Afternoon Program

Enrolling Fall 2025 & Spring 2026!

We welcome all children, including homeschoolers, to join Sunbeam Afternoon for outdoor play, animal care, garden tending and cooking, and emergent projects based on their interest.

Two Cohorts

Barn Swallows
Ages 3-7

Afternoon Program Cost

$56 per four hour single day

Enroll Now

Ravens
Ages 8-14

$1,560 for full week six week session

About our Ravens ages 7-12

For ages 8-12, this group of homeschoolers and after-school students are invited to be industrious, observant, playful, and helpful in our nature and inquiry based afternoon program.

Using real tools and projects of their choosing, we will focus on tending the animals and building and making things, such as toys or structures for the animals, fun features for the school, or personal creations that they may want to take home. Children will learn skills and safety responsibilities for using real tools, and they will learn iterative design process such as prototyping, revising, refining.

Ravens will take a moment of quiet reflection of their day, sitting under the oak tree and listening quietly while journaling or watercoloring.

Our Afternoon Program prioritizes child-directed play in a safe, calm environment where children can hang out with friends and go at their own pace.

Our daily flow is based on the children’s choices and interests. We offer children a safe space to be themselves, relax, play with friends, and move their bodies. Children can climb the oak tree, play in the mud kitchen, cook from the garden, tend animals, and create with tinkering and visual art materials.

In the afternoon we create space for an out-breath, allowing them time to process their morning experiences via creative or physical expression or quiet solo time.

Typically, our afternoon kids choose to run and climb and engage in imaginative play and storytelling, which we fully support!

We also offer Reggio Emilia-inspired visual arts mediums and techniques guidance, such as graphic representation, clay, wire, and woodworking.

We offer a variety of materials as well as naturalist experiences to provide "just-right challenges" and we invite them to run, climb, build, decompress and "just be" after their morning learning experiences.

Transitioning to afternoon work, the children will first engage in a beautiful rest program under the oak tree, specifically customized for these ages (some of the youngers will rest longer, older kids will “rest” for a shorter time and do quiet drawing and reading) to ensure they have the quiet and stillness that their growing brains and bodies need.

We know how much they love and benefit from observing and caring for the animals, so a large part of the afternoon includes animal related work.

Barn Swallows Sample Schedule

Our 3–6 year old cohort typically follows this rhythm:

12:45 Arrivals, get settled in, wash hands
1:00 Circle to briefly check in and create a sense of group
1:15 Climb hill to the oak tree for rest time (youngers -laying down in a tent, olders - resting on a mat reading or drawing)
2:15 Snack, story read aloud
2:45 Outdoor movement, Open Play and project choices (animals included)
4:00 Creative projects
4:45 Closing: appreciations
5:00 departures

Ravens Sample Schedule

Our 7-12 year old cohort typically follows this rhythm:

12:45 Arrivals, get settled in, wash hands
1:00 Check in, food needs, create a sense of group
1:15 Open Play and project choices (animals, movement, free play, tinkering included)
2:30 Group check in, Snack/water break
2:45 Rest / reflection (“Sit Spot”) under the oak tree (reading, writing, observing, mindful breathing)
3:30 Garden tending and animal tending or more creative project time
4:45 Closing: appreciations
5:00 departures

Enroll Now