Learning Side by Side: The Beauty of Mixed-Age Groups 🌈🤝

🌈🤝 Small group sizes mean our keiki grow together across ages — younger ones learn by watching, and older ones learn by leading. That’s the beauty of ʻohana-style learning at Ka Hana Pono. 💛🌿

🌿 The Hana (The Practice)

At Ka Hana Pono, our small group sizes allow keiki of different ages to learn and play together. Instead of being separated strictly by age, they naturally discover the gifts of leading, following, and supporting one another.

🌱 What Children Learn

Younger keiki look up to their older friends, gaining courage to try new things and confidence to step outside their comfort zones. Older keiki step into leadership, patience, and responsibility as they guide their younger peers. Everyone benefits when learning is shared.

💛 Connection to Social-Emotional Learning

Moments like this — an older keiki offering a hand, a younger one trusting that hand — are where emotional literacy grows. Compassion, empathy, and the ability to recognize others’ needs are learned through experience, not just instruction.

🌺 Connection to ʻĀina

Just as the ʻāina teaches us that plants in the same soil support each other’s growth, so too do keiki thrive when rooted together in community. Mixed ages mirror the natural patterns of ʻohana, where siblings and cousins grow up side by side.

✨ Living in Pono

When keiki learn to care for one another across ages, they step into pono — balance and harmony. These lessons prepare them for life beyond preschool: to be leaders who nurture, friends who listen, and community members who give back.