Finding herself suddenly responsible for raising three small children under the age of four and a half years old, Joan Wenk knew there was no way she could find a job that would enable her to pay for three children in daycare. As she pondered her dilemma, she began to realize that there must be other parents facing the same challenges. The solution would have to be the founding of her own business, one that would allow her to earn a living while taking care of her own children. She opened Creative Playrooms on April 1, 1968, and by the end of the first year, was providing care for over thirty children. Parents seemed to flock to Creative Playrooms, realizing that as a single mother trying to raise her own children, Joan understood their needs.
Creative Playrooms has developed into one of the area's most trusted and respected family-owned and operated business with a thirty-seven year history of offering clean, safe, and modern facilities. We toured Creative Playrooms recently, and listened as Joan outlined the center's philosophy and offerings;
Creative Playrooms serves the needs of parents wanting their children to receive the highest quality, most cost-effective child care that provides a safe and complete learning experience. We do this through specially designed services ranging from infant care to traditional kindergarten, Montessori programs, and Summer Camp. We offer transportation to all of the local elementary schools, and our mission is to offer the highest quality learning environment for the successful development of the total child in clean, modern, and safe facilities.
We have programs for infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers, including our traditional pre-school program and the Montessori pre-school. Our private kindergarten is chartered through the state, and we offer before and after school care. We have Summer Camp Programs for four to twelve year olds, youth fitness and gymnastics programs, and we have on-site swimming pools. We offer Spanish language lessons, computer training, and we have a separate library where the children can read, learn to care for books, and look for information on the topics they're studying.
Our traditional kindergarten emulates the public school system. We teach the children in very small classes, and we offer not only the traditional subjects, but also additional in-depth training in such areas as computers, reading, science, and math. Our private kindergartners are in school for a full day, from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm, so they have the time to receive more personal attention from their teacher.
The philosophy of the Montessori program states that each child is the center in his/her own education. Each student makes choices on where their personal interests lie. The teacher presents material to a group no larger than six or seven students, and then the material is placed on a shelf. Each child has the freedom to choose and utilize this material in a positive manner, and when they are done, return it to the shelf. This process teaches several concrete concepts. First, they learn how to make choices, and by returning the material to the shelf, they learn organization. They also learn the internal discipline of competing only with themselves, not with anyone else.
Our traditional kindergarten program emulates the Montessori program by enabling the child who is more active to choose their own material under the direction of the teacher. They receive more guidance as they begin incorporating underlying concepts, while still being able to choose their own material.
We have children who are very extroverted and need more physical space. They can't sit as long, and thereby need more guidance from their teacher. These children normally flourish with the more traditional approach. From this group, we get a lot of entrepreneurs, artists, and dramatists. As extroverts, they're very dramatic and have a tendency to address life from their own perspective. Our Montessori students, on the other hand, are usually more introverted, and tend to follow more conservative careers, such as sciences, computer science, etc.
Another important aspect of childcare that's held on a stable or consistent basis is that once a child's enrolled, they do continue to come to the same facility and they'll almost treat it like "grandma's house". This is very important for children, particularly when their parents are at work and not available to them. It's important that they find someone available to talk to, someone who can correct a need, lend an ear, or help them with a difficulty. After school and day camp children need their parents just as badly as three and four year olds, sometimes more.
Our classrooms are arranged in a horseshoe fashion with infants at one end of the horseshoe, and twelve year olds at the other. There's a lot of window space in between the classrooms, connecting doors, and a minimum of two, three, or four teachers available in each room to lend assistance. The children are next to the classroom they're going to be moving to next, which helps make that transition go much more smoothly. They've seen the teachers, the program, and they see the other children on a daily basis. Just like at "grandma's house", they're around familiar people and they're very comfortable as they progress around the horseshoe.
Most importantly, we love these children. We talk to them, not at them. We respect their opinions and endeavor to teach the principles of respecting yourself, respecting others, and respecting the materials. We believe that children carry within them the full potential of the person they will someday become. We're continually at the forefront of innovative program development, as we continue to set the industry standards in child care. Our goal is to always ensure that the best interest of the total child remains the single most important consideration.
At Creative Playrooms, child care and education reach beyond the basics. Make an appointment to tour Creative Playrooms today and don't forget to tell them The Advocate sent you!
