Play-based childcare & preschool in Southeast Portland
A place to play, explore, grow & belong
What’s cooking?
Children eat well here! We serve wholesome breakfasts, lunches and snacks each day, with an emphasis on seasonal foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, and meals children genuinely enjoy.
Our meals follow USDA meal-pattern requirements, and we choose organic, locally sourced and in-season foods whenever reasonable.
A real Hawthorn Circle lunch: grilled chicken, garden-grown romaine, cucumbers and radishes, grapes, Parmesan crisps, baguette, homemade Caesar dressing and milk.
What’s Growing, Exploring & Getting Messy?
Around here, childhood is meant to be hands-on. Children dig, build, climb, create, garden, splash, investigate and follow their curiosity—often getting wonderfully messy along the way.
Our days are shaped by child-led play and invitations to explore rather than worksheets or a rigid preschool schedule. Indoors and out, children have time to experiment, solve problems, take appropriate risks, work together and turn their own ideas into play.
Big work, messy work, careful work and joyful work—it all counts as learning here.
More Than Childcare
Hawthorn Circle is intentionally small, home-based and relationship-centered. Children are known well here—not just for what they can do, but for who they are becoming.
With a small group and consistent care, I’m able to notice the little things—what makes a child light up, what challenges them, when they need encouragement, and when they simply need time and space to figure something out for themselves.
That relationship extends to families, too. My goal is for parents to feel that they have a partner in their child’s care—someone who knows their child, communicates openly and genuinely enjoys sharing in these important early years.
What Makes Hawthorn Circle Different
Hawthorn Circle isn’t a traditional preschool squeezed into a home. It’s a home-based program intentionally designed around how young children actually learn—through play, relationships, movement, curiosity and meaningful participation in everyday life.
Children have time to play deeply.
Children aren’t hurried from one adult-directed activity to the next. Our days include long stretches of uninterrupted play, giving children time to explore an idea, change their minds, solve problems, create together and return to something that captured their interest.
Outside isn’t recess. It’s part of the classroom.
Children move freely between digging, building, climbing, gardening, creating, imagining and investigating. Our large outdoor space isn’t where children go when the “learning” is finished—it’s one of the places where some of their richest learning happens.
Real life belongs in early childhood.
Children help prepare food, tend the garden, care for animals, clean up their spaces and participate in the everyday rhythms of our home and program. These aren’t chores added around the learning. They’re opportunities to build confidence, independence, responsibility and a genuine sense of belonging.
Children don’t all need the same thing.
Children come with different temperaments, interests, abilities, sensory needs and ways of engaging with the world. We meet children where they are, offering room to move, rest, observe, join in, try again and grow at their own pace.
A small group changes everything.
With a small group, children are known well. There is time to notice what fascinates them, recognize when they need help or space, support friendships as they develop and let relationships grow naturally over time.
A Day at Hawthorn Circle
Our days have a rhythm rather than a rigid schedule. There is time to arrive and settle in, share meals, explore outdoors, create, read, rest and return to play. The details change with the children, the weather and what has captured our curiosity, but the rhythm gives everyone a comfortable sense of what comes next.
Arrive, settle in & connect
Children ease into the day with quiet play, conversation and time to reconnect with friends. After everyone has had a chance to arrive, we come together for breakfast before the day opens into play and exploration.
Long mornings for play & discovery
Children have long stretches of time to follow their ideas and become deeply involved in their play. They might dig in the sand, build something enormous, mix something questionable in the mud kitchen, investigate bugs, create art, climb, garden or invent a game that lasts all morning. Indoors or out, adults are nearby to support, notice and extend the learning without taking over the play.
Come together, eat & reconnect
Meals and snacks give us natural pauses in the day to gather around the table, talk and reconnect. Children enjoy nourishing food together, practice serving themselves as they’re ready and take part in the everyday routines that surround a shared meal. After lunch, the pace slows as we transition into stories and quiet time.
Slow down, rest & recharge
After lunch, we settle in for stories and quiet time. It’s a chance for busy bodies and minds to slow down, rest and recharge before the afternoon begins.
Wake up, refuel & return to play
After quiet time, children ease back into the afternoon with a snack and another long stretch of play. Depending on the weather and the children’s interests, we may head outside, continue something started earlier in the day or discover an entirely new direction for our play.
Wind down & head home
As families begin to arrive, children keep playing while friends gradually head home. It’s a relaxed end to the day, with time to finish an idea, share one more discovery or simply enjoy being together until it’s time to go.
A Place Made for Childhood
Hawthorn Circle is designed to feel like a place where childhood belongs. Indoors and out, children have room to move, make messes, create, investigate, build, imagine and become deeply involved in their play. The spaces change with the seasons and with the children who use them, so there is always something familiar to return to and something new to discover.
Here, play might mean foraging for the first strawberries of the season, hauling a mud kitchen across the yard together, making music, caring for chickens, digging in the dirt or transforming a familiar corner into something entirely new. Children aren’t just playing in the space—they help shape the life that happens here.
Is Hawthorn Circle a Good Fit for Your Family?
The right childcare fit is about more than hours and location. Hawthorn Circle works best for families who value play, relationships, time outdoors and the wonderfully messy ways young children learn. We want families to know what life here really looks like so they can decide whether it feels right for their child.
Your child will get dirty.
Mud, sand, water, paint, garden soil and whatever else the day brings are all part of life here. We dress for play rather than keeping clothes clean, because children deserve the freedom to dig, splash, experiment and fully participate without worrying about making a mess.
Outside is part of the plan.
We spend a lot of our days outside when the weather and season allow. Children need clothes and shoes that can handle rain, mud, water, garden dirt and active play. Some days we may spend most of the day outdoors; other days our play moves between the house and yard as the weather and children’s needs guide us.
This is a home, not a center.
Children spend their days in spaces that are part of our everyday home and yard. They share their environment with dogs, a cat, chickens and quail, help with ordinary routines and experience the comfortable rhythms of home life alongside their friends. Families who choose Hawthorn Circle are choosing the warmth and familiarity of home-based care rather than a traditional childcare center.
Children grow alongside different ages.
Our mixed-age group gives children opportunities to learn with and from one another. Younger children watch what older friends are doing and grow into new skills, while older children have opportunities to help, lead and see just how much they’ve grown. Friendships aren’t limited by birth year, and everyone brings something valuable to the group.
Your child gets to be an individual.
Children don’t have to fit into one mold here. They have different interests, personalities, strengths, sensory needs and ways of engaging with the world. We make room for children to move, observe, participate, take a break, try something their own way and grow at their own pace while still being an important part of the group.
Does this sound like a place where your child could thrive?
Choosing childcare is a big decision, and finding the right fit matters. If Hawthorn Circle feels like the kind of place you’ve been looking for, I’d love for you to learn more about the program and stay connected for future enrollment opportunities.
Hawthorn Circle Childcare & Preschool 