To view Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 classes for all ages, please click here.

 

 MUSIC & MORE

Ages 1 - 3 with parent/caregiver

Both children and parent/caregiver will delight in joining professional musician Gretchen Wells-Malitz in a music class, including guitar accompaniment! We’ll be clapping to the rhythm, singing new songs, marching and dancing to the beat and exploring rhythm instruments as we explore and enjoy music.

Story Time (see pg 23) also meets on Wed. if you’d like to join it, too.     

 

MOVIN’ ‘n GROOVIN’ TO MUSIC

Ages 3-6

How can anyone sit still when there’s music playing? No need to, with Miss Gretchen! Kids will have their whole body engaged in large muscle gross motor play, as they acquire the skills of music mastery, including kid friendly instruments, diaphragmatic respiration/deep breathing and breath control, understanding pulse and rhythm and hearing/matching pitch. Games, obstacle courses, singing and instrument playing will all make music comprehension fun!.

FUN PIANO LESSONS – WITH FRIENDS!

Ages 5-7

Whether this will be your first piano lessons or you already play, these piano lessons with Miss Gretchen will be great fun with a group of kids! With an electronic keyboard for each child, we’ll have a fun ensemble with everyone playing! Games and movement will add to the fun, learning and love of playing the piano.

                    

WALK IN THE PARK - ADVENTURES

2 & 3 YEAR OLDS  with parent/ caregiver

 

Float boats, find flowers, play with shadows, flap your wings, find animal tracks. Come dressed for the weather. We’ll adventure outdoors on a nature “walk in the park” to find something new. Then we can come indoors to use our “finds” to inspire art work, science experiments or even dramatic play, and most of all a love of the great outdoors!  Call for directions of where to meet at Hinsdale’s KLM Park.          Tuition $85/session

 

IMAGINE-ART

Ages 2 & 3 with parent/caregiver  

Imagine you’re in outer-space, at the beach or in a fishing boat, because just such an adventure awaits you each week! We’ll begin with a story to spark your imagination to dream of where you’ll be going. Then we’ll enter our new world-complete with a castle or maybe an igloo you can climb inside, or maybe there will be umbrellas & shells on the beach! You’ll be using art along with your imagination as you explore each new world! Art will provide an opportunity for you to create, to learn new skills and to have fun! Each session is unique, so you may enroll in any or all sessions. Please wear play clothes that will not limit your eagerness to dive into painting, gluing, mixing and more at IMAGINE-ART!

                       

 

During the Fall, class times are arranged so you can attend Littlest Scientists on the same day.

LITTLEST SCIENTISTS

Ages 2 – 3 with parent/caregiver

 

Little Scientists will be busy! We have a playful, fun environment with a variety of materials to intrigue these young minds. Each week we will have a new science topic ready for Little Scientists to use as they explore the world of science. Parents will go home with ideas of more activities and everyday materials that can be used to keep these young minds busy learning by doing!

  

One day we may explore air by blowing through straws, tossing feathers and watching them float through the air, popping bubbles and even making parachutes! There will be many different materials that will intrigue Littlest Scientists as they explore and learn by doing!

 

 

Each session is unique, so you may enroll in any or all sessions.

During the Fall, class times are arranged so you can attend Imagine-Art on the same day.

 

CREATIVITY & IMAGINATION

WORKSHOPS

         AGES 3 - 6

The Creativity & Imagination Workshop gives every child a place to come to celebrate being creative!  Each week we will have a new creative activity.  We have defined “creativity” very broadly – including not only arts and crafts, but also cooking activities (perhaps shaping bread dough or decorating cookies), inventing, and acting – all can be part of our creative activities.  We encourage children to have fun using their imaginations and expressing themselves! With new projects all year, you may attend either or both sessions. 

