The Wonder Years is an active and academic preschool program centered on the WONDER of childhood!

We offer part-day classes to children ages 3-5 in a license-exempt preschool program housed at Pride of Illinois.  Pride has been a leader in children’s programming in the Metro East since 2005.

Our unique 25,000 square foot facility includes a state of the art preschool classroom and a fully-outfitted preschool gym, The Jungle.  Children enjoy both an engaging and enriching classroom and an exciting gymnastics experience every day at The Wonder Years.

Every day at The Wonder Years includes time for growing and stretching our bodies and our minds!  Gym time, center time, circle time, and snack time are all important parts of our day with friends.

Studies show that preschool gymnastics enhances cognitive development and academic readiness essentials such as laterality, visual differentiation, hand-eye coordination, directionality, and sensory discrimination.

Emerging new science about brain development of the young child has now proven what coaches, teachers, and parents have long intuited—that movement and play are essential for maximizing intellectual and emotional development. Running, skipping, jumping, rolling, spinning cross-lateral movement and inverting are more than child’s play – they connect neurons necessary for later academic success.

Our educational approach is driven by child-centered, experiential learning, and borrows tenets from the Montessori and Reggio Emilia philosophies.

We believe that children are strong, competent and capable citizens who are full of wonder and curiosity to learn.

• We nurture each child’s desire for knowledge, understanding, and respect.
• Our teachers guide children in math, language, literacy, art, science, basic Spanish, sensory experiences, and social-emotional growth.
• Collaborative, hands-on, and engaging learning that prepares children not just for Kindergarten, but for a lifetime of learning.

Every day at The Wonder Years includes active play and a gymnastics fundamentals class in our large and well-equipped facility.

We believe that establishing healthy habits, positive relationships with physical fitness, and an active lifestyle are an essential part of childhood.

Gymnastics is a foundational sport activity that teaches motor planning, coordination, balance, flexibility, and strength necessary for all other sports activities, benefiting children who want to be gymnasts, baseball players, swimmers, or astronauts!