Nia Okonkwo
Director
Former kindergarten teacher. Knows every child's middle name.
Our story
It started with
a bin of blocks.
Nia opened Child's Play in her living room in 2014, after twelve years in public school classrooms, convinced that small children learn best when nobody interrupts their good ideas.
What we believe
Listen first
We write down what children say. It becomes next week's project.
Mess is data
Spills, mud and paint on sleeves mean somebody was testing a theory.
Families are partners
Two conferences a year, plus notes whenever something matters.
Slow mornings
No child is rushed through a goodbye or a breakfast.
The grown-ups
Marco Reyes
Kitchen lead
Makes the lentil soup that converted thirty-one skeptics.
Robin Vale
Garden & music
Guitar on Wednesdays, tomatoes all summer.
Dani Whitfield
Studio teacher
Believes cardboard is the finest building material.
Sam Ito
Acorn Room lead
Ten years with infants and a very calm voice.
Grace Adeyemi
Fox Room lead
Runs the classroom debate club. Topics get heated.
How we got here
- 2014Four toddlers, one living room, a bin of blocks.
- 2017Moved into the old bakery on Marigold Lane. Kept the ovens.
- 2020Built the garden, the mud kitchen and the reading loft.
- 2023Opened the Fox Room for pre-K and hired our own cook.
- 2026Six teachers, fifty-eight children, one extremely loud rooster.
