Student Wellness

Play is a pivotal part of the learning experience here at Mainspring Schools because of the impact it has on a child's development. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, "Research demonstrates that developmentally appropriate play with parents and peers is a singular opportunity to promote the social-emotional, cognitive, language, and self-regulation skills that build executive function and a prosocial brain. Furthermore, play supports the formation of the safe, stable, and nurturing relationships with all caregivers that children need to thrive."

Our four outdoor play spaces have been designed to encourage creativity, community, and respect for the environment. By forgoing the use of prefabricated playscapes, we inspire our children to use imagination during play, rather than relying on rote activities prescribed by an overly-structured or rigid environment. Our playgrounds include gardens, trees, grass, dirt, sand, and open-ended toys and materials that encourage sensory engagement, healthy brain development, and physical activity. Children go outside multiple times every day, rain or shine (within reason!), and our teachers are right alongside them at play.

On any given day at Mainspring, infants are making faces back and forth with their teachers, hearing music, doing finger play, and laughing at silly sounds; toddlers are mixing up pretend soup with wooden spoons and aluminum pots; and 4 and 5-year-olds are swirling outside in small groups making sand castles, running, roaring like animals, telling teachers to watch them run/jump/dance/lift, and negotiating who gets to be the dragon, sack the city or pirouette off the tree roots next.

Every day, our students invent new games, imaginative narratives, roles, rules, and scenarios. Our teachers play along, invoking the iconic improv response of “Yes! And?” or, “What is going to happen next?” to affirm the children’s explorations and invite organic growth in their ideas. Teachers play with children when invited, and also stand back to let independence blossom in games with peers.

We provide farm-to-table fresh meals for our kiddos every meal, every day! We teach our kids early the importance of healthy eating. We encourage you to come visit us during lunch to see and feel the importance of these healthy meals. It makes your heart smile to see a 3-year-old pile their plate full of spinach lasagna and fresh fruit.

Good nutrition is essential during early childhood, as it is a time of rapid growth, development, and activity.

Locally-sourced, healthy breakfasts, lunches, and snacks prepared by an onsite chef and served family-style

We serve all children breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack. Weekly menus feature fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and whole grains.

Our kitchen is not vegetarian, but meat is often replaced with healthful legumes and whole grains.

Research-based social skills curricula and wellness learning

Trust-Based Relational Interventions (TBRI®) to guide social-emotional development

A focus on instilling executive function skills

Art, dance, and music classes

Play-based, child-directed learning

During child-directed play, teachers follow children’s leads, avoiding the use of unnecessary instructions or corrections. When invited, teachers enter into their imaginative worlds, which promotes the child’s self-expression, self-confidence, problem-solving skills, brave behaviors, positive peer interactions, and secure relationships.

Roughly 26 percent of children in the United States witness or experience a trauma before the age of 4, according to the National Center for the Education of Young Children. These adverse childhood experiences can include experiencing or witnessing physical violence, emotional or sexual abuse, drug exposure, food insecurity, homelessness, divorce, medical procedures, the incarceration of a family member, or natural disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic or the week-long Texas freeze in February 2021. About 1 in 5 students at Mainspring has experienced the foster system, which brings about layers of loss and trauma. Additionally, 3 out of 4 our hardworking, loving Mainspring families earn low very incomes, compounding stressors on their children’s environments.