdays? When was Play Frontier born?
Was it born the first official licensed day open, April 2? Or how about our first day with employees, March 26? Or maybe the first board meeting? The first day with keys to the building? First day as a nonprofit, adopted by our sponsors, CEKC? The first day with a business license? First business cards? First day with a logo (shout-out to Eliza Carver for her incredible work!)?
Does it go back even further than that? Back to the day I resigned from my delightful and steady job to dive off the deep end? Back further to the first secret “Frontier” Pinterest board, full of images and dreams of what could be? Or maybe back even further, to spring 2016 when the name Frontier hit me like a ton of bricks and started coloring my world-view with ideas for “someday, at my own school…”
What about even further than that? Back to when the building we inhabit was built, or back to when the fields were cleared and ground was broken for the Wind River Nursery. Maybe that’s taking it a bit too far… but it’s important to me, because we love this place, this tree-processing-plant-turned-marijuana-grow-facility-turned-playschool, and we are thankful for all of it. We are thankful for the journey itself.
The reality is that celebrating place is not nearly as important as celebrating people. Celebrating the people who led us to this place, the people who encouraged us to keep going when the path was unclear. Celebrating the people who have volunteered countless hours and hard-earned money to help see this dream realized. Celebrating the people who took a chance on us when Frontier was new and unpredictable, for they all make us who we are today.
We would like to celebrate the people we proudly call our community partners - our Founders, and our Founding Families of Play Frontier - in the way we know best… by making something that will live forever in our hearts and hands.
With thAt, I would like to introduce our Origin Quilt.
Crafted by Tasha Johnson of Explorations Early Learning, this quilt was made as a means of honoring all of the Founders and Founding Families. The idea is that each person, family, and organization that helped us during our first year gets their name written on the quilt. It will hang in our hallway for all to see, and will get taken down at the end of the year to be used by the kids at nap time and during play. Each new child who spends time at Play Frontier will get to snuggle in it and let it keep them warm, build a fort with it, see the letters and names and ask questions about it. Our Origin Quilt will keep the memory of all of the love and work that went into our beginnings.
Know a person or organization that might be interested in adding their name to the quilt? Send a sponsorship form their way, or have them donate through the button at the bottom of this website! (All donations are tax-deductible… wahoo!)
“Why donate? Don’t your families pay tuition?”
This question has come up a few times, and the answer is that our goal at Play Frontier, a nonprofit organization, is to keep the cost of childcare affordable to our community by raising additional money to cover our operating costs. Tuition covers our day-to-day costs, but we need additional funds to make facility improvements - like building playground structures, to purchase larger items, and have on hand for emergencies (whoa that was a lot of snow to move). Your donation makes Play Frontier an even better, stronger, and happier place.
Our Big News
On Tuesday, October 16, the Port Commissioners of Skamania County unanimously approved our lease.
Play Frontier officially has a home in the Wind River Business Park in Stabler, WA!
Here it is, the new home of Frontier Center for Child Development! We cannot wait to fill this blank canvas with children, laughter, and PLAY!
We will be right on the border of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, in a building that used to be the seed processing plant at the Wind River Nursery. Fronter Center for Child Development, our nature playschool, will occupy 2,400 square feet of current office space in the “Processing Plant.” For those of you familiar with the area, it is the giant building across the street from the US Forest Service Wind River Work Center, a 5 minute walk to Hemlock Recreation Site, and a 10 minute walk to the Wind River Arboretum! There is also a long and winding parking lot, which I have come to call the “paved stroller path”.
The Port of Skamania and Skamania County have both been incredible allies in our search for a location. The day this spot opened up I got a call, and after about three seconds of being inside I knew it was “the one.” We cannot say thank you enough for the hard work of the Port and the County. We would not be here today without them!
My vision for Frontier Center for Child Development is creative and community oriented. I want the space to feel like a magical children’s wonderland hidden away in the woods, complete with sand mountains for digging, towers for climbing, grass for running, and puddles for jumping… that’s just outside! Inside we will have three classrooms: infant (0-12 mo), toddler (1-2.5 years), and preschool (2.5-5 years), along with space for climbing and reading and cuddling and experimenting and creating. We will have endless space for playing, which means endless space for LEARNING!
The challenging work is done, and now comes the fun. Over the next two months, we will be transforming the space from its blank-slate state to a warm and welcoming school. We will need fencing, plumbing (tiny toilets are so cute!), appliances, electrical upgrades, yard work, and a touch of creative flair. And I have a dream of re-creating the Wind River Experimental Forest Canopy Crane from decommissioned parts as a playground fixture… but that is another tale for another time.
