A Lifelong Love of Learning

Dr. Montessori believed that the goal of early childhood education should be to cultivate the child’s natural desire to learn. Our goal at Stepping Stones Montessori School is to help instill a lifelong love of learning by providing the tools needed to spur your child’s natural curiosity.

Although children enter our Montessori program at various ages, they begin by working with the simplest exercises, which are based on the activities that every child enjoys. Materials used in the Children’s House help each child develop skills of coordination, concentration, sense of order, and independence – all skills that offer lifetime benefits. The entire program of learning is purposefully structured. Therefore, the child who benefits most from the program completes the cycle from Toddler through 6th grade.

This unique cycle of learning takes advantage of a child’s sensitive years, when she or he can absorb information from an enriched environment. A child who acquires the basic skills of reading and arithmetic naturally has the advantage of beginning education without drudgery, boredom, or discouragement. By pursuing individual interests in a Montessori classroom, the child is intrinsically motivated to learn, which is the key to becoming truly educated.

Our School

Stepping Stones Montessori School was founded in 1983 by a dedicated group of parents and Montessori educators who recognized the benefits that a sound, individualized, and continuous Montessori program can offer a child. Today, as the oldest private Montessori school in Grand Rapids, Stepping Stones Montessori continues to provide an outstanding educational environment.

Our school’s strength is its unique ability to develop a child’s potential in a nurturing, diverse, and challenging atmosphere that promotes academic excellence and encourages a passion for learning. Since our inception, we have added Infant and Toddler Programs as well as Before- and After-School Care Programs.

Our centrally located campus – the former home of Kendall College of Art and Design – is just southwest of the intersection of College Avenue and Leonard Street NE, less than a mile from Michigan Street’s “Medical Mile.”