Happy Crayons Learning Center is a childcare facility with capacity for 39 children, ages varying from infants to 5-year-old. It has approximately 1770 square feet of interior space and a large outdoors playground. Our classrooms are open and naturally well-lit spaces, designed to enhance the learning environment. We carefully selected the colors for the interior area to create welcoming and warm spaces. Every room in our school has an identity and a purpose.

Our school is defined by these areas:

• Piazza: It is a small interior space where children from different group ages can gather and play. Most forms of play are essential for healthy development, but free, spontaneous play is the most beneficial type of play.
• Atelier: The mini-atelier is the art area. It is a place for children to develop their creativity working and experimenting with a variety of materials. They discover the joy and expressive power of clay, paint, drawing materials and collage. We keep paints, brushes, and different kinds of paper and materials in a place where children can reach them.
• Reading corner: Even when you can find a book anywhere in our school, we created a special area just for that as a way to encourage reading. At the Reading Corner, we have read-aloud, thematic audio books and shared and independent reading. In this corner children can recognize the alphabet and also write or draw on a chalkboard. This corner filled with lots of books can become a child’s favorite place. Other interior areas that complement our programs include spaces for science, computers, mathematics, dramatic play and blocks. There is also a separated room for infants.
• Outdoor space: The exterior area is where outdoor education takes place. It is a space where children play and learn while having a direct interaction with nature. Children’s senses are stimulated by the natural environment, leading them to develop curiosity, discovery, and learning of what is happening around them. We have a playground, an outdoor snack area and also a space dedicated to a vegetable garden where children can take care of plants.

We are a licensed childcare facility under Florida Rules and Regulations.

Happy Crayons Learning Center program is inspired by Reggio Emilia approach as well as other experts in early childhood education.

The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy focused on preschool and elementary education. The natural development of children as well as their close relationships with their environment is the core of the philosophy of the Reggio Emilia approach.

The Reggio Emilia approach principles are based on:

• The child is protagonist, collaborator and communicator.
• The environment is a third teacher.
• The teacher is a researcher, partner and guide.
• Documentation is a valued way of communication.
• The parent’s participation as a partner.
• The many languages of children as a way to express their knowledge through representational work.

“If there was only one truth, you couldn’t paint a hundred canvases on the same theme.” Pablo Picasso