Specialties
Nature's Lab is a bilingual (Spanish), experiential outdoor preschool that encourages children's natural curiosity and love for exploration, research, and creativity.
Now enrolling children 24-months-old to kindergarten.
Our program exposes children to outdoor play, STEAM opportunities (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math), and social-emotional development strategies that help them build strong, loving relationships, and be happy, life-long learners.
We are committed to maintaining small teacher-to-student group size so children can have quality, one-on-one time opportunities to develop their own learning and interests, as well as feel supported, and build strong relationships.
We strive to help children develop to their fullest potential in our loving, experiential, bilingual program that places strong emphasis on community.
History
Established in 2018.
Nature's Lab was founded in 2018 based on Silvia's dream of creating a bilingual preschool that is based on the recent research demonstrating how child learn and develop best. The nature-based STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) curriculum was established based on this modern research which tells us that such programs significantly improve children's cognitive, emotional and motor skills development.
The seed of Nature's Lab was sprouted in Silvia's heart during her master's Thesis work which revealed the benefits of outdoor play. This passion grew as she coached and evaluated child development programs throughout the state of California, noticing that many schools didn't take advantage of what research tells us works best for children. Through her years as a preschool/toddler teacher, coach/assessor, professor, and manager of Sacramento County's Quality Rating and Improvement System for Early Learning programs.
Meet the Business Owner: Silvia A.
Silvia has 21 years of hands-on child development experience at various level of the field, ranging from professor to program manager. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology and master's degree in child development.
Over 10 years teaching infant, toddlers, and preschool age children.
Manager of Sacramento County's Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS).
Coach/assessor/evaluator of early learning programs across California, mentor to teachers, administrators and owners of early learning programs.
Adjunct professor at Sac City College, and instructor at UC Davis Extension.
Silvia is an avid outdoor lover. You can find her spending time with her husband and toddler while gardening, hiking in the Sierras and lovingly playing with pets (2 dogs, 2 cats, and 10 chickens).
Silvia loves to bring communities from various backgrounds together and is a wonderful resource for child development and activities to ensure all of Nature's Lab families will flourish.