Skip to main content
  • Information for
    • Students
    • Alumni & Friends
    • Faculty
    • Staff
    • Community
  • QUICK LINKS
  • DIRECTORY
  • APPLY
  • GIVE
  • RENT
Hunter College
About
  • Overview
  • Mission
  • Strategic Plan
  • Accreditation
  • Fast Facts
  • Office of the President
  • Capital Projects & Planning
  • Sustainability
  • Campus Information
  • Contact Us
Academics
  • Approach
  • Provost
  • Schools
  • Departments & Programs
  • Majors
  • Honors & Scholars
  • Education Abroad
  • Advising
  • Research & Creative Works
  • Course Catalogs
Admissions
  • Overview
  • Undergraduate
  • Graduate
  • Course Catalogs
Student Life
  • Clubs & Organizations
  • Residence Life
  • Athletics
  • Dining On Campus
  • Community
  • Events
  • News
  • Libraries
Hunter College Schools
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Education
  • School of Health Professions
  • Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
  • Silberman School of Social Work
More Schools
  • Hunter College Campus Schools
  • Hunter College Continuing Education
  • Libraries
  • Students
  • Alumni & Friends
  • Faculty
  • Staff
  • Community
  • Events
  • News
  • APPLY
  • GIVE
  • RENT
  • QUICK LINKS
  • DIRECTORY
The Children's Learning Center
  • Application
  • Contact Us

Children's Learning Center

picture of the classroom with different activities such as checkers and globe

The Children's Learning Center at Hunter is a high-quality childcare the children of Hunter College students, faculty and staff. We provide a rich, developmentally appropriate environment for children can grow while their parents attend classes or engage in college-related work. Programs include Preschool (ages 2-6) and After-School (ages 6-12), available year-round, including during the academic year, as well as winter and summer sessions.

  • Learning Activities
  • Philosophy of Learning

Learning Activities

The Children's Learning Center offers a wide range of enriching activities. Our certified head teachers and trained and support staff create an age-appropriate, nurturing environment that supports each child's growth and development.

Dramatic play supports emotional, social, and cognitive development. Children use role play to process their experiences, express feelings, and explore their understanding of the world. By modeling adult behaviors, they build vocabulary, develop empathy, strengthen social skills, and engage in imaginative thinking.

Block play encourages math exploration and fosters both fine motor and social skills. As children build, they discover concepts like measurement, spatial relationships, patterns, and problem-solving. Working together enhances cooperation and communication.

These activities build fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, visual perception, and cognitive skills like sequencing and color recognition. Games also support emotional growth by promoting independence, patience, and confidence through successful task completion.

Listening to stories nurtures language development and fosters a love of reading. Children expand their vocabulary, improve listening and comprehension skills, and explore emotions and experiences beyond their own. Teachers model expressive language and encourage curiosity through engaging storytelling. 

Art activities provide children with opportunities for self-expression and creativity while enhancing fine motor and visual-spatial skills. Focus is placed on the process of creating, which supports emotional growth, builds confidence, and encourages imagination.

Water play is both calming and intellectually stimulating. It supports cognitive development through experimentation and problem-solving (e.g., volume and cause-effect), promotes fine motor skills, and encourages cooperative play and communication.

These sensory-rich activities offer open-ended opportunities for exploration and creativity. Children develop motor skills, engage in imaginative and cooperative play, and experience the joy of tactile discovery—all while learning basic concepts like volume, texture, and transformation.

Gross motor activities—running, jumping, climbing, dancing—are vital for physical development. Movement helps children build strength, coordination, and body awareness while providing an outlet for expression, creativity, and social interaction.

Philosophy of Learning

Children learning through play–it is both their language and their work. By nurturing the whole child as an individual, the daily curriculum integrates the five essential areas of development: physical, social, emotional, creative and cognitive.

Young children need plenty of opportunities to move their bodies. Activities like running, climbing, and jumping support healthy physical growth. Fine motor tasks such as drawing, cutting and building strengthen coordination and prepare children for reading and writing. 

Children learn how to interact with others through daily experiences. They build important skills like sharing, cooperation, problem-solving, and using words to express their feelings–all key to forming positive relationships.

We support each child's emotional growth by creating a safe, consistent, and caring environment. Children are encouraged to express themselves, build self-confidence, and learn how to manage their emotions in healthy, respectful ways.

Creativity is essential for self-expression and confidence. Whether through art, music, storytelling, or imaginative play, children are encouraged to explore ideas and enjoy the process of creating, not just the final result. 

We foster a love of learning by encouraging curiosity and exploration. Through engaging, hands-on experiences, children build foundational skills in problem-solving, math, literacy–developing a joyful approach to learning.

Connect

Room 207 North Building
(212) 772-4066
clc@hunter.cuny.edu

HUNTER

Hunter College
695 Park Ave NY, NY 10065
(212) 772-4000

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
  • ABOUT
  • ACADEMICS
  • ADMISSIONS
  • EVENTS
  • NEWS
Hunter College Schools
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Education
  • School of Health Professions
  • Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
  • Silberman School of Social Work
  • School of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Education
  • School of Health Professions
  • Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing
  • Silberman School of Social Work
Our Other Schools
  • Hunter College Campus Schools
  • Hunter College Continuing Education
  • Hunter College Campus Schools
  • Hunter College Continuing Education
Hunter College Libraries
More Info
  • Bookstore
  • Contact Us & Feedback
  • Jobs
  • Public Safety
  • Roosevelt House
  • Student Housing
  • Space Rentals
  • Bookstore
  • Contact Us & Feedback
  • Jobs
  • Public Safety
  • Roosevelt House
  • Student Housing
  • Space Rentals
Public Information
  • Annual Security & Fire Safety Report
  • Consumer Information
  • CUNY Tobacco Policy
  • Enough is Enough
  • Focus on Campus
  • Annual Security & Fire Safety Report
  • Consumer Information
  • CUNY Tobacco Policy
  • Enough is Enough
  • Focus on Campus
CUNY
  • © 2025 Hunter College
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Terms