Northfield Day Care Center
Preschool in Northfield, MN 55057
Northfield Daycare Center has been in existence since 1969. It was started by Claire Erickson and some others, as a Head Start Center and became a daycare center as more women went back to work and full day childcare became needed.
Then as now NDC has had the philosophy that children learn best from play. We know, and it has been proven that PLAY is childrens work and a very important part of life.
We are licensed for 20 children, ages 2 to 6 yrs old. We employ 4 fulltime lead teachers and are supported by Carleton and St. Olaf students as part of off campus work study program. With this we exceed the State of Minnesota licensing guidelines for staff to child ratio. Our program includes art, music, story time, small and large motor skill areas that encourage many and varied opportunities for dramatic play. It also serves to build a strong, age appropriate environment for learning, safety, and fun.
It is our goal at NDC to help children get to know themselves. We do this by creating an environment that teaches self knowledge, self love, and self reliance. We want to help children increase their positive sense of confidence so we can send them off to school ready to learn.
- Child Ages:
- 3 years - 12 years
- Licenses & Accreditations:
- MinnesotaDepartmentofHumanServices
- Preschool:
- Yes
- Hours of Operation:
- Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
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Our goal is simple: we hope to contribute to that lasting and life-long benefit: A HAPPY CHILDHOOD. Towards this end, we strive to give your child unconditional affection, maximum freedom, and a host of opportunities to discover the realities of the world and her or his place in it. We have identified several tasks to guide us in our curriculum.
First, we want to enhance your child’s feeling of self-worth and competency. Two of the most important lessons in life are learning to accept oneself and learning how to get along with others. The teachers help this process by describing and interpreting behavior, as well as by functioning as ever-present role models. Free play, the heart of our curriculum, promotes social growth as children freely pursue their own interests with their own choice of companions. Places like our life-size dollhouse, the block-room, our great outdoor play ground, and materials like dress-up clothes and many other toys invite dramatic play all-day long.
Second, we provide appropriate challenges for physical development. Small
muscles are developed by art projects and play with a rich variety of small toys, as well as catching bugs on our playground and helping with snack and mealtime preparation. Large muscles are developed building with large blocks and free movement to music indoors and by sledding down our own hill, riding the trikes, shoveling snow, raking the grass, pushing a friend on the tire swing and many more activities outdoors. We try to go outside twice a day whenever the weather allows.
Third, we try to support your child’s natural zest for learning. We believe that young children learn best by being allowed to learn through experience and at their own pace. All our toys, large and small, old and new, wet and dry, are valuable materials for learning and discovery. New books borrowed from the Northfield Public Library regularly add to our own collection. The teachers read frequently to the children, but children often create their own quiet time by browsing through their favorite books in the book corner.
Finally, we offer your child one more option: we respect your child’s occasional and valid desire to just be quiet and think.
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