Unless the temperature is below 10 degrees, kids in Seniz Yargici’s new preschool, OYNA, 1808 Taylor St. NE, will play outdoors all day, every day.
Yargici’s goal is to make each child’s experience unique. The preschool curriculum is flexible, centering around exploration and how each child wants to conduct their own play. “It is a lot of child-led exploration, and the teachers are there to enhance the learning for the kids individually,” Yargici says.
Yargici has run a backyard summer camp for the past five years and uses an outdoor play emergent curriculum that focuses on each child’s individual strengths, interests and needs. She will adapt the same focus when the preschool opens in fall 2023.
Yargici, who has 25 years of teaching experience, designing workshops and managing art integration programs, became interested in outdoor play and the concept of “adventure playgrounds” after attending a play conference sponsored by the U.S. Play Coalition. Her curiosity sparked because she learned the framework encourages individuality, expression and independent exploration.
The idea of an adventure playground came to fruition during the World War II era, when children sometimes played in debris left behind by warfare. “They found that kids were playing in war rubble like gutted out buildings instead of the playgrounds that were for them,” Yargici says. “It was this whole idea around loose parts and that kids love taking risks and moving pieces around. It’s the freedom to just create something out of what seems like nothing.”
Northeast had an adventure playground called “Yardville” at Cavell Park in 1948. President Harry Truman visited the site. (See “First a school, then a park: Who was Edith Cavell?”, Northeaster, Dec. 14, 2022.)
“Oyna” means “play” in Turkish, and Yargici, who is of Turkish descent, applies the emergent curriculum and adventure playground concepts to OYNA preschool. She has a dedicated outdoor teaching space full of activities. Some of the “loose parts” students can explore include a climbing wall, tree logs, tires and a tree house. An outdoor kitchen and large sandbox were recently added to enhance the outdoor experience.
Typical school playgrounds include structures Yargici says inhibit children from playing freely and have an agenda for how the equipment should be used. “Everyone’s schedules are over-structured, and kids are involved in a lot of really prescribed activities,” she says. “I was seeing the missing piece [that] kids aren’t playing freely anymore. They’re being guided so strictly toward a certain outcome that we’re seeing.”
The school’s concept encourages children ages 3 to 5 to build, explore and move loose parts around as part of their freedom to play. Their goals with play can change daily and will start with a check-in outside when parents drop their children off. Each child is offered an opportunity to talk about what they want to explore, and teachers assist with guidance throughout the day.
The student class size will be limited to ten children and led by three teachers, including Yargici. Because of the smaller student-to-teacher ratio, teachers can provide more individualized attention to each student. Yargici is currently exploring different options to make tuition more affordable and equitable for families who may need assistance.
The indoor preschool space is located on the entire first level of the Taylor Street triplex owned by Yargici. She and one of her teachers occupy the upper levels; this gives her an advantage because she is on-site and within reach for students and families. One of her goals is to connect parents with their children through the outdoor play concept and sense of community.
“My hope is to connect parents of young children to one another so they can be a resource for one another for years to come,” Yargici says. “The goal is to enrich this community and build a community within our little program so people feel like they have a place and a group to connect with who are like-minded.”
The preschool has openings for fall 2023 and an open house will be held monthly until Yargici’s summer camps begin in June. The next open house playdate is on March 5, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Register at https://www.oynaoutdoorpreschool.com/ open-house-invite. Families can bring their kids to experience the preschool space and meet the teachers.
For more information about OYNA Outdoor Preschool ,
visit https://oynaoutdoorpreschool.com
Kids in Seniz Yargici’s new preschool, OYNA, are given materials to explore and use their imaginations to come up with new creations. They learn through play. Most days are spent outdoors. Class size will be limited to ten children. Classes will start in the fall. (Provided photos)
