Your Choice Preschool in Waltham, MA!
At The Children’s Workshop in Waltham, MA, our team of experienced educators are ready to help your child learn in a fun and safe environment. Located just off of Route 128, we offer a quality instructional environment for your child. We are not a “day care”- we provide opportunities inside and outside of the classroom for your child to interact with and learn from the world around them in a way that will encourage their growth.
Learn Through Play
At The Children’s Workshop, we emphasize learning through play. Aided by several of the country’s top teachers and educational professionals, we have developed our own Children’s Workshop Curriculum. Drawn from several states’ Early Learning Standards, the Children’s Workshop Curriculum has had years of classroom testing. It focuses on the milestones that children reach with each year of development. We provide a quality, educational environment where your child can grow and feel comfortable and confident in what they accomplish, all while enjoying learning. This provides a strong foundation for your child’s academic success.
Handpicked Staff
Every staff member at The Children’s Workshop in Waltham has undergone a rigorous interview and training process. This means that everyone who interacts with your child is doing so in a way that will aid their continued growth. In addition to education, our staff members have training in childhood health, safety, first aid, and CPR. All of our teachers receive ongoing classroom support, supervision, and continuing education. We’re hiring! If you are interested in working for The Children’s Workshop, please submit a resume and application on our Careers page.
Flexible Scheduling
The Children’s Workshop is open Monday through Friday from 7:00AM to 6:30PM. We even remain open during snow storms, unless there is a State of Emergency. We offer flexible drop-off and pick-up times for your child, so you’ll have one less thing to worry about! We know that all of our families are busy and we want to help in any way we can!
Follow Us!
Parent Communication App
We have an extraordinary Parent Communication App that our teachers use daily to relay information and send pictures to family members, send newsletters, and track developmental progress for each child’s portfolio! With this application, parents/guardians are able to opt into email or text alerts and they can receive any information, instantaneously, about their child and their child’s school day.
Teachers and staff can tag daily pictures with our Developmental Domains (Social/Emotional, Physical, Artistic, Cognitive, and Language/Literacy) and are then able to communicate with the parents/guardians by adding captions or sending quick little notes.
Families LOVE this feature and we’re utilizing it more and more each day! We are so excited to be able to communicate with our families throughout the day and to show them what their children are learning each day.
For more information about our Parent Communication, please visit our Family Communication page or contact the Director of the school you are interested in learning more about!
Have any questions? Interested in learning more? We invite you to visit us and see our programs and curriculum in action! Give us a call or contact us through our website to schedule a personal tour!
Programs Offered
Back Up Care
Infants
Toddlers
Preschool & Pre-K
Summer Program
School Director
Hello, my name is Dawn Gilliatt and I have been the Director of our Waltham location since January 2017. I have been in the childcare field since 1986 and I have worked in all classrooms; from Infants through Kindergarten. After being a Toddler teacher for 8 years, I began my administration Director position. I have operated several small centers along with opening large corporate centers and running facilities with up to 200 children. I am certified through Director II with the EEC in the State of Massachusetts.
I hold a degree in Early Childhood and a Degree in Business with a strong background in STEM. I thoroughly enjoy teaching early childhood educators through hands on workshops to develop their abilities in the field. My true passion is to continue working with children and families while coaching new and old staff in this field.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my three young adult children, kayaking, hiking, camping and our family home in Cape Cod. I welcome all families to visit the Waltham location to learn more about our engaging programs and to meet our wonderful teachers! We have a very unique outdoor space that allows our children to get fresh air even on rainy days – I can’t wait to meet you!
Regional Director
Nicole joined the Home Office team in 2014 as Regional Director of Operations for nine of our schools In this role she oversees the operational and financial success of our schools and works to support and train our fabulous center Directors. Prior to this position she was Director at our Westborough, Smithfield, Rumford, and Warwick schools. During her time at TCW, she has had the pleasure of presenting at both the local and national levels, including a NAEYC national conference in Atlanta, GA, as well as being part of the Modern Parent, a segment on the Rhode Show.
Nicole started working for The Children’s Workshop in August 2008 in our Warwick location where she served as Director. She is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and Psychology. In addition, she has received her Early Childhood Teaching Certificate and just recently (2015) completed her Master’s Degree from Rhode Island College in the field of Early Childhood Education.
Before joining TCW Nicole was a substitute teacher in the RI Public School system. Her passion is educating both children and adults – she loves to show kids and adults alike just how much they are capable of accomplishing. Her favorite thing about working with children is that it’s a guarantee that every day is different. When she’s not at work, she has a 2 year old Lab mix named Lexi who she just adores! She also loves the beach and spending time with her family and friends. She is an avid sports fan – the New England Patriots is her favorite team and football is her favorite sport to watch!
Testimonials
The children’s Workshop is awesomely amazing, and I have no intentions on leaving them before my daughter ages out, which isn’t for years and years to come, and even then I have a feeling they will have to make us leave.
While my toddler (19 months) is excited to attend everyday, I am overly excited and extremely content knowing that she is safe, well cared for, and happy while I am working away to make sure she has everything she needs, and maybe a little of what she might want. As a parent it can be very difficult trusting anyone with your pride and joy, but I fully, completely, and wholeheartedly trust her in their loving and capable hands. Her direct teachers, Miss Marisa and Miss Suma, along with all of the staff there are extraordinary. They are always friendly, chipper, helpful, and patient with all of the children there.
The Director (Ellen), and the Lead Administrator (Karen) make everything so very comfortable for both the children and the parents, making sure to go above and beyond in everything that they do for you and your child. There is nothing that I regret about my decision to enroll my daughter into their toddler program, and I recommend that everyone in need of childcare enroll their child or children here as soon as they possibly can!