Child Development Center
Playtime is Essential
At the Child Development Center, located in Lancaster, Massachusetts, we provide high-quality childcare for children six weeks to six years old. Our early education programming offers a lot, with child-centered curricula for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and teachers that believe in kindness, respect, mindfulness, resiliency, curiosity, inclusion, empathy, and more.
Talk to us about how we can support your family and how our individualized curriculum works.
Our Philosophy
The Child Development Center at RFK Community Alliance provides an enriched and engaging environment for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers that encourages their imagination, challenges their thinking skills, and enhances their social and language development.
We believe that play, which fosters exploration, is essential to learning.
We are also sensitive to the cultural, social, and economic needs of the families we serve and place significant value on their involvement.
Get in touch
The Child Development Center
at RFK Community Alliance
25 Creamery Road
Lancaster, MA 01523
978-368-6468
Interesting in Enrolling Your Child?
Before enrolling your child, we encourage you to schedule a visit to the Center for a tour. We suggest that you and your child spend some time in their prospective classroom before making your final decision and sit down with the Program Director to review the Center’s policies together.
Our Programs & Curriculum
Our curriculum is based on the understanding of Developmentally Appropriate Practice, which acknowledges that children learn best in play-oriented environments that are both age and individually defined.
Our Programs & Curriculum
Across all age groups, from infants to preschoolers, our curriculum supports that:
• Children are encouraged to actively explore with materials.
• The process of learning is more important than specific products.
• Teachers facilitate children's play instead of directing their play.
• Children are allowed to work at different developmental levels.
• Activities reflect and celebrate cultural and social diversity.
• Teachers encourage children to make choices.
Infants
6 weeks to 15 months old
Our infant program is attentive to a natural developmental sequence, as well as the child's individual rate of development. The most critical component of our infant curriculum is the relationship between the caregiver and the child. Essential to our program is a nurturing, consistent, and loving staff who help infants develop a sense of trust and provide for their basic needs in a safe, secure, and trusting environment. Our professional infant caregivers recognize that diapering, feeding, and napping are opportunities to build feelings of trust while stimulating language and motor development.
Toddlers
15 months to 2.9 years old
Our toddler classrooms provide many opportunities for children to practice their independence. Our teachers encourage children to do things by themselves (dressing, toileting, washing hands, eating, enjoying a puzzle, or telling a story), and at the same time, support them in the face of any frustration. We believe it is important to give children lots of opportunities to practice - and master - the many skills that lead to independence.
Preschool
2.9 years to 6 years old
Our preschool classrooms provide an environment with a rich and varied selection of materials and activities designed to stimulate children's learning in all developmental areas. Children are encouraged to explore with materials, language, and social interactions as they develop needed skills.
Our activities engage children in the learning process by incorporating activities, themes, and projects based on children's own interests. Children are given many opportunities to select their own materials and activities and to work at their own pace. We enthusiastically encourage preschoolers to develop problem-solving strategies, and our preschool teachers help children learn how to generate alternative solutions to everyday problems.
Welcoming Educators & Facility
We believe in kindness, respect, mindfulness, resiliency, curiosity, empathy, responsibility, creativity, and confidence. All of our staff are educated, caring experts and also advocates for our principles.
Our youngest learners need to feel safe and supported so they can learn with their whole body and all of their senses. We utilize a Piagetian, play-based approach, with teachers focusing on developing supportive, trusting relationships with the children in their care. We create rich environments that encourage very young children to explore and discover the world around them, helping them to engage in experiences designed to support their optimal development in all ways.
Welcoming Educators & Facility
Built in 2008, the CDC is a state-of-the-art 5,820 square foot building specifically designed for young children, located a short walk through a path to the scenic 120-acre RFK Community Alliance campus. Our classrooms are spotless, spacious, and well-equipped with age-appropriate materials for active play and exploration. Separate playgrounds are carefully designed for infants/toddlers and preschoolers with sturdy, high-quality equipment and are securely fenced to ensure child safety. Age-appropriate climbing structures, sandboxes, picnic areas, and other outdoor environments provide lots of opportunities for small and gross motor development.
Parent Resources
The Child Development Center is proudly licensed through the National Association for the Education of Young Children
Donations Help in Small and Big Ways
When you donate to the Child Development Center, you help us grow and thrive.
