The Children’s Center opened its doors in September 1971 beginning with only a handful of children in a donated space and a budget of only a few thousand dollars. Since then, The Center has grown into a model of quality early childhood education serving over 100 children every year.
The Children’s Center is grateful to St. John’s Church for providing us a home in our early years. From our location in the center of town, we learned how rich an experience it can be to have the whole town as your classroom. In 1980, The Children’s Center bought the large Tudor building on Aspetuck Avenue that was the home of our founder, Dr. Barbara Hamlin. With nearly an acre of land, we were able to expand our building and programs, allowing us to enroll over 70 children a year without losing the warm feeling of the original home. Additionally, we were able to retain the benefit of being within walking distance of the town green. Our children develop a deep sense of connection to the community through our many walking trips to the library, the Senior Center, Canterbury School, Young’s Field, and local businesses.
Our first programs were focused on preschool age children but soon grew to include an after-school program for kindergarteners, first, and second graders. In 2003, we opened our infant/toddler program, and in 2020 we split the program into two programs – one for infants and one for toddlers. Each of these expansions, which resulted from community and parental requests, has brought us to where we are today, serving children ranging in age from 3 months-old to eight years-old.
Compliance with health and safety standards is essential for the well-being of the children entrusted to our care. As such, The Children’s Center meets or exceeds all the guidelines required by the Connecticut State Department of Health. In addition, The Children’s Center is the first state funded early childhood education center in Connecticut to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). NAEYC programs are nationally recognized for their commitment to excellence in early childcare education through providing a safe and healthy environment, well trained teachers, excellent teaching materials, and an appropriately challenging and developmentally sound curriculum. Though it is challenging to achieve, The Children’s Center has maintained its NAEYC accreditation since 1986, even earning perfect scores on the ten NAEYC standards in one of our most recent NAEYC evaluations.
From our earliest days, we have believed that cost should not be an obstacle for a family that wishes to enroll their child in a top quality early childhood program. Our Nonprofit status and our NAEYC Accreditation allow us to receive grants that fund a sliding fee scale permitting low and lower-middle income working parents to pay a significantly discounted tuition rate.
 View from Terrace Place |
 View from Aspetuck Avenue |
Through its deep roots in the community, dedication to developmentally appropriate learning and overall excellence, The Children’s Center has provided a rich environment for children to grow and flourish for over five decades.