EXPLORING ART

5 & 6 year olds

For the child who especially enjoys creating – whether drawing, building, modeling or decorating – this program will give him/her the opportunity to explore art with new materials and guided instruction that will foster not only their creativity but their skill. Drawing, sculptures, mobiles, collages, cartooning are just some of the works to be explored. With new works of art in each session, you may enroll in any or all sessions throughout the year.

  
  EXPERIMENTING WITH SCIENCE

AGES 3 - 6

An active day, full of fun science experiments will keep you busy as you explore, discover & learn with hands-on materials! You’ll be bouncing balls and making rainbows with prisms to explore physics.  You’ll be mixing up mystery powders and setting off a volcano to explore chemistry. You’ll investigate archeology with dinosaur fossils and explore biology as you listen to your heart or dissect seeds. Fall and Spring sessions include new topics for 3 years, so children may attend consecutive years.

 

KINDERGARTEN LAB SCHOOL

Kindergartners

Experience hands-on minds-on learning as you explore science. Our classroom will turn into a “lab” for learning – learning that will last a lifetime! Robotics, classifying, collecting, dissecting, tracking, experimenting will all be skills learned as you explore and discover in our Kindergarten Lab School.

 

GET UP AND LEARN with KIDS IN MOTION!

LEAP ‘N LEARNING         ACTION LEARNING     

Ages 3-6

How do we combine a child’s love of learning with the need to be physically active? We have a new class that will do just that. We’re going to get kids up and moving! But at the same time we’re going to be sure they are learning. We’ll be stretching – making our bodies into the letters of the alphabet! We’ll be jumping and counting. We’ll be doing science activities that require us to get up and move – like when we are flying and retrieving paper airplanes or making and flying kites. Counting points from a bean bag toss, parachute play, bouncing balls, even juggling will all be part of the fun and learning as we Get Up and Learn. We need your help to choose a title for this class! Kids In Motion? Leap ‘n Learning?  Thinking in Action? Get Up & Go? We’ve developed a great program, but we’re not sure what to call it! When you enroll – use a title of your choice to help us choose!

 

                                                                                                           

KINDERGARTEN GIANT LEAP

KINDERGARTNERS

The typical Kindergarten day is often devoted to developing reading readiness skills or small motor coordination that many children have already mastered.  Kindergarten Giant Leap is designed to keep kindergartners stimulated with new learning activities!  With an active pace - ready to challenge these young minds - we’ll have new topics each week.  They’ll be involved in science (examples: conducting experiments, building structures), art (making sculptures, weavings, masks), social studies (investigating foreign cultures and languages), problem solving skills (team work, divergent thinking) and much more!  Kindergarten Giant Leap is sure to be the highlight of every Kindergartner’s week!  We want to keep every Kindergartner’s mind stimulated and thinking!  This class is for children currently in Kindergarten. If you’re Kindergarten age but not in Kindergarten we suggest Next Step Now, Experimenting with Science, Exploring Art or call to discuss additional suggestions.      

 

LEARNING TO SPEAK

SPANISH NATURALLY

Ages 4-6

Whether this is your first Spanish class or you’re nearly fluent, you’re sure to enjoy this class! We will do all of all the same fun, learning activities that have made Kaleidoscope’s programs so well loved. Children will be learning to speak Spanish while they are busy enjoying arts & crafts, science experiments, games, stories and music. Each day the children will be expanding their Spanish vocabulary by participating in new activities which introduce new vocabulary naturally! For example, we’ll have a birthday party and you’ll be counting in Spanish while putting candles on the cake and making a birthday Piñata.

 

LUNCH HOUR FUN

All Ages Welcome

All children who are attending Kaleidoscope can now look forward to an extra hour of fun. Bring your own lunch (peanut free) and there will be time to enjoy your lunch. We’ll also have “free time” for fun and games or arts and crafts. Lunch Hour Fun is 11-Noon after the morning class or for afternoon classes at Hinsdale you’ll come 11:45-12:45 and at Western Springs Noon-1pm.

