How Can I Help?
Rhythm, repetition, and routine form the basis for our children’s program.
Our purpose is to offer a safe, calm home-like setting intentionally created to convey warmth, beauty and wonder. We engage in seasonal activities related to art and nature. Imaginative play and purposeful work, such as bread baking, cutting apples to make applesauce, and working with wool yarn are encouraged. Songs and stories become familiar and anticipated. Small children are rocked while older children are gently swung in hammocks. Children also build forts and obstacle courses, jump rope, and play running games with high school and college age Samara staff.
As more is learned about childhood trauma and the brain, neuroscientists have begun to understand the sensory nature of trauma and the numerous triggers that result. A smell, a sound, or a sensation can unconsciously trigger emotional reactions that are confusing for the child and the adults in his or her world. We seek to bring positive sensory experiences to our children so that we can create new sensory memories in a calm, nurturing environment. The softness of sheepskin, the yielding of bread dough as children knead with their fists, the smell of cooking applesauce, and the beauty of silk play cloths soothe children and inspire imaginative play. We consciously create an environment that meets the child’s senses with richness and warmth.
