Welcome to the Child Development Lab

The Child Development Lab (CDL) is a teaching and research facility for child development and early childhood professionals sponsored by the School of Family, Consumer, and Nutrition Sciences.  Accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) with a four star rating from the Quality Rating System of the Illinois Department of Human Services, the laboratory provides inclusive, full-day, mixed-age child care in a nurturing and supportive environment with low teacher-child ratios. High quality care is implemented by the full-time staff that is highly educated in child development and early childhood education.

The Child Development Lab has three mixed-age classrooms:

• Infants (6 weeks-14 months)
• Toddlers/Twos (15-35 months)
• Preschoolers (3-7 years)

We are a developmental based program which uses Emergent Curriculum. Our curriculum fosters the development of the whole child including language, cognitive, emotional, social and physical domains.

There are two classrooms and a playground for the mixed ages of infants, toddlers, and twos. There is one preschool classroom and a separate playground for the mixed ages of three to seven year old children. Observation booths with sound are available for parents, students, and faculty to observe and/or conduct research.

Enrollment is open to the University and surrounding communities.