St. Michaels Episcopal Day School. A Reggio-Emilia Inspired Preschool Based in Austin, TX
At St. Michael’s, our students spend a large portion of their day outside. We value the experiences that only nature can offer to young children. Whether they are engrossed in new discoveries in our outdoor classroom, hiking our nature trails, or building an obstacle course in our nature playground, children can be observed exploring the outdoors in every season.
St. Michael's offers age-appropriate playgrounds to meet the needs of all of our children. Our younger classrooms utilize a playground equipped with a climbing structure and slides, a double-ended water table, a mud kitchen, and many vehicles and tools for transporting materials around the space. Our older classrooms have access to another playground which features a climbing structure with rock wall and pulley system features, a sandbox enclosed within a wooden ship, sensory tables and easels, as well as a large bike path.
Our nature playground allows children the opportunity to utilize natural materials to redesign their environment. This space encourages children to take calculated risks and fine-tune their motor skills through jumping, climbing, and balancing on a range of materials. Some of these motor-specific materials include a rope swing, circle swing, elevated rope tunnel, and large wooden stumps, planks, and boxes for constructing.
This space acts as a living embodiment of our educational philosophy, providing ample opportunities for our children to immerse themselves in the natural world, complete with a fillable dry creek, a large mud kitchen, sensory garden, music wall, and shaded pavilion for focused research.
Our campus boasts direct access to miles and miles of nature trails. Classrooms can be found exploring different stretches of the trails, collecting natural items, searching for signs of wildlife, and observing the changing of the seasons.