University of Michigan Towsley Children’s House

Program Overview

The U-M Towsley Children’s House, established in 2008, is rich in history although new in establishment. This program is the result of the evolution of the past U-M Children’s Center for Working Families and U-M Pound House Children’s Center merging together. The combination of these two former programs brings more than 50 years worth of early childhood experience to this program.

Towsley Children’s House is a program serving children from 3 months to 5 years old. The Program provides young children with an exemplary early childhood education program 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 program provides a safe, secure and warm place for children and their families. In all classes, the curriculum is designed to nurture social behavior and enhance the child's self-concept. The developmentally appropriate program includes a balance of child and teacher initiated activities built into a well-defined daily routine. The play-based curriculum is designed by teams of professional teachers in a manner that is ever evolving and adapting to meet the needs and interests of the children. Attention is given to social, cognitive and physical development. Children of all ages enjoy large and small group activities including music, art, cooking, science projects and many enriching field trips. Our excellent adult to child ratios supports such a developed curriculum.

In addition to informal observations, there are parent-teacher conferences each year. Parent-teacher communication, both spontaneous and planned, is recognized as being essential for the overall success of our program.