Lions & Tigers & Snails, Oh My! at Bright Horizons at Hillside

May 28, 2025 – Every year, the children in the Transitional Kindergarten classroom at Bright Horizons at Hillside in Mill Valley, CA work together with their teachers Iris, Lauren, and Francesca on a special “stuffie” animal project. The project is part of Bright Horizons’ Discovery Driven Learning® approach which encourages children to follow their interests and learn through hands-on activities.

“The “stuffie” project has become a tradition at Hillside,” said center director Vanessa Franco. “The children learn best when they’re actively engaged, building, creating, and problem-solving through hands-on activities. This project sparks their curiosity and threads all facets of learning from reading to motor skills.”

This year, as part of the Bright Horizons’ Growing Readers program the children read the book Tidy by Emily Gravett. Tidy is about a badger named Pete that lives in a forest. The story of Pete inspired the children to ask questions about different animals that live in forests and other habitats. After many discussions and activities around animals with their teachers, the children chose to make the animal they were most interested in learning more about for their “stuffie” project. 

The project started by each child drawing their animal of choice - a zebra, a snail, and a monarch butterfly to name a few favorites. To work on their fine motor skills, the children cut the drawing and traced around it with felt. With the help of their teachers, they sewed and stuffed the animals and added features of the specific animals like eyes and wings. The children also created a habitat for their animal and wrote a story to share with classmates. The project took a total of 3 months to complete. 

“The children feel such a sense of pride and confidence when they completed the multi-step project,” said Vanessa. The project truly fosters the love of learning for the children and gives them lasting memories.”