Giggles and Grins Childcare Center

I enrolled my son at G&G when he was about 15 months old after moving to the Columbus area. He had a nanny where we lived previously (San Francisco). I chose G&G after looking at several other (mostly chain) daycares in the area, mostly through word of mouth since a co-​worker had their infant at the center. What I like about G&G is that my son went from a very shy boy who did not speak at the center when we first started to a crazy (but contained and polite) and vocal 2 year old. Everyday he is saying a new word or has learn almost instantly all his colors, or shapes, or whatever they have focused on that week. The kids in his class are great and I like that he is in a small class room of 6 kids with one teacher and an adjacent equally sized classroom. We have met up with some of the families outside the center and overall it is a great environment for my son.
So I have to revise my review and bump it up to five stars. My 15 month old son is now 4 and has started preschool at G&G. G&G had him learning letters and math basics in the 3 year old classroom and prepared him well for their well-​developed preschool program. An example of their program is that they have a letter every week that they get a sticker for bringing in items with that letter. They focus on a theme that week as well, like bike safety. They have book and stuffed animal days in a week and we get a calender with all the events each month. My son loves it! When I compare his activities to other kids his age in other programs, they don’t seem to have things like letter worksheets and other learning activities G&G does.
I also had another child (Max) who started in the infant room and is now in the 12−18month room. I was really anxious about Max being in daycare since my other son had a nanny. I was worried there might be a lack of attention since the ratio was not 1:1. Max flourished in the room and developed interpersonal skills much more quickly than my other son, although I think a lot of that was his personality. He got plenty of attention and loved having the other kids to play with. He adored his teachers and loved seeing them each morning. His teachers would sing to him, hold him as a baby and play with him as a toddler. The ratio is usually higher than the state guidelines because the owners are often in there as well as many of the other care providers. They all love the baby room. :) Also the benefits of having him in a center, over development with a nanny, was it was a lot easier to introduce foods and sippy cups. I think the peer pressure, and perhaps difference in kids personality, helped with those milestones, which we had difficulties accomplishing with my older son.