As a father of three children, ages 2 to 9 years old, my family has been involved in summer enrichment programs for many years. As my 5 year-old starts to enter an age where he is getting an interest in learning (or at least an interest in learning like his older brother) we have begun to explore options for summer classes. As we do this, we are reminded at the lack of true enrichment options for this age group.
When I purchased Monkey Bizness a little over a year ago, I did it with a goal of providing a safe, learning environment for children. We wanted to be part a proud part of the parents community. While Monkey Bizness has long done a good job on the safe part, I knew we could build on the learning part. Last summer my wife, a teacher of 10 years, helped me launch Monkey Bizness University.
When we designed the courses, we knew we wanted them to have a few characteristics….
Firstly, we truly wanted them to be enrichment courses. We picked a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) based curriculum to build a base for our classes. My wife being a teacher in a STEM-based school has seen the benefits and creativity of using STEM in the classroom. Secondly, we wanted to integrate the learning within our facilities. We have giant slides, obstacles courses and more…we thought it would be awesome if we could use these in the learning experience.
Next, we wanted to design an age-appropriate class for 4-8 year-olds. We thought this was sorely missing from the market. This age group is really fun to work with, so we designed courses that break the learning into segments and offer playtime in between the segments.
And lastly, we wanted to craft a unique adventure for the kids to experience throughout the week. We wanted to be able to let them enter a world with our help in order to use their crazy imaginations.
We think we have designed such courses. My child went through Monkey Island last year and had blast while learning how to read a map (which has come in handy on some family trips since). As a parent myself, I wanted to let you know that these courses were designed from those intentions. We truly want the best fun and learning environment for your child!