About
Play Grove, Early Childhood Garden-Based Enrichment includes time for children to play, grow, create art, garden, and learn together through both free play and prescribed games. The program uses an intentional, emergent curriculum guided by children’s curiosity and exploration, with art and projects that include gardening, harvesting, preserving, seed saving, preparing fruits and veggies, and drying flowers. Children may also make mud pies, save seeds, watch birds, create art out of fallen leaves, go on morning walks, identify wildlife, play in the creek and in the mud, plant seeds, harvest what has been grown, learn how to cut produce and make it into a snack, identify local birds and plants, recognize animal tracks and scat, and try new foods like beets and summer squash.
• Ages: 3–5 years old
• Schedule: Options for 2, 3, or 5 days a week from 8:30am–1:00pm
• Price: Pricing options vary: see our pricing page for details.
Play Grove is a garden-based, nature-based, and place-based outdoor enrichment program for children ages 3 to 5 years old, with a low playguide-to-child ratio of 1:5. The program includes artistic play, imaginative play, risky play with careful guidance from playguides, musical play with handmade instruments, collaborative play, and individual play, and is an extension of One Cool Earth’s learning model. Play Grove is co-founded by Leila Daniel.
The leadership team includes Marly Miller as Lead Playguide, Leila Daniel as Director of Education and Co-lead Playguide, and Addie Mae Nielsen as Playguide. Marly Miller attended Cal Poly SLO, served as Chapter Director of Sprout Up, graduated with a degree in Liberal Studies and a minor in Child Development, taught preschoolers at Camp EDMO for four summers, taught third grade for two years, earned a multiple subject teaching credential, and has been developing gardening and outdoor education skills as a garden educator with One Cool Earth. Leila Daniel has a Master’s degree, became a bilingual elementary teacher, taught for six years at two bilingual schools, comes from a multicultural background, and speaks four languages. Addie Mae Nielsen has worked extensively with children through babysitting, volunteering at her local library to teach kids’ classes, working at summer camps, and assisting at her mother’s outdoor Farm & Forest school, and she studied Botany and Sustainable Agriculture at Santa Rosa Junior College and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Plant Science at Cal Poly, where she worked in the Horticulture Department growing plants and collaborating with students and faculty.
One Cool Earth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization rooted in the belief that every child deserves a place to grow and supports lifelong wellness and environmental stewardship for families and youth from birth through young adulthood, cultivating a thriving, resilient community one garden at a time. One Cool Earth builds, creates, and sustains outdoor learning environments across San Luis Obispo County using school gardens and community spaces as living classrooms, and provides NGSS-aligned science, nutrition, and nature-focused education at SLO County public schools, serving elementary, middle, and select high schools across the county. One Cool Earth has had supporters over the past 25 years.
One parent shared that Play Grove has been beneficial for her son by allowing him to connect to nature, go on morning walks, identify wildlife, and play in the creek and mud, and she highlighted the gardening aspect of planting a seed, harvesting what has been grown, and learning how to cut it into a snack and enjoy eating it. Another parent said that her son is thriving at Play Grove, comes home with many stories about playing with friends in an outdoor environment, is learning to identify local birds and plants and recognize animal tracks and scat, and is trying new foods like beets and summer squash, and she noted that he is learning days of the week through a morning calendar and weather discussions.
Last updated February 22, 2026.
• Ages: 3–5 years old
• Schedule: Options for 2, 3, or 5 days a week from 8:30am–1:00pm
• Price: Pricing options vary: see our pricing page for details.
Play Grove is a garden-based, nature-based, and place-based outdoor enrichment program for children ages 3 to 5 years old, with a low playguide-to-child ratio of 1:5. The program includes artistic play, imaginative play, risky play with careful guidance from playguides, musical play with handmade instruments, collaborative play, and individual play, and is an extension of One Cool Earth’s learning model. Play Grove is co-founded by Leila Daniel.
The leadership team includes Marly Miller as Lead Playguide, Leila Daniel as Director of Education and Co-lead Playguide, and Addie Mae Nielsen as Playguide. Marly Miller attended Cal Poly SLO, served as Chapter Director of Sprout Up, graduated with a degree in Liberal Studies and a minor in Child Development, taught preschoolers at Camp EDMO for four summers, taught third grade for two years, earned a multiple subject teaching credential, and has been developing gardening and outdoor education skills as a garden educator with One Cool Earth. Leila Daniel has a Master’s degree, became a bilingual elementary teacher, taught for six years at two bilingual schools, comes from a multicultural background, and speaks four languages. Addie Mae Nielsen has worked extensively with children through babysitting, volunteering at her local library to teach kids’ classes, working at summer camps, and assisting at her mother’s outdoor Farm & Forest school, and she studied Botany and Sustainable Agriculture at Santa Rosa Junior College and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Plant Science at Cal Poly, where she worked in the Horticulture Department growing plants and collaborating with students and faculty.
One Cool Earth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization rooted in the belief that every child deserves a place to grow and supports lifelong wellness and environmental stewardship for families and youth from birth through young adulthood, cultivating a thriving, resilient community one garden at a time. One Cool Earth builds, creates, and sustains outdoor learning environments across San Luis Obispo County using school gardens and community spaces as living classrooms, and provides NGSS-aligned science, nutrition, and nature-focused education at SLO County public schools, serving elementary, middle, and select high schools across the county. One Cool Earth has had supporters over the past 25 years.
One parent shared that Play Grove has been beneficial for her son by allowing him to connect to nature, go on morning walks, identify wildlife, and play in the creek and mud, and she highlighted the gardening aspect of planting a seed, harvesting what has been grown, and learning how to cut it into a snack and enjoy eating it. Another parent said that her son is thriving at Play Grove, comes home with many stories about playing with friends in an outdoor environment, is learning to identify local birds and plants and recognize animal tracks and scat, and is trying new foods like beets and summer squash, and she noted that he is learning days of the week through a morning calendar and weather discussions.
Last updated February 22, 2026.
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