Welcome To Children First Learning Center!
Children First Learning Center is the premier child care facility in Monroe County with three locations; Lakeview Day Care Center in Waterloo IL, Covington Day Care Center in Waterloo IL, and Southwoods Day Care Center in Columbia, IL. We serve children ages six weeks to 12 years. We look forward to the opportunity to provide your child with a quality early childhood education, in a loving environment that will foster their development. Explore what each of our three locations has to offer and get to know us!
Children First Learning Center strives to create a high quality, safe, learning environment for our families. We pride ourselves on our close relationships with our parents and teachers. We feel that it is important not only for our parents to feel comfortable with our environment, but we want our children to feel at ease while learning through fun.
Explore Each Of Our Unique Locations
Meet the owners, Julie & Ryan Weber
Hello Everyone! We are the proud owners of Children First Learning Center. We have two daughters, Samantha and Payton and one sweet grandson, Dylan.
We purchased Children First Learning Center – Lakeview location in 2010. We quickly grew the business and added on to our Lakeview location in 2012 and again in 2015. We were presented with an opportunity to purchase two more locations in late 2018 and finalized that purchase in April 2019 expanding our Children First Family to three locations, 2 locations in Waterloo (Lakeview & Covington) and 1 location in Columbia (Southwoods).
We take pride in contributing to the important business of Early Childhood Education. We have worked hard to create an atmosphere where we hope that everyone walks into our buildings and feels as if they are at home. Speaking for everyone at Children First, we look forward to meeting you and your family!
Accreditations & Certifications
What Parents Have To Say
We love our daycare family at Children First Learning Center! Our children absolutely adore their teachers and wake up excited to see them everyday. We are always greeted with a cheerful smile at drop-off in the very early mornings, which always makes for a great day. The directors are so very helpful, caring, and always there to answer any questions you may have. They have accommodated my ever changing schedule on more than one occasion without a blink of an eye. I would recommend this childcare center to everyone looking for a wonderful place for their child to grow!
Children First Learning Center is AMAZING! I couldn’t be happier with the care and education given to my child. It is good to know that your child is in the care of people like Aubrey and Kim who both have such wonderful, kind, professional, helpful personalities I just can’t say enough great things about them and CFLC.
If you have the opportunity to send your child to CFLC I highly recommend!!!
Our child has been going here for almost 3 years, the teachers are amazing and our child has learned SO MUCH from them. There does seem to be some frequent turn around, but I also expect that from a daycare. They are doing amazing things especially during this uneasy time of Covid and we’re happy to be sending another child there shortly.
I am very pleased with this daycare center. When my needs were not being met at another center, the staff and directors listened intently to my needs. I am very appreciative of the flexibility and quality care received. While things changed during covid I realize they take time to accommodate to and appreciate all efforts to keep moving forward. The outstanding communication I receive from Aubrey showed she is a diligent worker and professional but always keeps the child’s best interest in mind! She truly cares for every child and wants them to succeed ! I am thankful for her expertise. The ability of a child to learn to express themselves takes time and every child comes from a different background and I appreciate so much her understanding of diversity.