At Happy Campers, our mission is to provide each child a positive, enriching environment in which to grow and learn, and promote social/emotional, physical and cognitive development. We are committed to providing a safe, well-planned, and nurturing learning environment for young children based on developmental play activities.

Take A Hike! Great Adventures in Learning! 

At Happy Campers Academy (HCA), we understand that a child’s mind is as wide open as the great outdoors. That’s why we are committed to instilling in children a love for learning that will continue throughout their days at HCA, throughout their academic career—throughout their great adventure called life.

We believe that children learn best when the education process is active and student-centered, as opposed to passive and teacher-centered. The HCA philosophy of education centers around “discovery-based learning,” which encourages children to learn by doing. Our Teachers are very passionate about your child’s growth and development. We strive to work closely with you for the benefit of your child. We work to be an extension of your family. Every day is a new adventure at Happy Campers Academy!

At Happy Campers Academy, we strive to provide a framework for the skills needed to guide your child through the beginning stages of growth and development. We do so by using a child led, thematic based curriculum. Our curriculum centers around skills needed to prepare each child with tools they will use for their entire learning years. We work at a pace that allow each child to reach his/her goals and accomplish developmental milestones.

Our classrooms are arranged so that each of the eight core learning areas are available for exploration throughout the day, as well as time planned for skill set focused development and reading readiness. Some activities are hands on while others are set up to build patience and confidence. With a healthy mix of developmental play, and planned thematic activities, your child will have fun all the while learning and developing skills necessary for a successful Kindergarten year and beyond.

In the infant room, our main focus is bonding, trusting, loving and respecting the child’s personal growth. Our teachers bond with each child while giving them personal attention and love, and speak to the child so that connections are starting to form. We assist them while they have many new experiences: rolling over, sitting up, new foods, pulling up, and even taking first steps. At this level every child has their own personalized schedule, and we read, sing, and love them during their awake time. Our infant room is a great place to start!

Our one year old rooms are a mixture of both parent and teacher directed, taking the best of both worlds and putting them together to start independent self-help skills, learning about simple emotions, feelings, trusting, connecting, self-awareness. Our main focus for our one year olds is language development. We bridge the gap of language by mixing in some simple baby signing. Our creative teachers keep our one year olds busy and happy.

Two year olds begin to experience more structure in their day by learning social skills, continuing more complex language development, and creative thematic studies. Our parents watch as they see their child learning patience and becoming excited about the studies that they are doing at school, which include children’s literature, art, beginning math skills, letter recognition, and dramatic play. The two year olds have an exciting year as they really start to dig in and learn more difficult ideas and concepts, and parents see the educational process beginning.

Our three year old classes allow the individual child to explore and gain independence, and essentially put to use all the connections made prior to this class. They really start blossoming socially, and start to engage in reciprocal play with their classmates. They continue their creative thematic lessons and studies, and start preparing for kindergarten through learning cooperation, working together, and learning together. Threes need lots of developmental play, therefore the classroom and teacher are equipped to set up developmental learning centers so that the child is playing and learning simultaneously, while learning and expressing themselves creatively.

Finally our PreK class is time for making our final connections that prepare them for Kindergarten. As early learning care givers, we prepare the child for a step into the new stages of learning. We introduce a variety of reading readiness skills, sight words, and language skills. Writing skills are practiced, as well as a healthy amount of creative expression. We use this age to take full advantage of the commitment we made at infancy to guide and help them become confident, strong, and bright young individuals. Our campers leave us ready to take on Kindergarten!

The mission of the faculty and staff of HCA is to create the premier child-care facility in Tulsa. We are dedicated to providing each child a positive, enriching environment in which to grow and learn—emotionally, socially, and academically. Every member of the HCA staff recognizes the honor and privilege of caring for your little camper. Without question, children are the most beautiful and valuable little creatures on the planet, and we will spare no effort in making them feel that way—every minute of every day.

In an effort to achieve our goals, teacher-student ratios at HCA are lower than those of the average day-care facility in Tulsa. In addition to extensive experience and training in early childhood education, members of the staff have CPR certification.