Enrollment for 2024-25 
is OPEN!
PRESCHOOL, PRE-K, YOUNG 5'S
(Click the SCHOOL YEAR tab for regisrtion forms.)

NOT JUST PLAY
EARLY CHILDHOOD ACADEMY

NOT JUST PLAY, LLC is a State of Michigan LICENSED PRESCHOOL...PLUS!  We offer half day Preschool, Pre-K, and Young 5's Programs for children ages 3-6 year old as well as  occasional Open Play sessions.

We are located in St. Clair, at the North end of the St. Clair Riverview Plaza across from Palmer Park.  

Our Story

NOT JUST PLAY, LLC was established in December of 2016 and started out as a "Play Place" for families to bring their young children to play, explore, and experience our sensory driven activities.  In April of 2017, we applied for our State of Michigan Child Care license which allowed us to incorporate preschool into our programming. 

 

We received our license in August of 2017.  We ran with 2 small classes and only had 6 graduates our first year.  Thankfully, our program has been very well received throughout our community, and our enrollment has continued to grow exponentially.  In May of 2023, we had multiple classes of 3's and 4/Y5's with 44 graduates!

 

NOT JUST PLAY is a Private Preschool.  We are not State Fundeded or backed by other local organizations, yet offer very reasonable tuition rates.  

 

Our goals are:

1 -  To offer every child a wonderful experience with their first introduction to school.

2 - To help build a solid foundation which all future learning can be built upon.

3 - To foster a love of learning and prepare kids for the rigors of kindergarten. 

 

Whether your child IS or IS NOT currently enrolled in a preschool program, we encourage you to check out NOT JUST PLAY.   Come see our amazing school that offers a high quality early childhood program, an amazing hands on learning environment, and an exceptional team of teachers.    

Our Philosophy

CHILDREN LEARN BEST THROUGH PLAY.

NOT JUST PLAY was designed to be a sensory driven, hands on experience for kids to play and explore. In this day and age of technology, children are consumed with screens and we have chosen to get back to the basics. Our curriculum provides ample opportunities for children to grow socially, emotionally, physically, AND  academically. We focus on the "whole child".

We know that all children learn in different ways. There is not one cookie cutter way to  teach, and it is our job to figure out how each child takes in information. We are not a drill and practice school, pushing worksheets. We love to see the lightbulbs go off when kids are presented information in a fun way. . .not even realizing that they are in fact "learning".

NOT JUST PLAY is a play on words.  Kids learn best through play but we also do more than "just play". Our program is designed for the children to learn in stages.  

Our 3's work on being able to separate from family, gain critical skills like following directions/procedures, all while being  introduced to new "academic" and "social" concepts.  

Our 4/Y5's continue to grow socially & emotionally while working on Kindergarten prep which includes the understanding of things like:  fine and gross motor skills, letter and number recognition, phonics, spacial awareness, and problem solving, We strive for our kids to gain the confidence, independence, and tenacity to become SUCCESSFUL kindergarteners.

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