Once upon a time, in a little red house hidden in the woods of Sammamish, lived Bun Buns, a potty trained rabbit, Wilbur, a pig who sits on command and Pokey Feathers, a chicken, who spends part of his time indoors.

No, this isn’t a children’s tale  —  it’s just part of the cast of one of the more unique learning experiences in the region.

“There’s nobody else around here like us,” said Suzie Rockey, owner of Red Gate Preschool.

Founded 18 years ago, Rockey followed her dream of opening a place where children learn through experience, or an emergent curriculum.

“When a child figures out how to do something by themselves their neurons connect, it’s concrete learning  —  very different from teaching at them,” she said.

Through this method, children are allowed a freedom to do whatever they like.

“You can do anything you want at our school,” Rockey said. “We have no rules, but one. You must be respectful to your peers, the materials and the natural environment.”

There’s also one word Rockey tries to avoid at all costs.

“We pretty much never say ‘no’ to the children here,” she said. When they’re doing something in a way we don’t like it, there’s always a yes way to say ‘no.’”

The method might be out of the comfort zone of some, but it’s far from chaos.

The three-hour classes, designed for children ages 3-5, are broken up in three parts, starting with a free play time that allows kids to explore various “interest centers.” Those stations include activities like painting, crushing spices to make tea, baking, reading, or digging for gold in the elevated sand box. Some also involve the use of things like saws and lit candles.

“We want these kids taking risks with their learning,” Rockey said. “I want these children getting their needs met. I want them in their teacher’s face in a respectful way, making sure they are getting everything they need.”

The children then transition into a group activity time, where teachers cleverly disguise their science, language and math curriculum into song, dance and other hands-on activities.

Before the day ends, kids are released onto the property at Shoefly Farm, which features horses, mini horses, a pot belly pig, sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens and ducks. Under the watchful eyes of Rockey and teacher Debra Perry, the kids have free reign to play with the animals, pick vegetables in the garden, climb trees to gather apples, collect eggs in the chicken coop or take a flying leap off the rope swing.

“We do very, very hands on,” Rockey said. “A lot of times it’s very messy.”

Parent Cathryn Hawkin has her son enrolled at Red Gate and her daughter is on a waiting list.

“It’s a little dreamworld,” she said. “It’s all about him learning to self regulate. I know I’m very controlling and I know he needs to learn on his own.”

Rockey, who has a hefty wait list every year, said she is thrilled with the success and reputation her school has earned.

“I told my husband I’m going to do this and I’ll never be monetarily rich, but I’ll always be experientially rich,” she said. “I think it’s too important that if you’re working with kids, you better do it right.”

Jedaiah, 4, uses a saw for his project at Red Gate Preschool.