By Rebecca Gartman | Wings Early Childhood Center
Wings Early Childhood Center, a nature-based early learning center for children ages 1-5, is getting ready for a big summer project — an expansion to its building.
In preparation for its expansion, Wings will be hosting a fundraiser event at the Tennyson Building Event Center on April 1. This will be an enchanted gala filled with live music, light food, drinks, and a silent auction. Tickets are selling for only $30.
A little more about Wings
At Wings, children are encouraged to openly explore, discover and create using their natural environment. Children and teachers can spend anywhere from 50-70 percent of their day learning outside either in their playgrounds, the nearby lake or on nature walks to neighboring grassy fields filled with tall pines.
Instead of focusing primarily on academic success, children at Wings are inspired to learn about their social-emotional development and how to regulate their emotions through a play-based, nature approach. This philosophy creates future adults who are inquisitive thinkers, who can problem solve, work together, regulate their emotions and, best of all, appreciate their world and strive to care for it.
Since opening in August of 2020, it took Wings only one and a half years to become fully enrolled and became the only center in town to provide care to children as young as 12 months of age. With only three classrooms, a wobbler room (ages 1-2), toddler room (ages 2-3) and a preschool room (ages 3-5), Wings can only provide Archuleta County with 40 slots of childcare. With its upcoming expansion, it will increase its capacity from 40 to 66 and begin to work through their very long wait list of more than 60 families.
With this new expansion, Wings will build two additional preschool classrooms, three new playgrounds and a commercial kitchen. The current preschool room will then be transformed into an infant room, making Wings the only center to provide infant care. Many current parents and community members have expressed excitement and appreciation about Wings’ expansion and hope to see it completed in the late summer of 2024.
Join Wings for its upcoming fundraiser gala or simply go to https://givebutter.com/wingseccto show your support for Wings and for early childhood education. Wings thanks you.
For donation/event information, visit https://givebutter.com/wingsecc.
Wings’ website is https://wingsearlychildhood.org/ and its Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/wings.early.childhood.
