Early education and daycare may seem very similar on the surface. Both are places that care for children and allow parents and families to pursue career opportunities. However, early education programs tend to be more structured with a strong focus on learning.

At Day Early Learning, we are more than a daycare facility. We are dedicated to providing the highest-quality early care and education for your child from infancy to pre-K in nine Indianapolis area centers and two on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette.

We’re a Nonprofit

We’re motivated by mission rather than money. We care about your child, and it shows in the quality of the care and education we provide.

Our parent company, Early Learning Indiana is the state’s oldest and largest early childhood education nonprofit. They are on a mission to ensure every child is empowered with essential skills to be successful in kindergarten and beyond. They do this by operating high-quality early learning centers, helping families find quality child care, partnering with teachers and providers to improve program quality and advocating for greater access to early educational opportunities for all Hoosier families.

We’re Committed to Quality

With more than 100 years of history, we’ve proven ourselves as a top provider of high-quality child care and education.

All Day Early Learning classrooms utilize The Creative Curriculum, a research-based early child care and education curriculum. The learning objectives of this curriculum are aligned with Indiana’s Early Learning Foundations and include child-focused activities that address language and literacy, math, cognitive science, social-emotional and physical development.

Your child’s classroom will have an individualized lesson plan posted every week. Each activity on the lesson plan is purposeful and intentionally planned based on the teachers’ observations of each child in the classroom.

Each day, the curriculum provides activities and experiences that help your child develop the six essential skills needed for success in kindergarten and beyond. They are:

  • Curiosity

  • Effective Expression

  • Collaboration

  • Confidence & Initiative Taking

  • Persistence & Resilience

  • Imagination and Flexible Thinking

We Have a Bigger Mission

Not only do we provide excellent learning experiences in our centers, but we also strive to be a resource for children and families at home.

You are your child’s first and most important teacher and always are always welcome in our centers. Parents and family members are encouraged to interact with teachers and staff during drop-off or pick-up. This is a great time to collaborate on any challenges you might be experiencing. We also use a mobile platform that parents can access from a computer or smartphone to communicate with teaching staff throughout the day.

Throughout the year and at each center, we also provide opportunities for children and their families to continue learning at home. An example would be our Week of the Young Child celebration where each student receives a week worth of themed activities to be completed at home with their family. There are also resources specific to parents and guardians such as workshops, meetings and conferences.

We Help Others

Our sister programs, Brighter Futures Indiana and the Child Care Resource & Referral Network (CCR&R) increase quality and expand access to early education throughout Indiana.

Brighter Futures Indiana offers information to empower families, like yours, to search for the highest-quality learning experiences for their children. These resources are here to support you in your journey as your child’s first and best teacher. It also supports the unique and critical responsibilities of programs and providers, as well as, serves up important information for engaged community partners.

Indiana’s Child Care Resource and Referral Network is a trusted and knowledgeable resource for families, providers and community leaders that help connect them to early care and education services, support and information.

We Help Others

Your child will learn in a rich, diverse environment that nurtures individual talents and addresses the unique backgrounds of each child we educate. Day Early Learning recognizes the strength of diversity and acknowledges and celebrates a society of unique individuals, cultures and perspectives whose knowledge, skills and talents enrich and strengthen us as a people.

Your child will learn in a rich, diverse environment that nurtures individual talents and addresses the unique backgrounds of each child we educate. Day Early Learning recognizes the strength of diversity and acknowledges and celebrates a society of unique individuals, cultures and perspectives whose knowledge, skills and talents enrich and strengthen us as a people.

Outcomes Matter

When you entrust your child to Day Early Learning, you can expect a high level of quality, safety and integrity. We support the highest standards of early care and education by adhering to national accreditation standards and the state of Indiana’s Paths to QUALITY™ Level 4 standards.

We believe in the importance of regularly assessing each child’s growth and development in order to tailor lessons and activities to the needs of each individual child. All Day Early Learning centers use several methods to assess each child’s growth and development including weekly observations.

Each week, you will receive written observations of your child’s development. These observations are used to help teachers create meaningful lesson plans that will ignite curiosity in your child and help us monitor your child’s growth and learning on a daily basis. In the fall, winter and spring, our teachers complete an overall assessment on your child’s progress using a tool from the Indiana Department of Education called ISTAR-KR (KR=kindergarten readiness). This assessment is aligned to the Indiana kindergarten standards in the areas of English/Language Arts and Mathematics.

In addition to measuring children’s growth, our learning environments and teaching staff are regularly assessed using classroom observation tools to ensure the highest level of teacher-child interactions. This is important because high-quality environments and teacher-child interactions encourage and promote children’s language, math, vocabulary and social skills.

We are honored to partner with central Indiana families to enhance their child’s early learning journey. From their first clap to discovering that mixing blue and yellow paint makes green, we’re here to support and engage you and your child every step of the way.

Ashleigh Jamison

Teacher Spotlight: Ashleigh Jamison

Kierra Levi

Teacher Spotlight: Kierra Levi

Emily Klingstein 2

Teacher Spotlight: Emily Klingstein

Alora Newlon

Teacher Spotlight: Alora Newlon

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