Children want a greater house to play at San Jose Day Nursery

When the youngsters at San Jose Day Nursery scamper across the heart’s playground, they leap and bounce onto a darkish rubber mulch that surrounds the gear. It’s there to maintain them from getting harm. However what the children don’t know is that they’re not the one ones who use it.

“The cats like to come in the middle of the night and use it for their litter boxes, so we’re constantly having to sift through and make sure it’s safe for the kids,” mentioned Angela Gomez, who has been director of the downtown San Jose daycare heart since 2021.

It’s a process that Gomez would reasonably her employees not must do, and she or he hopes that Want Guide readers can assist make {that a} actuality. San Jose Day Nursery is asking for $50,000 to revamp its outside play space for the 112 youngsters aged 6 weeks to six years previous that use it daily.

Gomez would like to have the black rubber mulch changed with a poured-in-place rubber floor just like the one they’ve on the Guadalupe River Park’s Rotary PlayGarden and different trendy playgrounds.

“If we could do some colors or a theme, that would be really cool,” she mentioned.

Whereas the playground gear itself — put in throughout San Jose Day Nursery’s final main renovation in 2006 — is in good situation, different components to the outside courtyard may use an replace. Picket picket fences encompass the playground and a special play house for toddlers to offer older and youthful children with their very own house.

“I would love to change the shape of the playground and remove some of these big boulders they have set in here that aren’t safe for the kids,” Gomez mentioned. “If we could incorporate aspects back here that run with a theme so the kids can build their imaginations, that would be ideal.”

San Jose Day Nursery has been a part of the neighborhood since 1916, occupying its present location on North eighth and Santa Clara streets since 1936. An old style swing signal out entrance of the Spanish Revival constructing belies the fashionable youngster training heart inside, the place youngsters take part in age-appropriate hands-on studying experiences, vital considering workouts and early literacy actions.

The outside areas –along with offering the energetic children room to run, play and even pedal tricycles round imaginary tracks — are important elements of the educational expertise and growth of motor abilities.

Having an outside house that sparks their imaginations is a vital a part of that and has different advantages, too.

“When they’re busy and exploring and engaged, you’re not going to have the behaviors that are going to be disruptive,” Gomez mentioned. “We want all the kids to have a chance to be engaged, indoors and outdoors.”