Redwood Garden, founded in 2003, is a home-based, Waldorf-inspired preschool located in Northwest Berkeley. For children ages 2 years nine months to 5 years, it offers a program in which childhood is respected and nurtured. In a setting of warmth, beauty and calm, there is ample space for the child’s natural creative play and imaginative expression. There is a rhythm to the week and to the day, with a soft flow between lively child-lead creative play and quieter, teacher-lead activities. Here the children take much joy in creating—painting, drawing, crafts, gardening, cooking and baking—inspired by the season and what is happening in the natural world. Both during indoor and outdoor play, there is much opportunity for movement and sensory exploration, important needs of the young child. In the magical garden, the children play with wood, sand, water, and mud. “Magic potions” are made withwater, leaves and seeds, a “gnome’s home,” is visited under the low branches of a redwood tree, and a mother butterfly is observed as she lays eggs on the leaves of a hollyhock plant. Lauri Miller, the founder and teacher, bring years of experience as an educator, as a mother, and much warmth and love to the children in her care.