¡Bienvenidos a Casa Lala!
We provide year-round programs for kids when school is out — including aftercare, holidays, summer camps, spring break, professional development days, and special events. We also offer Gracia, our beloved Montessori home-like daycare.
Our bilingual (Spanish/English) programs are inspired by Montessori and Reggio Emilia, with touches of Forest School philosophy. At the heart of it all is our unique Casa Lala spirit: ALEGRÍA (joy), MÚSICA (music), and COLOR.
How it started.
Marcela Tampe, or simply “Lala” as the children call her, opened Casa Lala over 13 years ago in her own home. At the time already an AMI Montessori teacher, Casa Lala was born out of the strong demand by parents to have after-school and holiday programs where children would feel ‘at home’.
Philosophy
Activities are based on the Montessori and Reggio Emilia philosophies, and are culturally minded with a focus on community connection: cooking, dancing, creating, exploring nature… we are outdoors as much as possible, and use nature as well as the city we live in as our greatest classroom.
“DC IS OUR CLASSROOM” is our signature program of discovering the wonderful city we live in, and learning to love it as well as the people who inhabit it. We hop on our Juanchas (Casa Lala’s music filled, colorful vans) and set to explore with our amigos: farms, museums, parks, splash pads, monuments…
We also incorporate varied workshops, from capoeira to pottery!
Culture
Every Casa Lala team member is fully bilingual (Spanish/English).
We are a joyful, loud, and friendly bunch.
We mix our ‘latin flavor’ with a strong Montessori background. This translates into a deep respect for the child, a team that knows how to observe and follow the child, how to link the right activities and materials for their stages of development, igniting curiosity and learning, and do so using a lot of joy, music, and color.
At Casa Lala we let children be children. We give them space and opportunities to run, jump, climb, get their feet wet and hands dirty.
Casa Lala is a community, and we strive to support our families as much as they support us. We like to create community events to bring families together, and support local talents.