Stepping Stones Home Child Care and Preschool

07/05/2026

We can’t wait to welcome families into our new space and show what we’ve been creating for our community!

I’ll be sharing sneak peeks over the next few weeks, so be sure to follow along on our new page!

✨ You're Invited to Our Open House! ✨

After months of planning, building, and dreaming, we are so excited to finally open our doors to the Florence community!

Join us for the Stepping Stones Center for Early Learning Open House and be among the first families to tour our newly completed classrooms, meet our teaching team, and experience the environment we've thoughtfully created for young children to learn, grow, and thrive.

Whether you're already planning to enroll or simply want to learn more about our program, we'd love to welcome you.

📅 Thursday, August 20, 2026
🕔 5:00–7:00 PM
📍 1001 Greenwood St., Florence, OR

During the Open House you can:
🌿 Tour our completed learning spaces
🤝 Meet our educators
💚 Learn about our relationship-centered approach to early learning
📝 Complete enrollment paperwork and reserve your child's spot for our September opening

Light refreshments will be provided, and families are welcome!

We can't wait to meet you and share the beginning of this exciting new chapter with our community.

Where little steps become big beginnings. 💚

06/28/2026

Tie-dye day was a big hit! 🧑‍🎨 Our children loved getting hands-on, exploring color, and creating something entirely their own.

Experiences like this are more than just fun! They build confidence, creativity, fine motor skills, and a sense of pride in their work. And of course, they bring a lot of joy into our classroom!

We love watching our learners shine in moments like these. ☺️

06/21/2026

Happy Father’s Day to all the amazing dads and father figures! 💙

This week, the children immersed themselves in creating salt dough handprints for the special people they were excited to celebrate. As they carefully pressed their little hands into the dough, we talked about the important role fathers and father figures play in children’s lives.

The children eagerly counted down the days until they could take their keepsakes home, and they were so proud of what they made. This project involved several steps, and their excitement never faded. They checked on their handprints daily, eager to see if they were dry enough to paint and ready to take home. Their excitement grew with each step as they looked forward to sharing their special keepsakes with the people they love.

Today, we celebrate the dads, grandfathers, stepdads, and father figures who encourage, teach, protect, support, and share in life’s everyday adventures. Thank you for the countless ways you help children build confidence, feel secure, and know they are loved.

We hope these tiny handprints serve as a reminder of just how big an impact you make every day. ❤️

06/19/2026

Our garden is blooming, and so is our learning! 🌱🌼

Every day, we check on our plants, water them, and excitedly predict what might happen next. What started as a simple gardening project has grown into so much more—rich conversations, new vocabulary, sharing ideas, listening to friends, and practicing turn-taking along the way.

I love when one activity sparks so much joy, wonder, and engagement while naturally weaving in so many important skills. Watching the children’s excitement grow right alongside our garden has been such a beautiful experience! ✨💚

06/15/2026

Love that the program is back this summer!

Free summer lunches are back at the library! From June 15 to August 6, kids and teens ages 1-18 can get a free grab-and-go lunch every Monday-Thursday in the Florence location's Maple Street parking lot, plus breakfast for the next day. (Thursday pickup will include meals for Friday.) No registration required. Just stop by!

Lunches will also be available at the Mapleton branch during open library hours. Call 541-268-4033 for more information on dates and availability in Mapleton.

06/14/2026

Our first week of summer is kicking off with stunning weather and a warm welcome for our older kids. We are venturing into a world of open ended activities and lots of outdoor exploration.

We are picking strawberries everyday and observing the rest of our garden beginning to flower. We are having meaningful conversations all throughout the day. 😃🌱

05/16/2026

Thanks to Siuslaw Childcare Friends for the thoughtful donation of slime leftover supplies from the Highschool career fair!

We were excited to learn about science and math as we created slime as a class!

05/16/2026

Over the past few weeks, our group has had the wonderful opportunity to experience the full butterfly life cycle right here in our classroom! From tiny caterpillars, to watching them form their chrysalises, to finally seeing beautiful butterflies emerge, this hands-on learning experience brought so much excitement, curiosity, and joy to our days. 🦋

Throughout our butterfly studies, the children explored science concepts through a variety of crafts, sensory experiences, books, and hands-on activities. We painted butterflies, created life cycle projects, observed changes closely each day, and had many thoughtful conversations and questions about how butterflies grow and change. These experiences encouraged observation skills, new vocabulary, patience, empathy, and a deeper appreciation for nature and living things.

One of the most special moments was when the children had the opportunity to gently hold the butterflies in their hands before release. This gave the butterflies a chance to slowly adapt to their new environment while also creating such meaningful, exciting, and memorable moments for the children. There were so many smiles, squeals of excitement, and moments of pure wonder as they watched the butterflies crawl onto their hands and prepare to take flight.

Releasing our butterflies outside was the perfect ending to such a joyful learning experience. The children proudly waved goodbye as they watched them flutter away into nature.

While our official butterfly lessons may be complete, we have a feeling our butterfly adventures are far from over… because now every time we go outside, there’s a very good chance a group of children will suddenly stop everything to yell, “BUTTERFLY!” and chase after it with complete determination. 🦋😂

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms! 🌻

Our group honored their moms on Friday with a grab & go breakfast and crafted wind chimes that symbolized their love. The kids were bursting with excitement waiting to present their thoughtful gift to their moms. 😊

04/29/2026

With spring in full swing, our strawberry plants are bursting back to life with an impressive display of flowers. We're preparing to dive into garden bed maintenance and cucumber planting next week!

Our group is excited as we explore bugs and crawly things, starting with caterpillars! There’s something extra special happening with daily observations during group gatherings and the awe of the life cycle of butterflies is the highlight of our day!

We are engaging in stories and creative activities while we're eagerly anticipating the transformation of our caterpillar friends into beautiful butterflies. So many valuable lessons along the way! More to come on our crafts and when our butterflies emerge