I’m not a pack rat, am I?
I have never considered myself a pack rat, but I have a closet full of memories from the early days when I directed Little Folks Discovery Center. Among my treasures is a handmade giraffe that measured children along its neck when they came in the front door at the beginning of school. I have lesson plans that were mimeographed––some of you will remember those! I have flannel stories like The Three Little Pigs and Humpty Dumpty that were lovingly crafted by creative, hardworking, and dedicated teachers. I have a couple dried up dandelion necklaces that were presented to me by loving children. I have some of the earliest issues of the magazine that I couldn’t have lived without, Child Care Information Exchange. I have a quilted banner with crayoned drawings on small pieces of fabric––a masterpiece created by children. I have thousands (yes, thousands) of pictures. Preschoolers visiting fire stations, school-agers participating in our drama classes, kindergarten graduation, and parties and festivals galore that seemed to go on endlessly throughout the year. And there are many more memories stored away in closets all around my office and my house. I fear I will never be able to downsize!
Where was the Little Folks Discovery Center located? Was that in Manitou?
Hi Travis, Thanks for your question. Little Folks Discovery Center was on Oro Blanco Drive near the corner of Barnes Avenue. It’s now a Joseph’s Montessori. Some day I’ll dig out a picture and include it with a blog. It was just a vacant field at first and then the two story building took shape with a very large wrap-around playground. I wanted it to look like a house, thinking that would be a warm place for young children, kindergarteners, and shool-agers. It was opened in 1981 and later moved to a different building on the North side of town.