Brooklyn Trails

Our Teachers

Hello! I am Sydney Kaye, the founder of Brooklyn Trails. I am a professional educator with extensive childcare experience. I am a ceramic sculptor with a love for teaching children the art of using recycled materials and mixed media to carry out their big ideas. I encourage children to explore, observe, hypothesize, and independently tinker in everything we do. I consider myself a co-learner in all my teaching roles; my goal as an educator is to create a safe space where every child feels important and valued.

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Philosophy

At Brooklyn Trails, it is our goal to provide an environment that helps each child to feel confident and capable. Brooklyn Trails is a program designed for children to explore art and nature in our own backyard, Prospect Park! Our framework is designed to respect the right of all community members, including children, to be informed, consulted, involved and empowered in decision making in all learning spaces and beyond. We will equip your children with the skills to advocate for themselves and others, we teach them how to navigate our community to make it a kinder and safer space for everyone. This is an outdoor arts program that will incorporate nature, art making, movement and reading into our daily rhythm.

Location

Brooklyn Trails is located in Prospect Park at the Lincoln and Ocean entrance. We meet in rain or shine and spend the full day outdoors.

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About our program

This program is designed to get your children outdoors in rain or shine. Together we will adventure and play and make art in Prospect Park. We provide access to natural objects and art materials that children can experiment with and feel open to revising or re-conceptualizing over and over again. We urge exploration of process rather than creating “refrigerator art” that goes home with the child. Through art making, we foster different avenues for thinking, revising, constructing, negotiating, developing and symbolically expressing their thoughts and feelings. Each day we will engage in reading, nature walks, creative movement and open play. Our group is mixed ages and activities accommodate all abilities. Brooklyn Trails is child led with an emphasis on children’s consent and excitement around what they are learning. We honor children as active members of society, and approach them in such a way that they feel respected in their own right as autonomous individuals. They are more than just kids, they are active members of our community and the leaders of a new future.

Admissions

Join the Brooklyn Trails community in four easy steps:

1. Explore the Brooklyn Trails website

We’ve provided information about our philosophies and offerings to help you decide if our program may be right for your family. Please see our website at: https://brooklyntrails.org/

2. Schedule a Zoom interview

I would love to meet you and learn more about your family! Please email me to schedule a Zoom call.

3. Submit an Enrollment Application

If you would like to enroll, please submit an application at www.wonderschool.com/brooklyn-trails-5896/apply – note that we require Zoom interviews for all prospective families. Please do not submit an application if you have not completed your virtual interview.

4. Enroll

After reviewing all applications, we’ll send an enrollment invitation for the families who are accepted into the program. Upon accepting your enrollment invitation you’ll pay your enrollment fee, fill out enrollment documents and review our Parent Handbook.