Little Buccaneers creating a big impact

While many young parents at ETSU are doubled down in attempts to balance a busy home, school and work life, the Little Buccaneers Early Child Learning Program supports their every step in providing childcare for children three to five years of age.

Little Bucs, a play-based childcare center, is located in the heart of ETSU’s campus and offers affordable childcare to students or faculty currently enrolled at the university, all while partnering with numerous departments to improve childhood education across the board. Little Bucs is partnered with the early childhood department at ETSU and focuses on the importance that a high-quality environment can provide to a child’s long-term development.

Through play-based interactions, Little Bucs has developed a need for an updated space to correctly accommodate their young playmates, in which the center strives to provide an exceptional level of childcare to its children with the assistance of these new accommodations.  

Through the integration of education into the notion of childcare, the Little Bucs organization is pushing to provide exceptional childcare within the organization by implementing new and improved spaces for the children in attendance. Little Bucs is open five days a week and is placing emphasis on values based on an image of the child as a curious and capable individual, which is why the need for updated spaces is such a large revelation in sparking creativity within Little Buc students.

Since their big move from Warf-Pickel to 2101 Signal Drive, the center has recently renovated the playground space, replacing the play area’s rubber mulch with a grassy alternative to ease playtime scrapes and bumps. Additionally, the center has begun plans to implement a ‘sensory room,’ which provides young students with a space to reside from over-exposure to new and intimidating sensory situations.  

In the shadows of COVID-19, the Little Bucs Childcare Center is revamping its play spaces and bouncing back from a socially distanced manner of hands-on interactions. Amanda Osborne, director of the Little Bucs program and childcare center, reemphasizes the importance of “recognizing a child’s mental, emotional, and physical needs- not just their educational demands.”

Children from ages 3 to 11 are increasingly susceptible to psychological and emotional exposures, which is why Osborne and Little Bucs have long encouraged letting their students exist authentically as their young selves, handling emotions in a healthy manner and encouraging children to be free without expectation.

Osborne said that, most importantly, “we love our students and respect their opportunity to be creative, embrace their personalities and encourage them to grow into their authentic selves, all while inspiring them to develop critical thinking skills during their time with us.” 

Not only do the Little Buc students get to spend their time with devoted instructors, but also in partnership with the ETSU early childhood department (ECD), children are granted the opportunity to play with, learn from, and experience mentor-like influences from ECD students.

“ECD students gain hands-on interaction with children of the Little Bucs program,” said Osborne. “The roadmap for high-quality education and childcare is incredibly important for the future of education and serves as an example for engagement through the importance of building relationships.  

Little Bucs currently has 38 students enrolled through the center, along with three teachers.

If you are an ETSU student seeking childcare, please visit the Little Bucs website at etsu.edu/coe/child/littlebucs/information to view the application, access financial aid for childcare services, and learn about many other important aspects of the Little Bucs program.