Falls Church-McLean Children's Center

The Falls Church-McLean Children’s Center provides a high-quality early childhood program designed to give all young children, regardless of their family's economic resources, a strong foundation on which to build the rest of their lives.

Founded in 1968 to provide affordable, quality care to children of low-income, working families, the Center today offers a culturally diverse and academically enriching program that incorporates the basics of good nutrition, lots of exercise outdoors, and a focus on helping each child build the necessary skills to be ready for kindergarten. Children receive breakfast, lunch, and 2 nutritionial snacks each day; time for individual choices and creativity; and structured time with teachers where our student-teacher ratio is intentionally low for individual attention.

Our unique program includes special services for children who are not able to achieve expected age-level skills, to address any ddevelopmental delays in speech and language development, physical skills and behavioral issues.

Our full-time, year-round program also takes children outside the classroom on weekly field trips to learn first-hand the lessons that can only come from touching farm animals, exploring an apple orchard, smelling cherry blossoms, and visiting area museums. Most children "graduate" from the Center with age-level skills; others will take with them Individualized Education Plans for continued services in elementary school. All are fluent in English.