Charlestown Playhouse: The True Spirit of Play

By Jeanette Lee

The Community College Association for the Education of Young Children recently had the privilege of seeing children occupied in real play, not in a grand facility on the campus of a pharmaceutical giant or a child care center in a corporate office building. Instead, Early Childhood students saw a children’s wonderland tucked away in the rolling farmland of Chester County, Pennsylvania called Charlestown Playhouse.

The grounds of this unique nursery school and kindergarten are carved into the side of a low hill. Stairs direct you from the parking lot up to a huge wooded play area. It is filled with fun structures for children to climb on, under and through as they build their upper and lower body strength and self-confidence. As one walks further up the hill one can see the two-story school with windows from the ground to the roof line. As we entered, it felt like the outdoors followed us inside.

Amy Saia, a professor of Early Childhood Education and a member of the Board of Directors of Charlestown Playhouse, met us and gave us our name tags and classroom assignments. I was assigned to the Yellow Room, a class of 2 ½ - 3 year olds. I was greeted by three teachers: Miss Mary Jo, Miss Susan and Miss Jean. Miss Jean has been with Playschool since it was started in 1936! It was not long before I made a dear new friend, Marianna, who introduced me to two other friends, Maya and Hannah. They were at the sand table filling containers with sand to see how many scoops it took to fill a bottle versus a cup.

I moved over to an area where a little boy was playing with cars. The garage elevator was stuck and we discussed what might be the problem and how he might fix it. Marianna discovered that there was a dinosaur stuck in the elevator. They began to remove the cars that were piled up, working together to solve the problem, and were able to get the dinosaur out and the garage working again. They smiled and I smiled too. They were really having fun and seemed happy to share their fun with me.

I went over to the reading corner and read several books to Marianna, Hannah, Raegan and Levi. Suddenly the fire alarm sounded (it was a drill). We lined up and proceeded outdoors to a play space like I have never seen before. The door in the back of the room opened out onto a separate hillside play yard reached by crossing a wooden bridge. Amidst the trees were slides, climbers, swings and a sandbox. This yard is surrounded by a low fence and used only by the younger children of the Yellow Room. The older children enjoy the large wide-open yard on the ground level of the building. This 19th century church was transformed into a school by the late architect Oskar Stonorov, husband of the school’s founder Betty Stonorov. Its architecture fits into its setting in such a way that children are surrounded by nature, observing and enjoying its changes throughout the year.

After returning to the classroom, it was singing time followed by a snack. The children then went to a blanket that had been placed on the floor for storytime. After the story they put on their coats and headed back to that fantastic play area.
At 11:45 the children were directed down a set of stairs to a lower yard for pick up time. As we waited for parents to arrive, I read a book to my friends Levi and Simon. When I finished the last line they said “Read it again! Read it again!” I must have read that book a dozen times but I was sorry when it was time to go, I had enjoyed my morning so much.