Lolly’s Early Learning Center

My daughter has been enrolled at Lolly’s for several months now, and I’m really happy with how she’s growing and learning there.
Lolly’s offers full-​day childcare for kids ages 2 to Pre-​K. The center is open from 8am-​6pm every day, and Lolly’s offers 2,3, and 5-​day options as well as mini-​day and full-​day care. The center has 4 classrooms, for 2’s, early 3’s, later 3’s, and Pre-​K, as well as a newly-​opened gym that has tons of play equipment. (Maybe even too much equipment, it is a little cluttered.) There’s also a reception area and an office /​staff room. The hall is lined with cute little cubbies for the kids, so they can store a favorite blankie for naptime or an extra change of clothes.
I’m really happy with the teachers in my child’s classroom — all three are friendly, energetic, caring, and attentive to the kids. The daily schedule has time for do-​whatever-​you-​want free play as well as structured circle time, special activities, walks around the neighborhood, and time to eat and nap. Naptime is a couple hours, so my daughter has a later bedtime on weekdays than she does on weekends when she doesn’t nap.
I’ve been particularly pleased with the growth in my daughter’s drawing skills since she started at Lolly’s. The kids often draw on blank paper, which I **love**, it’s so much better than worksheets. When my daughter started at Lolly’s, she mostly drew dots and squiggles. Now she draws people with heads, eyes, noses, mouths, hair, arms and legs, and yesterday she even added ears. Once when she lost her scooter, her teacher had her draw a picture of it, and posted it outside the door with a label.
The center is owned by Ilana A., who is also part-​owner of Brighter Babies, a center for littler kids in LIC. I’ve always found Ilana to be very friendly and approachable. One day when I was worried about an unusually poor drop-​off, Ilana answered the phone, told me that my daughter was A-​okay and playing in the gym, and even emailed me a short video of her bouncing around in there a few minutes later. Also, Priscilla, who’s been at the front desk since we started at Lolly’s, is really a star — always smiling and upbeat, and great with the kids.
Lolly’s runs 12 four-​week months during the year, and takes four week-​long breaks, usually spring break, 4^th of July, last week in August, and around the holidays. Cost is about $ 2K /​month for 2’s, $ 1.9K /​month for 3’s, and (because of the universal pre-​K subsidy) about $ 1.4K /​month for Pre-​K. For full-​time 3’s, by my calculations, this works out to about $ 10 per hour of care.
Lolly’s and Little Ones are the two full-​time child care centers in LIC. Both schools are excellent. I would say that Lolly’s has a slight edge in making life easier for working parents: Lolly’s provides lunch and snacks (so you don’t have to), teachers are allowed to babysit kids outside class (always handy in a pinch) and it’s a bit less expensive than Little Ones. Little Ones has some bonuses too, which I’ll talk about in a future review.
Lolly’s generally has a several-​month waitlist, so get on Ilana’s radar early! I hope this review helps some new LIC resident who is researching child care options in the neighborhood. Good luck finding the right place for your little person!