Playhood Child Care

Our child has been at Playhood for over a year and we could not be more happy.
Teachers: The teachers are creative, caring, thoughtful, and have a deep understanding of early childhood development. Because it is a small group of children with two teachers, they get a ton of individualized attention. The teachers send home a report with photos every day and touch base about any developmental issues. They helped us potty train, too! Our daughter is happy, growing, and learning
Curriculum: The curriculum is structured but leaves plenty of room for the children to explore things they are interested in. The teachers modify their lesson plans when a child shows a specific interest in something. They do some form of art and/​or music every day, they have free/​guided play time every day. They often have sensory play or participate in preparing lunch.
Space: It is in the home of one of the teachers. It is always very clean and perfectly set up for this age. There is a reading and greeting area upstairs, a playroom downstairs, space for sensory play, art and lunch near the kitchen upstairs, and a beautiful yard with plenty of things to explore.
Food: Playhood provides a nutritious lunch and the kids love it. (Don’t ask me how they do this, but the kids eat all their veggies!)
Spanish immersion: If a child is coming in without knowing Spanish, they will help him or her out in English until the child can feel comfortable. For children with a base knowledge, you will see their Spanish blossom because they are getting it both from their teachers and from their peers.
Philosophy: Most important to us was to find a place that was welcoming, kind and gentle, loving, responsible, creative, and stimulating for our child. We got lucky with Playhood!
Cost: Very reasonable, especially when you consider the quality of education, the included lunch, and the comparison to other places in the area.
I am happy to talk to any families thinking about Playhood. Feel free to contact me.

First I should mention that we call Playhood Child Care «Casa Vicky.» It really feels as if we are taking our daughter over to a friend’s house. It’s just that our friend (I’m talking about Vicky now) has two master’s degrees in education and is also teaching early childhood education at U Mass Boston. Vicky’s son also attends the school with the other kids and he’s really sweet and hilarious. Our daughter loves him. The other teacher at the school, Laura, lives a couple of doors down the street and she has her own children who attended the school. Unfortunately they have since aged out. She has a degree in clinical psych and experience working with children and teenagers. Laura is extremely warm and loving.
To me, Laura is more focused on emotional development and she strikes me as being very intuitive. Vicky is more academic and theoretical. She ensures that the curriculum is meeting the kids’ and the parents’ needs. I think that they make a very balanced and complimentary team.
Vicky’s husband is a musician and he comes to teach music sometimes and fills in if they need extra help.
The school is in Vicky’s house which they have modified to meet the needs of a six-​toddler/​pre-​schooler school. There is a great enclosed backyard with toys, a sandbox, a little house with a slide and lots of small trees around the perimeter. The families that attend the school helped to plant those trees at a wonderful brunch last Spring.
One of the things that I like the most about the school is that they use recycled materials to make collages and their own toys. Plastic bottles filled with puff balls, glitter and colored water make great kaleidoscopes. They can do more with a plastic tube than you can possibly imagine! I like that the value of re-​use are part of the learning experience. «What ELSE can we use this for?»
So…the Spanish thing. I am not a Spanish speaker. My wife is a native speaker and our daughter really is completely bilingual. She is almost 3 and she can talk your ears clean off in English or Spanish. She has been going to Playhood for around 18 months. I am completely jealous of how easily she has learned both languages because I have struggled for YEARS with Spanish. The only way to teach a kid a language is to immerse them in it. (I think of it as Spanish Submersion… glub…glub…glub). I have actually learned more Spanish since my daughter started talking than I have in years of study and linguistic abuse at the hands of my in-​laws. Fortunately, both Vicky and Laura speak English as well, so I never have any problem communicating, getting reports or figuring out what is going on.
Right now there are kids that mostly speak Spanish at home, mostly speak English at home, speak Spanish and Italian at home, and our house which is all Spanish for my wife and all English for me. We have gotten to meet all of the other parents at brunches at Casa Vicky or during drop offs and pickups.
I feel like my daughter is completely safe and completely stimulated when she is at Casa Vicky. We were very lucky to have found them!

Playhood Child Care is an top notch child care environment for which I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a caring, supportive, stimulating and thoroughly educational experience. My daughter has been really excited about her time with Vicky, Laura and all the children in her program and it is a joy to see. We truly appreciate the nurturing, healthy environment they foster including all types of indoor and outdoor activities, cooking, music exploration etc, I am impressed with the healthy lunches they provide, often much better then my own. And the emphasis of educating the children about the lunch I find to be an excellent start for a lifetime of healthy living. thank you Vicky and Laura we are lucky to have a precious daughter in such good hands!