Clover Exploration

Clover Exploration Lets “Just” Play! Exploration. Connection. Sustainability.

Have old dress up? Halloween costumes? Fancy attire? Anything your kiddos have outgrown, or you’re ready to pass on and ...
08/31/2026

Have old dress up? Halloween costumes? Fancy attire? Anything your kiddos have outgrown, or you’re ready to pass on and give a new life to?!

Donate it to our COSTUME SHOP anytime between now and Halloween and help us grow our costume options!!

Then, on October 17th, children & caregivers are welcome to stop by and “shop” our costume shop for the perfect costume to dress up in!

Not only is this a fun way to keep Halloween spooky, silly, and special… it’s also a way to give those costumes sitting in the back of our closets a SECOND LIFE and support our long-term sustainability efforts at Clover Exploration.

Costumes can be dropped off anytime in the donation box right outside our door at 146 West Street!

Donate what you’ve outgrown. Find something new-to-you. And let’s keep the costume magic going!!!

OPEN PLAY AT CLOVER!You've been asking to bring Open Play BACK!!! And here it is.$10 per childCaregivers are freeRegistr...
08/29/2026

OPEN PLAY AT CLOVER!

You've been asking to bring Open Play BACK!!! And here it is.

$10 per child
Caregivers are free
Registration required in advance

I LOVE providing children the opportunity and space for free play. My favorite part has always been creating the space, and facilitating play through an intentionally designed environment for children to explore; gently guiding them toward a theme or concept, but never forcing it.

This allows children to take in what they're ready to learn, explore at their own level of readiness, and take their play in the direction that makes sense for THEM!

And don't forget the mission of Clover Exploration:
“Connection. Exploration. Sustainability.”

I took ALL of this into account and created THREE weekly Open Play sessions that hone in on these parts of our mission through hands-on exploration and PLAY!

MONDAY: SHOW, SHARE & PLAY
10:00am–11:30am
A weekly playgroup where little ones practice BIG skills!
Children will participate in a show-and-tell circle, followed by social free play. They'll have opportunities to share, listen, take turns, make friends, practice speaking with a group, and PLAY!

WEDNESDAY: TINKER & BUILD LAB
10:00am–11:30am
An open play experience for our up-and-coming engineers to enhance their building, tinkering, testing & creating skills!
We'll bring out all kinds of building and engineering materials for children to experiment, create, problem solve, and explore with.

FRIDAY: PLAY IT FORWARD
10:00am–11:30am
An open play experience for discovering new possibilities in what we already have AND caring for our world!
We'll explore all kinds of sustainability topics through hands-on exploration and play; from reusing and repurposing, to nature, food, farming, composting, water, repairing, sharing, caring for our things & SO much more!

SATURDAY: SATURDAY OPEN PLAY
Times will vary
Every Saturday is a little different at Clover!
These Open Play opportunities will be a bit more “random” as they're booked around scheduled birthday parties and events. They're especially exciting because you can always expect an ever-changing mix of toys, sensory experiences, building materials, dramatic play & more!

Open play starts in a week and is live for booking on: CloverExploration.com --> for families --> Open play

Many things make me happy, but especially dictating a child’s thoughts onto paper 🤣😍
08/28/2026

Many things make me happy, but especially dictating a child’s thoughts onto paper 🤣😍

Structural design with our Giant Magnetic Tiles! These tiles blow children’s minds as they’re able to take their experie...
08/28/2026

Structural design with our Giant Magnetic Tiles!

These tiles blow children’s minds as they’re able to take their experience with normal magnatiles and re-create it in XXL walk-in form!

I’ve been asked “okay, so what do we tell them to do?”
And my favorite response is - “Nothing! Let’s watch them!”

I travel from school to school; classrooms, camps, afterschool programs and more! I’ve learned that each group usually does the same thing…

First, a group of 11-20 will dive in and they’ll split themselves into many small groups

They’ll realize “oh no… we don’t have enough pieces…”

They’ll then initiate trades, bargains, and collaboration ideas with other groups.

Soon, they’ll evolve into just two separate groups building larger houses.

Then, someone will knock it down on accident 🫣
And I might have to intervene and say “oh man! Okay, how can we build next?”

And they might have their own idea immediately
OR
That’s when I offer up my challenge suggestions:
—> Make a house that fits all of you!
—> Design a ski-ball game! 
… but to be honest, my challenge ideas are usually not needed until weeks of repetitive play with the magnetic tiles!

Want my giant magnetic tiles to come to you?
Once?
Twice?
Weekly??
Email me at [email protected]

Tossing kitty figurines down the slide and seeing if we can get them to land in our hospital! —> Cause & effect + early ...
08/26/2026

Tossing kitty figurines down the slide and seeing if we can get them to land in our hospital!

—> Cause & effect + early physics: Testing how a BIG push versus a little push changes how fast and far our kitty travels

—> Problem-solving: Moving our target, making it bigger or smaller, and changing its height to figure out what makes a successful landing pad

—> Trial & error: Trying something, seeing what happens, making a change, and trying AGAIN!

—> Prediction: “Do you think it’ll make it this time?” Building ideas about what might happen before we test them

—> Spatial awareness: Figuring out where the kitty is likely to land and how the position of the slide and target affect its path

—> Collaboration: Watching what works for other kids, sharing ideas, giving pointers, and cheering each other on

—> Turn-taking + patience: With 3–4 kids involved, they’re also practicing waiting, observing someone else’s attempt, and then using what they noticed on their own turn

And one of my FAVORITEEE parts of this setup is that the kids are essentially running their own little experiment without being told they’re doing science! They have a goal, test an idea, observe the result, make an adjustment, and test it again. That’s the scientific process happening naturally through play. And it happens every day through play with a little bit of fostering, excitement, and encouragement!

Do any of our local friends work with wood or CNC? I want to make some more of these boards and would love to know how m...
08/25/2026

Do any of our local friends work with wood or CNC? I want to make some more of these boards and would love to know how much it would cost & pay someone to make a few for me!?!

The kids love this set I have and they don’t sell them anymore! I can DIY all of it except that board!

There is something sooo magical about giving children permission to paint BIG & MESSY!!!Large-scale painting turns art i...
08/24/2026

There is something sooo magical about giving children permission to paint BIG & MESSY!!!

Large-scale painting turns art into a whole-body experience. Instead of keeping their movements small and contained to a piece of paper; children can stretch, reach, crouch, sweep, dab, drip, and experiment!!
They’re building shoulder strength, coordination, balance, and gross motor skills… all while completely immersed in play!

Painting on a flat surface invites children to watch colors puddle, drip, spread, overlap, and blend. They can move paint around, add water, mix colors directly on the surface, and discover what happens when one color meets another.

Painting on a vertical surface asks their whole bodies to work differently- Reaching up, moving across, and making big marks strengthens the muscles in the shoulders, arms, wrists, and hands that eventually support all kinds of fine-motor tasks (including writing!!).

We could simply tell children that blue and yellow make green….

ORRRR
we can give them blue and yellow paint, a giant surface, some brushes, and the time to discover it themselves!

That’s the kind of learning I love.

There doesn’t have to be a finished product.
There doesn’t have to be a picture of something.

The value is in the experimenting!
The movement, the mixing, the “what happens if…?”, the discoveries, and the freedom to follow their own ideas 😍

Another camp well done, so loved, and packed up!
08/21/2026

Another camp well done, so loved, and packed up!

Address

Rutland, VT

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9:30am - 12pm
Friday 2pm - 6pm

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