Our Story

Our story starts in Amsterdam where I was studying Art History at the VU University. Passing Amsterdam's canals by bike and seeing the leaves changing with the seasons, getting inspired by Levinas and Martha Nussbaum during philosophy classes, choosing my favorite paintings at Sotheby's for Art and the Market workshops or taking the Thalys to visit Paris Photo were romantic aspects of my studies. Giving guided tours at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam or Palazzo Pitti in Florence as part of my studies, made me realize I enjoyed best sharing my love for art with others.

Soon after receiving my M.A. degree I found myself packing for a new destination: New York. With 4 suitcases but no bed to sleep on we started off our Big Apple adventure that was exciting, tough and inspirational at the same time.

During our time in New York I had the privilege to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Children's Museum of Manhattan as an educator teaching art and science classes. Giving guided tours and enrichment classes at the museum as well as travelling across the city from Harlem to China Town and from the Upper West Side to Queens, to teach at public schools, libraries and community centers, I had the joy of working with children of all kinds of backgrounds and seeing the effect of hands-on learning. Giving guided tours to children brought a new aspect to my art appreciation. Nothing more enjoyable than hearing children talk about art straight from their heart. Jackson Pollock: "What a mess!", or hearing the answer to my question "How shall we fight the Minotaur?" - "Give him a lollipop!".

In 2008 we arrived to beautiful Donostia. My experiences in New York, my affinity with Waldorf and Reggio Emilia education, my love for art and the fact that I had become the mother of a curious girl made me enthusiastic to start my own place to offer children a warm and harmonious surrounding where they could play, explore, discover and express themselves. It had to be a home for everyone and it had to enchant the children; The Enchanted House felt like the perfect name.

And so in 2009 I started the Enchanted House at home where we played, sang and made new friends in our playroom and did many messy art activities in the kitchen. For me it was not only an opportunity to do what I love most; giving children an exciting and enriching experience, but also on a personal level to meet wonderful people in a city that was new to me.

A couple of years and another naughty baby later, it seemed only natural to move on and start in the autumn of 2012 our classes at a new dedicated place on Calle San Bartolome with a Messy Kitchen and an Enchanted Playground. Ever so enthusiastically we continue to provide children the opportunity to learn through play, through song and story, through discovery and art. We want to encourage each child to use his imagination, his creativity and all the languages he has, as Loris Malaguzzi so beautifully expresses in his poem The Hundred Languages Of Children, to become his own unique being and be ready for the future.

Marlijn