‘Play Is Essential’: Retrofitted School Bus Brings Pre-School Education to Local Homeless Shelters
Mass. — The vast majority of brain development happens before a child turns five years old. That’s why pre-school and structured play stressing social and emotional learning are so important.
Now, a “Magic” school bus of sorts is bringing those experiences to children who wouldn’t otherwise have those opportunities.
A pilot program called Colors of Kindness travels to homeless shelters with an early education specialist on board.
The families line up at the bus early to get their children on board the bus.
“Play is essential,” said Danielle De La Fuente, the founder and CEO of the Amal Alliance, the non-profit which is spearheading the program. “Play helps you learn. It helps you interact with others. It helps you understood yourself and how you navigate challenges.”
Other partners for Colors of Kindness include Neighborhood Villages, Horizons for Homeless Children, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The retrofitted school bus now resembles a play space.
It travels to homeless shelters around the Greater Boston area. So far, more than 600 children have participated in a pre-school experience.
“It’s super important to fill that gap,” said De La Fuente. “You know what happens when you don’t have a place to explore and play and just be a child? You lose out on those key moments of childhood that are key to your brain development and your cognitive development.”
Simple things like an interactive art project or a chance to sing and dance can fill that void.
Sarah Muncey is with “Neighborhood Villages”, a non-profit that advocates for early education reform. She said “One of the really amazing things about the busses are that what we’re showing is that you can bring play based social emotional learning anywhere. There’s no excuse for us not bringing these experiences to children.”
Because so many homeless children have been exposed to some type of trauma, a strong emphasis on learning how to manage emotions is a top priority.
Alicia Blair, the teacher on board the bus, said “The skills that we’re teaching, they’re going to be using them in all areas of their life thru out their lifetime. And not only are we having a positive effect on the children here and now, right on this day, but we are having a positive effect on the community as whole in the future.”
It’s a powerful legacy created in a simple way.
“I would love to see little busses all around and make sure that we can bring joy and play to kids that just don’t have that,” said De La Fuente.
The goal is to reach 1,700 children during the trial program and to add more busses in the future.