Stroum Jewish Community Center

When you enter the SJCC Mercer Island Early Childhood Education wing, you will hear laughter, song, storytelling, and child-to-child negotiation. You may smell familiar smells of finger paint or bread baking in anticipation of a warm snack.

You will see open hallways and classrooms that open onto outdoor play areas. Every classroom is warmed by natural light and natural materials. Tables and chairs are made of wood – not plastic. Each classroom is filled with current projects, photos, books, and explorations. We believe we have the responsibility to look for beauty in the world around us.

Children may enter their classroom one morning to find play dough and rolling pins, paint, construction paper and scissors – everything for multimedia art projects.

The next morning teachers may have set out a light table and have paper posted on the wall. There may be a construction area with real hammers, wood, measuring tapes, and other tools so children may spend the day in several types of three-dimensional exploration.

Our Library:

The Reading Garden was built and is maintained through the hard work of many volunteers and generous donations. Come in to see our beautiful new mural, new bookcases, stage and carpet. Browse through more than 3000 titles for check out. The Reading Garden is available only to SJCC members.

The Reading Garden is a place that fosters a love of reading and books in our children. It is a place where our students come for a variety of activities. They check out books and learn the responsibility of taking care of them. They learn how to use the library and have story time at each visit.

Our Playgrounds :

The Mercer Island SJCC has three outdoor playgrounds, one completely rebuilt in the spring of 2008 and another renovated in summer 2006. They are places of discovery and exploration, where young explorers may turn a tower into a pirate ship, a castle and a mountain in minutes. In addition to our immediate grounds, students and their teachers explore our immediate neighborhood together, finding nature paths, forests and nearby Lake Washington and the animals that live in them.

Child Ages:

3 weeks - 6 years

Licenses & Accreditations:

Washington State Department of Early Learning

Hours of Operation:

Monday - Friday, 7:30 am - 5:30 pm