Our afternoons

What actually happens, hour by hour.

As a supervised enrichment program, HAVEN addresses urgent gaps in literacy, prosocial play, and emotional development for children grades K–5, while simultaneously creating meaningful leadership pathways for high-school youth and alleviating caregiver burdens.

Mondays

3:30 – 4:20 Session A Arts & Crafts
Explore different materials through open-ended art activities, with space to experiment, make creative choices, and bring your own ideas to life.
4:20 – 4:30Transition
4:30 – 5:30 Session B Generative Literacy
Read, discuss, and create stories together, with Tree House Books bringing its Traveling Tree House library, leading read-alouds, and providing books for children to keep.
5:30Child Pickup

Tuesdays

3:30 – 4:20 Session A Open Gym
Get moving through cooperative games, active play, and group challenges that build teamwork, confidence, coordination, and positive ways of playing together.
4:20 – 4:30Transition
4:30 – 5:30 Session B Arts Creation
Work together on larger creative projects, including a shared HAVEN mural, where each child can contribute ideas and help create something for the community.
5:30Child Pickup

Thursdays

3:30 – 4:20 Session A Homework
Settle in with dedicated time, a supportive workspace, and help from HAVEN instructors to complete assignments, practice skills, and work through questions.
4:20 – 4:30Transition
4:30 – 5:30 Session B Dance Therapy
Use movement, rhythm, and creative expression with Kardon Center arts therapists to explore emotions, build self-awareness, and practice healthy ways of connecting.
5:30Child Pickup

Three ways kids learn, play, and create at HAVEN.

Across the week, children take part in storytelling, dance therapy, and arts creation — each offering a different way to learn, play, connect with others, and express themselves.

Storytelling

Reading, writing, and telling stories help children strengthen literacy skills while building imagination, vocabulary, comprehension, and confidence expressing their own ideas. Through read-alouds, story mapping, and creating their own books, children practice both understanding stories and becoming storytellers themselves.

reading together story mapping making our own books

Dance Therapy

Through dance, movement, and creative expression, children have space to explore emotions, build body awareness, and express themselves in ways that may be difficult to put into words. Guided by dance therapists, activities support emotional regulation, confidence, connection, and a sense of safety within the group.

cooperative games dance & choreography movement therapy

Arts Creation

Art gives children another way to develop ideas, make choices, and communicate through visual work. Open studio activities and collaborative projects, including a shared mural, support creativity, visual literacy, planning, problem-solving, and opportunities to reflect, focus, and contribute to a collective project.

open studio arts & crafts mural painting