Big Wonder Child Care

05/01/2026

Exploring Children’s Perceptions of Race

Big Wonder’s first original research to explore how young children make sense of differences and skin color.

Children begin to form ideas about friendship, fairness, and social differences much earlier than we often assume. In everyday classroom interactions, their choices, preferences, and explanations offer valuable insights into how they understand the social world.

This classroom-based inquiry at Big Wonder explores how young children think about friendship, fairness, and social bias. By observing their responses, we aim to better understand early patterns of thinking and what they might mean for educators and families. This will be used as we continue to develop our race-consciousness framework and anti-bias methods of education.

Our ongoing classroom inquiry explores how young children make sense of differences, especially skin color, and how they form ideas about others. This is also an evolving process shaped by children’s responses, observations, and reflection. The work began through a series of one-on-one, question-based interactions designed to understand how children think about friendship, fairness, and social relationships.

Explore how children think about friendship, fairness, and social assumptions through a classroom-based inquiry. Insights for educators and parents on early bias and social development.

04/14/2026

We are hiring an Administrative Assistant! If you have experience with administration and early childhood, we encourage you to apply. Send us an email at director@bigwonder.org

04/06/2026

Big Wonder's Backyard Revamp Fundraiser is on! We want more water play, a community garden, a new gate, and to build a little patio where it is currently a no-good mud pit! Buy all your spring and summer flowers with our fundraiser, and 30% will go toward our backyard revamp! Orders close on tonight at 10pm.

Orders will be delivered to Big Wonder on May 11th.

Access our fundraiser: www.gertensfundraising.com

Store ID code is: 1200

Fundraising Goal: $2,000 THANK YOU! I can't wait for spring and summer!

Gertens has been a cornerstone member of the community since 1920, with a strong emphasis on family, tradition, community, and customer service. In 1979 we established our first fundraiser program with poinsettias. We have developed and refined our fundraising programs over 4 decades to give you the...

02/07/2026

Grateful to Saint John's and ways our community is coming together to support one another.

As the operation draws into its second month, some child care providers wonder how long they’ll have to keep doors locked or run practice safety drills showing kids where to hide from federal agent…

01/22/2026

We are choosing to close tomorrow in Solidarity with Minnesotans everywhere:

2 and 1/2 years ago, I opened Big Wonder with a dream of providing innovative, exceptional child care that meets the needs of teachers, families, and children. I take the stewardship of my community extremely seriously and I work myself to the bone to make sure our children, our families, and my teachers have their rights met.

One of the most fundamental and basic rights is the right to safety. In a world in which ICE agents are abducting staff from childcare centers, parents dropping off kids, and even children themselves, this right has become impossible for me to provide.

Child Care directors everywhere are forced to update our emergency preparedness plans and risk reduction plans, knowing that ICE is targeting us. A Spanish immersion school near my house has parents and community members stand watch every day. Every. Day. ICE visits them repeatedly and now taunts these observers, shouting at them and then filming the observers' responses. We no longer talk about how to provide innovative and exceptional childcare. We talk about whether it is SAFE for our children to be OUTSIDE.

And we’re doing it alone. We feel abandoned by our city and state leaders and attacked by our federal government. When two other childcare providers and I met last week to discuss whether we can expect the St. Paul Police to help us if ICE is acting illegally, both had to leave the meeting urgently and put their centers on lockdown because ICE was outside.

As a precursor to this madness, the federal administration froze federal childcare funding to Minnesota, citing unsubstantiated fraud. Unbelievably, our own legislator gleefully shared that she put this all in motion. She’s using our children as political pawns in a sick political game.

If the federal funding freeze isn’t lifted, thousands of Minnesota childcare centers will close, so we’re closing tomorrow to demonstrate what it looks like when childcare disappears. We’re closing for Child Care centers that are Spanish immersion and Somali, which are unfairly targeted ruthlessly by ICE. We’re closing child care centers that cannot balance their budgets without USDA food aid. We’re closing for the 23,000 children on CCAP who are at risk of losing their care and education. We’re closing for the child care centers that absolutely cannot close because their families will lose their jobs. And we’re closing to tell our immigrant neighbors who breathe life, spice, color, and joy into our community that we need them.

We’re closing tomorrow because if we don’t stand up now, we may soon be forced to close permanently.

Get involved: https://www.kidscountonus.com/

Kids Count On Us

01/21/2026

We are closing on Friday, January 23rd in solidarity with child care centers that will close if we do not get our Federal Funding and Food assistance.

We are closing in solidarity with child care centers being heavily targeted and threatened.

We stand in solidarity with immigrants. We stand to uphold our human rights.

01/20/2026

Proud to be a Minnesotan. So grateful for the teachings of Martin Luther a King as a guide during these challenging times.

12/20/2025

We enjoyed our Rehearsal for caroling at a nearby nursing home on Monday!

12/18/2025

Workshop TONIGHT at Big Wonder!

Join us!

12/05/2025

All are welcome here.

Today.

Tomorrow.

Always.

All backgrounds, all religions, all genders. All people.

We embrace compassion, unity, justice, diversity, and community. We nurture these qualities to be seeds of a brighter future.

12/04/2025

Join us Caroling at the Willows of Ramsey Hill Nursing Home!

After, we will enjoy cookies and hot chocolate at the Holly Tot Lot (and hopefully make snowmen!)

12/01/2025

Join us on Dec 18th for a dynamic (free) workshop!

Raising Healthy Kids in a “Pink or Blue” World: Masculinity & Femininity in PreK-5th Grade

Workshop Description:
Boys often receive narrow messages about masculinity that encourage emotional suppression, toughness, and the idea that vulnerability is weakness. These pressures can lead to frustration, aggression, and disconnection, making it harder for boys to form close, supportive friendships. Building emotional literacy, compassion, and a broader definition of strength is essential for their long-term well-being.

Girls, meanwhile, face intense pressure to be beautiful, agreeable, and socially perfect — expectations that begin surprisingly early and shape their confidence and sense of self. From media to classroom dynamics, girls may learn to prioritize appearance over ability and harmony over honesty, contributing to anxiety, perfectionism, and self-silencing. Supporting girls in trusting their instincts, setting boundaries, and valuing their strengths helps them grow into confident, grounded leaders.

This workshop gives parents, caregivers, and educators practical tools to counter these pressures and support healthy gender development. Participants will learn strategies for navigating screen time and media messages, strengthening emotional literacy, interrupting early bias, and modeling healthier expressions of identity. Attendees will leave with scripts, conversation starters, and everyday practices to nurture confident, connected, and compassionate children.