Sandra Dill crouches next to a child-sized table, surveying the artwork that four of her young students are painting. The children, ranging in age from toddlers to about 6 years old, are swirling colors together, delighted to learn that blue and green mix to make teal. “What are you painting?” Dill asks, smiling at them.
“A rainbow!,” says one girl. The boy sitting next to her shouts that, he too, is painting a rainbow. “A beautiful landscape,” the oldest in the room adds.
“An egg roll,” the fourth seems to say. Dill furrows her brow for a moment, unsure whether that’s what the child said, before breaking out into another warm smile. “That’s great,” she tells the students.
“Two rainbows, a landscape and an egg roll.” The exercise of learning to mix colors, share paint and work as a group is part of Dill’s curriculum for her at-home early childhood education program. She’s a part of a group of people nationwide who are aiming to fill the dearth of high-quality early childhood education programs by offering care from their homes.
Dill, of New Haven, is among those who got help setting up and licensing a business from Connecticut-based nonprofit All Our Kin. Connecticut has about 2,000 licensed family child care centers, defined as an at-home program that is licensed to provide care for up to six children. Connecticut has seen a declining number of early childhood education providers since 2010, from about 4,500 providers to about 3,200 in 2023, a.