Gazebo School Park at Esalen

Gazebo Park School is a beautiful, safe, children’s park and preshcool overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the grounds of Esalen Institute.

In addition to being a preschool, we offer daycare for Esalen Institute workshop participants, and a summer camp for children age 7-12.

Our outdoor classroom spans over an acre of gardens, meadows and orchards with reading nooks, art spaces, children’s theater and climbing structures throughout.

During wet weather and evening care children play and learn in our farmhouse classroom across from the park.

Our school is also a migration site for thousands of monarch butterflies
each year.

We prepare homemade organic meals with much of the produce coming from on site gardens.

Curriculum:
We have an Eco-Education curriculum, teaching environmental stewardship through hands on activities such as gardening, caring for our animals, composting, cooking and first aid. We value respecting children’s pace, supporting independent exploration and nurturing positive communication, self-expression and group collaboration.

Gazebo teachers model clear and positive communication using Gestalt principles. Teachers also help children to further their knowledge through literacy, project work and the expressive arts.

Animals: Children participate in the daily feeding and care for our two
goats (Petal and Lilly) and our chickens.
We are also host to thousands of insects, birds and butterflies.

The people-
We are fortunate to have highly educated, experienced and loving teachers.

We have a low teacher to child ratio, with our three full time credentialed
teachers, two teacher interns and guest teachers for our music and first aid programs.