TAKE THE BUS TO LUNCH: Western Springs or Oak School, Hinsdale, Kindergartners may contact their school to inquire about taking a bus to Kaleidoscope. Just inform us of your arrangements.

WE’LL BRING YOU TO OR FROM PRESCHOOL- Hinsdale’s Union Church, Grace Church Preschool and all programs at Western Springs Rec  Center are places that Kaleidoscope staff can arrange to either meet or take you to or from our classes – just call to arrange.

 

NEXT STEP NOW

The Year Before Kindergarten

Is your child ready for Kindergarten now, but not yet old enough? Has s/he already mastered the alphabet and is almost (or already) reading, so you worry that preschool is not going to keep them stimulated? Then NEXT STEP NOW is ready for them now! NEXT STEP NOW will provide educational enrichment – broadening their experiences and giving them new ideas to explore. More than a preschool experience, NEXT STEP NOW will focus on learning something new everyday. Whether it’s reading a map, figuring out the secret behind a magic trick, measuring the temperature of snow, conducting a survey, exploring the animal kingdom, making a graph, there will be new things to learn, to think about, to use, to do! NEXT STEP NOW can be a perfect supplement to preschool and/or other Kaleidoscope programs such as Experiments,  Treasure Hunt. Reading & Math Play, I Can Read or Creativity Workshop.. When you see the smiles and enthusiasm after each class, you’ll be glad you gave your child the NEXT STEP NOW!

 

 

READING AND MATH PLAY

Ages 3 ½ - 5 years

Preschoolers who have shown an interest in reading and/or numbers will enjoy and benefit from this program.  Children will develop reading readiness skills through playful activities developed to both stimulate interest and develop skills needed for reading.  They will also play with math concepts.  For example when we all build towers 3 blocks high and then 5 blocks high children will “see” that 5 is bigger than 3.  It’s a short step to learn 2 must be added to 3 to be equal to the tower of 5.  Playful fun and learning combine in this unique class. All new activities are planned each week, so children may enroll in either or both sessions.

I CAN READ

Ages 3-6 who can read “A cat sat on a hat.”

Once your preschooler or Kindergartner can read and write “A cat sat on a hat,” they are ready for I CAN READ. In this class we’ll continue to practice decoding skills, foster a desire to read, as well as to write. Children will be playing with words, making up stories and making books to read to you at home.

                                                                          

BIRTHDAY PARTIES

and CELEBRATIONS

Ages 5 – 10

Planning a birthday party? Or for any celebration, even just getting friends together for fun! Consider a party combining a unique theme and “hands-on” learning at our Kaleidoscope Center in Western Springs – Room 22 in the Rec Center.  You choose the theme and we provide the rest! Some of our most popular themes include:

BUBBLES – blow bubbles, paint with bubbles, make bubbles with chemistry –         

                       for endless bubble fun

DINOSAURS - everyone makes and takes home their own dinosaur tooth fossil

MAGIC TRICKS - everyone learns tricks and takes home their props

MUMMY DAYS – as you learn more about mummy science you can invite your

                                 friends to be “wrapped up”

OUTER SPACE PARTY - climb aboard our model space shuttle and have a

                                           blast!

SCIENCE SECRETS - conduct science experiments that have amazing

                                          results!

SLIMY TIME FUN – tell your friends to dress in “old clothes” because this will

                                     be slimy, messy fun!

SPY PARTY - detectives will use secret codes and fingerprinting

TEA PARTY WITH YOUR DOLL - bring your doll to an old fashioned tea

                                                                party

 

YOUR OWN SPECIAL INTEREST PARTY - We are often able to structure a party around your child’s own special interest – just call and let us know what it is!

 

Parties last 1½ hours.  The cost is $175 for the first 10 children and $15 for each additional child. All supplies and “take home bags” for the theme are included.  We will also be happy to serve cake or other foods you provide.  To schedule a party, call Ann at Kaleidoscope at (708) 246-9699.