About Us

Meryl Opsal, M. Ed.

Director and Lead Instructor

Meryl received her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood and Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education where she practiced the Developmental Interaction Approach (aka the Bank Street Method). While living in NYC she taught in a wide variety of settings, from independent Pre-K to public 5th Grade. Simultaneously, she launched her work providing tutoring and academic consulting to families.

When she moved to Los Angeles she turned her full focus to providing academic support to the whole family. She identifies academic and behavioral friction points, creates a plan towards resolution, and walks with the family as they move through these challenges. Eventually Meryl expanded her services to provide academic and child-development consulting to schools and businesses. She offers professional development workshops to schools, collaborates with toy designers during the ideation and development phases, executes and digests play test sessions, and gives insight and guidance to app developers.

When Meryl became a mother in 2015 she wanted to attend a parent and me class with her son, and couldn’t find one that contained all the elements she desired. She imagined a class which combined parent education and support with art, sensory, and open-ended play experiences. In 2017 she made her dreams a reality, and that is how Romp & Rollick was born! During COVID lockdown she felt the call of all the lonely babies and toddlers in all their separate homes and dreamed up a way for them to safely play together, and that is how Ah-Ha Fun Time was born.

In 2023, while Romp & Rollick and Ah-Ha Fun Time was thriving, Meryl was diagnosed with stage IIIC triple negative breast cancer. She spent that next 18 months fighting for her life. Change was forged by that experience; she gained some physical limitation, but also expanded her mind and support circle. Meryl is hotly anticipating the return of Romp & Rollick in 2025 with a whole suite of services for families, businesses and schools!

Meryl also co-produces, co-writes, and hosts two children’s story podcasts; The Story of Captain Charlotte and Almost Daily Kids Stories. Both are available wherever you listen to podcasts!

This progression of complexity, moving from one level of understanding to a deeper one, is where the term “progressive education” comes from. Education that progresses! It is common to hear about schools offering “developmental” programs. It is also common to hear the terms “hands-on learning,” “process art,” “child-centered",” “whole child,” and“circle time.” All of these ideas were founded at Bank Street in NYC. Even the ideas of group projects and reflective work comes from portions of this pedagogical framework.

Many of these terms have unfortunately become over generalized, misused, and over-applied. Meryl is on a mission to fill in the blanks and connect the dots for progressive educators, thoughtful parents, and child-centered businesses. Meryl is a kind and gentle educator who approaches every situation from a growth mindset. Her greatest strength is her ability to see how each aspect of a situation fits together and how best to support the goals of the stakeholders.

Approach

Meryl was trained in the Developmental Interaction Approach during graduate school. This approach focuses on child development theories and research, social interaction (between peers as well as student to teacher), and first-hand interactions with the real world. When you frame lessons with these bumpers the result is a beautiful child-centered, deeply meaningful, gentle, and fun learning experience.

This pedagogy emphasizes the role of the teacher as the facilitator of learning through the selection of topic matter, maintenance of the learning space, and the designs by which the material is presented. It is based on the ideas of Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Jean Piaget, John Dewey, and Constructivism. Often times a spiral approach is taken where experiences and materials are offered multiple times with a focus on mastery over time.