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- Overview
- Programs
- Accreditation
- School Resources
- Daily Enrichment Programs and STEM!
- Reviews
About Ladybug Childcare Center, Shakopee
Welcome to Ladybug Child Care Center in Shakopee! For more than 40 years, Ladybug has provided nurturing early education and care for families throughout Shakopee and surrounding communities.
At Ladybug, we believe children learn best through play, exploration, and caring relationships. Our programs are thoughtfully designed to support the whole child academically, socially, emotionally, and physically while helping each child build confidence and independence at their own pace.
From cuddles and sensory discovery in our infant classrooms to hands-on preschool learning and exciting school-age adventures, every stage of our program encourages curiosity, creativity, and meaningful growth. Our experienced teachers create warm, welcoming classrooms where children feel safe, supported, and excited to learn each day.
As a Parent Aware 4-Star Rated center, Ladybug is proud to provide high-quality early childhood education that helps prepare children for kindergarten and beyond while building strong partnerships with families along the way.
Parent Aware Awarded Ladybug Child Care Center 4 out of 4 stars, The Highest Possible Rating.
Parent Aware rated Ladybug Child Care as excelling in the use of most best practices in preparing kids for kindergarten.
In addition, the four-star rating identifies Ladybug Child Care with the following characteristics:
- Communicates across cultures to honor the unique customs and needs of each child and family
- Offers activities that invite family participation and support smooth kindergarten transitions
- Gives families opportunities to provide feedback and share their perspectives on the program
- Regularly updates parents on their child’s development and works together to set goals
- Makes thoughtful accommodations for children with developmental disabilities and their families
- Employs leadership, teachers, and caregivers who are highly trained and qualified
- Follows a program-wide plan for continued professional growth and education
- Promotes healthy habits through nutrition and physical activity, with ongoing evaluation to set new goals
By earning Four Stars, Ladybug Child Care shows that it is equipped to offer the very best in quality care, assuring parents that it is doing all it can to prepare their children for school.
Our Programs
- Infants (6 weeks – 15 months)
- Toddler A (16 months – 24 months)
- Toddler B (24 months – 32 months)
- Proddlers (32 months – 42 months)
- Preschool Classroom (42 months – 5 years)
- School-Age (Adventure Center) (5 years – 12 years)
- Summer Programs
Language and Social Activities
Include songs. Finger plays, stories and personal talking time. Games such as peek-a-boo, gotcha, animal sounds and imitations are included.
Small Motor Activities
Focus on developing and strengthening muscles in the infants’ hands. Activities include shape sorters, grasping and letting go, stacking blocks, tape peel, eating finger foods, and beginning to scribble.
Large Motor Activities
Involve coordination of the whole body. Babies practice rolling, sitting, crawling and walking. Infant exercises such as the bicycle, back crossover, foot flex, and arm stretch are included here. Infants also play with beach balls, their playhouse and rocking cow and fish.
Sensory Activities
Include activities to help the infants learn about the world around them by using their five senses. Activities in this area would be feeling textures around the room, water play, musical instruments, bubbles and smells around the room such as their vanilla ball. The world outside provides more sensory experiences; grass on the toes, the feel of a breeze, and the sound of a bird or truck. We also use food items for exploring with senses. Ice cubes, snow, Jell-O, pudding, whipping cream and more are used.
What Makes Ladybug Childcare Center Unique
At Ladybug, we know families are looking for more than child care. They are looking for a place where their child will be known, loved, encouraged, and supported every day.
What makes Ladybug special is our long-standing commitment to nurturing the whole child in a warm, family-focused environment. Our teachers create engaging classrooms filled with hands-on learning, creative play, movement, music, sensory exploration, and opportunities for children to develop confidence and independence naturally through everyday experiences.
Families love our:
- Long-tenured, caring teachers
- Play-based learning approach
- Parent Aware 4-Star Rated programs
- Strong kindergarten readiness focus
- Family communication and partnership
- Spacious classrooms and outdoor play areas
- School-age Adventure Center and summer camps
- Fun enrichment experiences and field trips
As children grow, our programs grow with them. Whether your child is taking their first steps, preparing for kindergarten, or heading into elementary school, Ladybug provides a supportive environment where children can thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.
Schedule A Tour Today!
We would love to meet your family and show you around Ladybug Child Care Center!
During your tour, you’ll have the opportunity to explore our classrooms, meet our teachers, learn about our programs, and see firsthand how we create a safe, engaging, and nurturing environment for children of all ages.
Come discover why families throughout the Chaska area have trusted Ladybug for generations. We look forward to helping your child learn, grow, and shine at Ladybug Child Care Center.
Programs Offered
Accreditations
Parent Aware
We Are Proudly Part of Parent Aware! We are excited to be a proud participant in Parent Aware, Minnesota's quality rating and improvement system for early learning programs. Being part of Parent Aware reflects our commitment to providing a safe, nurturing, and engaging environment where every child can learn, grow, and thrive. Through Parent Aware, we continually strengthen our teaching practices, learning environments, and family partnerships to ensure we are offering the highest quality early childhood education. We are honored to be recognized for our dedication to excellence and look forward to partnering with families as we help children build a strong foundation for lifelong success. To learn more about Parent Aware and how it supports quality early learning across Minnesota, visit https://www.parentaware.org/.
