University of Michigan Children's Center

Program Overview

The University of Michigan Children's Center, established in 1980, is a part-time program serving approximately 190 children from infants through kindergarten. The Children’s Center provides families with young children  in Ann Arbor and the surrounding area with an exemplary infant, toddler, preschool or kindergarten experience while serving as a resource for the University faculty's scholarly agenda and providing University students interested in the development of young children with a setting for observation, participation and research.

The Children’s Center provides a safe, secure and happy place for children and their families. The curriculum is designed by teams of professional teachers, emphasizing a play-based and developmentally appropriate philosophy. Attention is given to social, cognitive and physical development. Children enjoy large and small group activities including music, art, cooking, science projects and many enriching field trips.
In all classes the curriculum is designed to nurture social behavior and enhance the child's self-concept.

For the infants, each care giving teacher strives to establish supportive relationships with each baby and family.   For the toddlers, the focus is on the transition from home to school with particular attention given to issues related to separation. With the three-year olds, the focus continues to be the transition between home and school, as well as the addition of a rich variety of social, physical and cognitive experiences. Four year olds begin working within a more structured environment, adding complexity to pre-reading, pre-math, science and language development. The kindergarten program is designed to enhance curiosity, problem-solving and creative thinking including a variety of weekly math, reading and writing projects, as well as small and large group times.

Using the observational facilities, parents are encouraged to observe their children as frequently as they wish. In addition to informal observations, there are parent-teacher conferences each year. Parent-teacher communication, both spontaneous and planned, is essential for the overall success of the program.