Fireflies · 12 to 24 months
A calm room of eight, with two consistent caregivers, floor-level play, and a daily rhythm shaped around each child's own naps and meals. Families share a short note and a photo from the day at every pick-up.
Early learning in Toronto, ages 12 months to 6
A small place where every child is known
Little Lantern is a house, not a facility: three homely campuses, rooms of no more than twelve children, and the same familiar teachers from the first goodbye at the door to the last story at pick-up.
Slow mornings, big stories
Our day begins the way a good picture book does, unhurried. Children arrive, hang up their coats, and choose a spot on the rug where a teacher is already turning the first page.We read aloud every morning in every room, from board books for our youngest to chapter stories for our oldest. Stories are how we teach kindness, patience and curiosity, long before any of it is written on a worksheet.
Our story
Started by a teacher, kept by our families
Little Lantern opened in 2011 in the front rooms of a converted Riverdale house, with eight children and one founder, Marguerite Osei, a former kindergarten teacher who wanted a place where no child was ever just a name on a register.
Fifteen years on, we care for 96 children across three houses, and Marguerite still eats lunch with a different room every Friday. Every teacher on our team holds an Early Childhood Educator diploma, and more than half have been with us for five years or longer.
Four rooms, one gentle progression
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Lanterns · 2 to 3 years
Language blooms here. Children stack, pour, sing and name everything in sight, with plenty of outdoor time in our fenced garden and a first taste of independence at snack and coat time.
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Storytellers · 3 to 4 years
Make-believe, puppets and painting drive the day. Small groups build stories together, learn to take turns, and begin to notice letters and numbers in the world around them.
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Pathfinders · 4 to 6 years
A Junior Kindergarten year built around projects the children choose, from a class garden to a shop made of boxes. Teachers gently prepare each child for the move to school, socially as much as academically.
Why families stay
Three promises we keep for every child
Choosing where your child spends their days is a big decision. This is what we commit to, in writing, on your first day.
- One familiar face. Every child has a key teacher who greets them each morning and knows their favourite book, their fears and their funniest phrases.
- Rooms that stay small. No room holds more than twelve children, and our staff-to-child ratios are better than the provincial requirement in every age group.
- Nothing hidden. Come by unannounced, ask to see the kitchen, read our inspection reports. Parents are always welcome to stay for a story.
Three houses across the city
Each Little Lantern house has its own garden, its own kitchen and the same way of doing things. Visit the one nearest home or work.
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Riverdale House
214 Broadview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4M 2G3 -
Leslieville House
1187 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON M4M 1L2 -
High Park House
96 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto, ON M6R 2K5
From our families
Words from the pick-up line
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Dev used to cling to my leg every single morning. By the second week at Little Lantern he was letting go at the door because Ms. Adaeze was already holding up the book they were reading. Now he comes home telling us stories with different voices for every character.
Anika Rao, parent of Dev (age 5)
Now enrolling
Come and see an ordinary Tuesday morning at Little Lantern
Visits take thirty minutes, run on weekday mornings, and always include time in a real classroom. Bring your child if you like.
Book a visitTell us about your child
Share a little about your family and the age of your child and our enrolment coordinator will reply within one working day with openings, fees and a few visit times.
