Most daycares keep kids safe, fed, and entertained. That’s the baseline. But what happens during those hours shapes far more than parents often realize, because the toddler and preschool years aren’t just a waiting room before “real school” begins. They’re the most neurologically active period of a child’s entire life.
At Choober Doobers, we take that seriously. Our enrichment programs for toddlers and preschoolers go beyond the basics — here’s why these years matter, and exactly what we do to support them.
Why the Early Years Are Different
Between birth and age five, the brain develops faster than it ever will again. Neural connections form at a staggering rate, and the experiences a child has during this window literally shape the architecture of their developing brain.
Research grounded in the developmental frameworks of Piaget and Erikson (the frameworks that guide our curriculum) shows that children this age learn primarily through doing: touching, building, singing, experimenting, failing, and trying again. Passive screen time doesn’t cut it. Neither does unstructured free play alone.
What works is intentional, hands-on enrichment: experiences designed to build cognitive skills, emotional regulation, creativity, and confidence while kids are still at the age when all of that comes naturally.
The catch? Most daycares don’t have the staffing ratios, the resources, or the partnerships to deliver it consistently. That’s where we’re different.
Our Enrichment Programs for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Every week, our children participate in structured enrichment programs led by dedicated specialists, all included in tuition with no add-on fees. Here’s what that looks like:
Cooking Class
Our in-house cooking program isn’t just fun. It’s one of the richest learning experiences we offer. Kids work alongside our teachers to bake bread, make pizza from scratch, and explore how ingredients transform when you mix, knead, and bake them.
Cooking at this age builds math skills (measuring, counting), science thinking (what happens when you add yeast?), fine motor development, and early literacy through following simple instructions. More than that, it builds confidence. There’s nothing quite like the look on a three-year-old’s face when they get to eat the pizza they made themselves.
STEM with Snapology
We partner with Snapology, one of the leading STEAM enrichment programs for kids, for weekly hands-on science, technology, engineering, art, and math activities. Using LEGO bricks, building challenges, and creative problem-solving, Snapology’s curriculum is designed to develop logical thinking and perseverance in young learners.
For toddlers and preschoolers, this isn’t about robotics competitions. It’s about learning that problems have solutions, that trying something new is safe, and that building something with your own hands is deeply satisfying. Those lessons stick.
STEM with Kids Science Labs
We also bring in Kids Science Labs for weekly science programming. KSL’s hands-on experiments are designed specifically for young children and have inspired over 100,000 young scientists since 2010. Their curriculum turns everyday curiosity (why does this fizz? what happens if we mix these?) into genuine scientific thinking.
Having two distinct STEM programs in our weekly rotation means kids encounter science and engineering concepts from multiple angles, building a richer foundation than any single program could provide.
Music with Aria Prame
Our weekly music class is led by Aria Prame, an early childhood music specialist with deep roots in Seattle’s music community. Aria brings a background in special education, jazz performance, and over a decade of experience bringing music to daycares and preschools around Seattle. She’s also affiliated with Chickadee Music Together, a research-based early childhood music program.
Music at this age isn’t about learning to play an instrument. It’s about rhythm, language development, memory, emotional expression, and social connection. Children who engage with music early show stronger literacy skills, better attention spans, and higher emotional intelligence. With Aria, it’s also just genuinely joyful.
Reading and Math with Our Senior Teachers
Enrichment isn’t only about specialists who visit once a week. Some of the most important work happens every day, led by our own senior teachers.
We incorporate real reading and math education into daily life at Choober Doobers. Not worksheets, not rote memorization, but the kind of purposeful, play-based instruction that actually works for young children. Kids build early literacy through phonemic awareness, letter recognition, storytelling, and a deep love of books. Math concepts like counting, patterns, sorting, and basic quantities get woven into activities children are already doing and enjoying.
The proof is in what happens next. Year after year, families tell us the same thing: their child walked into kindergarten ready. Not just emotionally ready, but academically ahead. Teachers notice it too. Our graduates come in already comfortable with letters, numbers, and the structure of a learning environment, and that early confidence sets the tone for everything that follows.
We’re proud of that track record. It doesn’t happen by accident.
Why This All Lives Under One Roof
One of the things we hear most from Choober Doobers families is that they couldn’t believe all of this was included. No nickel-and-diming for enrichment add-ons. No driving to three different programs on three different days. Our children get specialist-led enrichment programs for toddlers and preschoolers — STEM, music, and cooking every single week — all in the same warm, home-based environment where they already feel safe and loved.
Our 3:1 student-teacher ratio makes this possible in a way it simply isn’t at larger centers. Small groups mean every child is seen, every week.
If you’re looking for a program in Shoreline that takes early childhood development as seriously as you do, we’d love to meet your family. Schedule a tour and come see what a week at Choober Doobers looks like.
Choober Doobers Family Home Daycare is a licensed home daycare and preschool serving children ages 0–5 in Shoreline, WA. Founded in 2013 by Kanlayanee Mullins. Learn more about our program.
