Preschoolers Learn From Nature at Rocking Horse Ranch

Rocking Horse Ranch Day Care offers preschoolers, ages 3-5, a unique opportunity to learn from nature by featuring gardens, animals and a wide-open play area.

Kids at the ranch-style preschool in Soquel get a sense of the seasons by watching vegetables and fruits grow, such as broccoli, corn,  apricots, plums, apples and much more.

There’s a waiting list for enrollment, and it’s easy to see why.

Nancy Cohen, the energetic owner, says her preschool has been in operation for 23 years—ever since her children were young. It started off as a solo operation with her three kids and a few others from the neighborhood and eventually grew to where it is today—hosting 30 students at a time and a handful of teachers.

Cohen says the business is run completely on word of mouth.

“Moms' talk,” said Cohen, who draws families from Watsonville, Corralitos, Bonny Doon, Scotts Valley and even up to the summit.

Kids need to be outside, according to Cohen, who operates on the principle that there’s no bad weather, there’s just bad clothing.

Goats, chickens, ducks, a llama, a mini horse, fish, tadpoles, a golden retriever named Disco and geese, named after the  famous outlaws, Bonnie and Clyde, meander on the property.

The kids get to see the cycle of life by observing and interacting with the animals —and births and deaths are part of it.

 “Animals are great teachers," said Cohen, who recently buried a chicken and talked to kids about how the animal’s heart stopped beating, giving them the opportunity to have a conversation about what that meant.

Cohen said seeing death is as natural as seeing a baby goat struggle to reach its mother's teat. Empathy, compassion and altruism are just a few of the character traits Cohen feels that children develop from interactions with animals.

"Between [the ages of] 3 and 5, children are gaining their sense of power," Cohen said.

It’s a busy social environment, but children finds their own way to interact. Climbing trees and slides, filling up buckets with mud, working together, measuring bird seed, painting, gathering eggs, noise making, swinging and learning are just a handful of the activities the ranch offers.

"They’re going to be the stewards of the earth when they grow up, and the emotional and physical connection they are learning here will stay with them," Cohen said. “You can tell people about it, but you can’t teach them to care."

Sue Tallarico, who learned about the school two years before she was able to get a job there, describes working at Rocking Horse Ranch as “the perfect job.” 

As she said, “There’s nothing else like it.”