PICKENS COUNTY — Pickens County First Steps, in conjunction with The United Way, celebrated the opening of the agency’s newest addition to the Born Learning trail system with a ribbon cutting held at “Tottie’s Place.”
Born learning trails work by taking existing parks and trails and adding educational signage and learning prompts geared toward young children and their caregivers.
“Look around you,” one sign reads. “Do you hear the birds? Sing along with them!”
“The idea is that any experience can be made into a learning experience,” said Marian Vischer of First Steps during a previous interview. “You’re going to the park anyway, it’s not an extra trip.”
Vischer stated that one of the reasons the Born Learning trails have been so successful is that they don’t cost a lot to install.
“You don’t buy the land, you don’t develop the park,” she said. “These places are already there. What we do is add to them — and kids seem to love them.”
The newest trail is located at Tottie’s Place in Clemson’s Ashley Dearing Park and is the sixth trail of its kind in the county.
