Turn Back Time

03/03/2025

Butterfly Grove’s emergent theme for February- Woodpeckers!

🪵 It all began with the discovery of a woodpecker hole near Forest Playground paired with hearing the unique call of a Pileated woodpecker echoing throughout the forest.

The children mimicked the percussive tapping of woodpeckers using golf tees and wooden mallets as well as with rhythm sticks. They engaged in acting out a fable entitled “Why the Woodpecker Is Still Tapping”, and engaged with their own pecking woodpeckers using paper and elastics.

As an exciting finale to our curriculum, the children discovered a fresh Pileated woodpecker hole at the top of a pine tree! Butterfly Grove predicts this is where the woodpecker will live with its babies!

The preschoolers are absolutely loving this emergent theme! ✨

03/01/2025

🥾 Our Mud Pop Up was incredible! Over 120 people came out to enjoy the muddy farm and we are so grateful!

We saw so many smiles and so much laughter!

The farm animals got a lot of love, every part of the farm got explored and of course we played in the mud!

Thank you to everyone that came out!

02/27/2025

MUD PLAY POP-UP at TBT🚨

Come enjoy the mud and all the benefits of sensory rich mudplay with this unique pop-up opportunity.

Throw on some boots and explore the farm, engage in open ended play or stop by for a special mud story. The farm will be open to all families- Saturday 10-12! Can’t wait to see you there! 🥾

https://mcm.org/benefits-of-mud-play/ #:~:text=It's%20a%20sensory%2Drich%20experience,and%20sounds%20all%20at%20once

02/25/2025

We are absolutely loving this warmer weather this week!

We feel grateful our toes and fingers aren’t cold and that we can move our bodies around a little easier.

Our imagination is a little bit brighter and free! Playing in the forest and rolling in the mud are also an incredible bonus! ☀️ The earth is unfreezing!

02/24/2025

🐾Mink🐾

Kinderkamp’s emergent curriculum!

At the end of last week, while hiking on Trickle Trail, the children discovered a bone. Upon further observation we noticed that it was a portion of a skull. The upper teeth were in tact, and showed- by their shape-that they were from a grain eating animal. A small piece of fur still present showed the colors of the deceased animal. Footprints around the skull implied that the animal had finger-like toes.

We collected all the clues while we wondered what had been here, what took place in this very spot just a short time ago?
We drew on our previous knowledge of animals in the area, the fur on the skull looks a lot like the cottontail rabbit we found in the fall, and because of what rabbits eat, we can guess that they have pointed teeth in the front and grinding teeth in the back! Even our domestic rabbits have teeth like that!

So what eats rabbits in our woods? Bobcat, weasels, coyotes, bears ... the fingerlike toes in the footprints point towards a weasel? But what kind? A fisher is probably too big for these tracks. Maybe a mink? Where do minks live? Near the water, just like on trickle trail! Miss Katie has even seen mink in this area! We consulted our tracking cards, the tracks match for mink! We checked out informational texts, what's a mink's favorite food? Fish and rabbits! We have a match!

We are beginning an integrated emergent study of mink. We are so excited to use this theme as a vehicle for learning!

02/20/2025

Wow, what a winter this has been! It’s been so cold and the farm is covered in ice. Are you ready for spring? We are! We are enrolling now for our Critter Catchers program. Critter catchers is for ages kindergarten through 12 years old. Class runs on Monday and Wednesday from 3:30 PM to 6 PM beginning April 28 and ending June 9. The cost is $210 for the Monday series and $210 for the Wednesday series. Sibling discounts apply ! Email [email protected] to register.

02/12/2025

Playing in the Forest! 🌲

The benefits that a child receives when playing in the forest are overwhelming, in the best way! To start, the connection that is curated with nature is a life long bond. As they grow up, their love for nature will always be cherished.
🍂

It also helps them realise why forests and all of it’s inhabitants are important! They become SO attentive! Watching the seasons flow and how that may affect the wildlife and our environment. This ever-changing landscape is giving us a sensory rich experience all the time!

When we watch our students playing in the forest, their imagination immediately blossoms. They are able to socialize, understand their bodies better, and build their confidence!

The stronger the connection with the world around us, the stronger the connection within ourselves. Playing in the forest is a gift that will always keep on giving! ✨

02/10/2025

🔥 The Tuesday homeschool class had the chance to start their theme about fire last week! They started their meeting by sharing how they each like to keep warm in the winter. Then, they had a lesson on fire safety.

They talked about how to move around a fire (calmly walking around the outside of the seats), who lights and is in charge of what is added to the fire (a trusted adult, in this case the teachers), and what to do if fire ever got on our bodies (stop-drop-and-roll, call for help, and a teacher could use a fire blanket to put over the person).

Once they felt confident about fire safety, they moved their meeting to the campfire! We read our story, Gather Round, by David Covell, and introduced a campfire song, I Love the Mountains. Later in the day some students even journaled about fire, working so hard on their illustrations to interpret what a fire looks like to them! ✨

This is definitely a fun multifaceted theme that encompasses many different aspects, from fire building, safety and cooking! 🍳

01/31/2025

SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION IS OPEN!

Email from Turn Back Time Inc. Spots will go quickly!   Announcing 2025 Summer Camp Registration We are excited to open registration this evening for our annual 6 week summer camp.  This year we wil

01/29/2025

❄️ This week we had the lovely surprise of snowfall during our school day! It was such a magical opportunity for learning through play!
We were able to fully understand & appreciate what exactly a snowflake is!

We tried to catch some snowflakes with our tongues- discussing how it melted and felt like water!
We read a book all about the intricacies & science behind a snowflake - did you know that they have six sides? Lastly, we used black construction paper to see the snowflakes up close and it was so beautiful! ❄️

The snow also gives us a chance to do our favorite thing on the farm, sledding!

Winter is here and we are soaking it all up! 🛷

01/26/2025

We had the opportunity to discuss gear and programming with Worcester Telegram & Gazette! Check out our article now ❄️

01/24/2025

Resilience! 🧤❄️

The most important thing we are working on!

The past few weeks Mother Nature has really given us the opportunity to build up our resilience in the cold.

Physical and mental resilience are essential to the developing child. Overcoming the discomfort of cold -by wearing the proper clothing and giving our bodies the opportunity to regulate temperature is such a powerful experience.

Outdoor play, even in cold weather, can boost mood and well-being!

These children continue to surprise us with their enthusiasm and love for being outdoors, even when it is really cold!

01/19/2025

Congratulations to our incredible assistant director Miss Veda! This is much deserved and a testament to your hard work! We are so lucky to have you on our team. Your love for nature is truly inspiring!! 💫

Congratulations to Veda Bleau on being A Person to Watch in 2025! As an assistant director at Turn Back Time, a nature based, non profit education center in Paxton, Bleau puts into practice her belief that humanity's connection to nature is is key to saving and changing the world. She finds that helping children form a connection with nature is imperative to teaching them in an authentic way, boosting their overall development and their ability to navigate the world. Bleau is proud that Turn Back Time has been expanding and that the program now offers full day preschool.

Read more about Bleau and the other People to Watch here:
https://thepulsemag.com/2025/01/people-to-watch-2025

Don't forget to grab your tickets to The 2025 People to Watch Party!: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/people-to-watch-2025-tickets-1126445331309?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1KDdo7JzTBpiNyZ1n3yD8kx0bh_D_xacqi-h6pfovGR3zVXqjzaUy_gjs_aem_sYS5eb9VCXzwvajhrW1zVg