HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The Tampa YMCA hopes to help fill a need in the community by opening two new licensed preschools for families—one in Tampa Heights and the other in Carrollwood.
The new preschools open in August and will follow the same schedule as Hillsborough County Schools. It's a full day of care from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., with before and after care options as well.
“I call myself a Y baby. I grew up at the Y," said Tonina Rodriguez, the Director of Operations of Early Learning at the Tampa YMCA. She said parents and kids are already excited about the new preschools.
“We definitely have siblings that are looking, younger siblings. Parents are excited. We heard like, 'Oh, this is great,'" she said. "This is something that, as we were making phone calls with families that were of interest of the program, they were very excited to have it.”
Rodriguez walked me through one of the indoor classrooms.
"Here we have the art area. Here they practice their creative expression, practicing fine motor skills as they are painting, holding crayons, and all of that," she said, showing off the table lined with brand new supplies. “Here we have the block area, where they can learn to build using their gross motor skills and again expressing themselves through play.”
They also learn how to share, take turns, and work on social and emotional skills. The next station was the dramatic play, where kids can dress up as different workers within the community, play house, or play with puppets.
"We can change this up throughout the study depending on what the study is, so when I was a teacher, I made it a tire shop because we were learning about wheels and tires," Rodriguez said.
And then comes the math and science section.
"They’ll be learning math. These are the pre-math skills, counting, number recognition," Rodriguez said
The location in Tampa Heights can hold 71 kids ages 2 through 4. The preschool in Carrollwood can accommodate 49.
"This is our literacy area; I talked about social-emotional skills, so, every day, just teaching the children, 'How do you feel today?' Teaching them those different emotions," Rodriguez said.
It's also a nice quiet area to enjoy a book if they’d like alone or with a fellow classmate or teacher. Rodriguez said they decided to open these two preschools after they noticed a shift in the Tampa Bay area: more development and more families with both parents working.
According to the Bureau ofLabor Statistics, in 2023, 32.6 million families in the US had kids under 18, and in 67% of those families, both parents were employed.
“So we developed a safe place—what are the different calm down choices, teaching them to breath, teaching them it’s okay to be upset, it’s okay to be angry, how do we deal with that, and definitely teaching those conflict resolutions, and how to regulate those emotions," she said, as she shows me another learning station.
YMCA Members and nonmembers can sign their kids up for the preschool, and registration is now open.
Rodriguez also showed me the outdoor area, where kids will learn, play and release their energy.
“Getting the energy out is so important because I think after a certain amount of time doing an activity, as we’ve learned in research, you do need that brain break," Rodriguez said. "The children need that as well. Ours is learning through play, and they are learning through play, but there are those activities where they are doing small activities, group activities, and so sometimes they need to release that energy in order for them to feel ready and prepared for the next thing.”
There is a one time annual enrollment feel. For members it's $35, for non-members it's $50. Pricing per week is listed on Tampa YMCA's website.
Click here to see the parent handbook and resource guide.
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