NAEYC Accreditation
Every child deserves access to high-quality early learning experiences. NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) has set 10 standards for early childhood programs that can help families make the right choice when they are looking for a child care center, preschool, or kindergarten. The standards and criteria are also the foundation of the NAEYC Accreditation system for early childhood programs. To earn NAEYC Accreditation, schools must go through an extensive self-study and quality-improvement process, followed by an on-site visit by NAEYC Assessors to verify and ensure that the program meets each of the ten program standards, and hundreds of corresponding individual criteria. NAEYC-accredited programs are always prepared for unannounced quality-assurance visits during their accreditation term, which lasts for five years. In the 30 years since NAEYC Accreditation was established, it has become a widely recognized sign of high-quality early childhood education. More than 7,000 programs are currently accredited by NAEYC—less than 10 percent of all child care centers, preschools, and kindergartens nationally achieve this recognition.
Lunch Menu
Parent Forms
Vacation Day Form
*Please note, that you must download the Vacation Day Form first. The PDF will not properly work unless downloaded.
Parent Handbook
Learning Ladybug Style
Touring Paperwork
DHS Parent Information
- Maltreatment of Minors
- Allergy Prevention and Response
- Child Care Emergency Plan:
Enrollment Contract
- Enrollment Contract
- Photo Release
- Immunization Form
- Getting-to-Know-You Forms:
- AC Code of Conduct
- Infant Diet Sheet
Summer Field Trips
Below you will find the information and requirements for upcoming summer field trips. You can download and open the form on your computer or smartphone, fill it out digitally, save, and email it to us. Otherwise, you can print out the menu, fill in your child’s information, and bring it into your center.
Field Trip Cover Letter
Field Trip Emergency Form
Field Trip Permission Form
T-Shirt Order Form
Daily Enrichment Programs At No Extra Cost
Sonrisas Spanish
Learning a second language at a young age is important for child’s brain development. Your “bug” will be given an opportunity to learn Spanish through fun songs, stories and games.
Peace Factors
Peace Factors is founded on three basic principles: peace begins within through our thoughts, thoughts develop words and words lead to action. The children will learn and practice making decisions based in care and compassion for others around them.
Etiquette Factory
Etiquette Factory will teach your child table manner, kindness, sharing, good hygiene and how to be a polite guest.
Gitssmart
This computer education class teaches children computer skills such as: computer care, terminology, graphic, webcam, digital camera, word processing, windows, keyboarding, printing, and microphone and sound recording. Gitssmart will help prepare your “bug” for today’s world where technology continues to evolve and be a part of our daily lives.
LANA
The goal of the LANA program is to help your child learn to taste, eat and enjoy fruits and vegetables each day for good health. There are three components to this program for children: menu & mealtimes, fruit & vegetable related activities, and family involvement. The LANA Preschool Program is based on well-established nutrition education and behavior-change theories and will help your child learn to eat more fruits and vegetables.
World Music & Rhythm Talk
This comprehensive music program has been developed to take your child on a journey through rudiments of music allowing him to develop the skills of good musicianship as well as enabling her to foster the spirit of creativity within.
Specialized activities for infants and toddlers
Ladybug infant teachers provide individualized curriculum that teaches skills through language, social, sensory, and small and large motor play. Your “bug” will learn about themselves and their feelings; learn about others; learn to communicate; learn about moving and acquire thinking skills.
You toddler “bug” will learn from activities designed to promote intellectual, social, physical and social development. He will learn about others, build vocabulary skills, learn about math and science and build relationships. And of course, we practice large muscle skills all day long!
STEM at Ladybug Childcare Center
(Science -Technology – Engineering – Mathematics)
There are two types of learning: academic learning and intellectual learning. Most of us understand academic learning. It is the learning that takes place when children are engaged in memorizing, counting, reciting, and practicing. This learning takes no logic; it is just the stuff that we all need to know. Intellectual learning takes place when children are engaged in reasoning, predicting, hypothesizing, and problem-solving. This learning is hands-on and takes place every time a child is outside watching a worm crawl and asks: “what does he like to eat?” or when deciding to build a tower with every block in the block corner. Intellectual learning takes place during natural interactions with real things in the child’s environment. This is STEM.
Our knowledge about how children learn has grown substantially over the last few decades. We now understand that success in learning requires the learner to be at the center of the experiences, making connections across disciplines and also across contextual settings. Children need to have opportunities to learn the same material in different settings and through different lenses. The traditional approach of teaching topics in isolation does not support the ways children learn best.
STEM is a philosophy of how we approach learning. It requires that we, as educators, approach learning in a more connected and holistic way. At Ladybug, we will give children chances to investigate an idea in a variety of settings to encourage cross-contextual learning. For example, in addition to practice counting in group time, we will take students outside to practice counting real objects that they find, such as rocks, acorns, or leaves. Their learning is strengthened when they learn the same skills, ideas, and concepts in different contexts.
The Importance of Play
We can also blend math and science to make learning interdisciplinary using a STEM approach. Learning becomes more relevant when children go outside to explore nature. By asking the right questions, we can help stimulate investigations where students are identifying objects, making comparisons, making predictions, testing ideas, and sharing discoveries, all while observing their natural environment. Children will be exploring concepts of size, shape, patterns, and quantities in the process. In this way, they can learn concepts from different disciplines in different contexts, all in ways that are naturally engaging to them.
There are no greater natural scientists and engineers than young children. A high quality early learning environment can provide children with the structure in which to build upon their natural inclination to explore, to build, and to question. Once again it comes down to letting the children play!
Reviews from Parents
Ladybug Childcare Center
Shakopee, MN
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