About Us | Curiosity's Child

Meet Ms. Kelly

I've been working with young children since I was 14 years old, when I completed my first placement at Little Sparrows Nursery in Ingatestone, England. I became a young mum to my daughter Megan and knew immediately that caring for children wasn't just a job — it was my calling. I opened my first in-home childcare program in my English village and never looked back.

In 2014, I immigrated to the United States and married my wife, Ms. Jackie. I joined Small Wonders Childcare in Warren as a toddler teacher, worked my way up through pre-k, and eventually became lead pre-k teacher — a position I held at Green Garden Child Development Center in Madison Heights. But the more I grew, the more I realized that pre-packaged curriculums weren't the right fit. Children needed something more alive.

So I built it.

I co-founded an in-home daycare in Royal Oak, ran it for three years, and when I relocated to Troy, I poured every lesson, every late night, every breakthrough moment with a child into Curiosity's Child. Today, it is fully enrolled, deeply loved by its families, and exactly the kind of place I always dreamed of creating.

Curiosity's Child cosy corner with sofa, tree stump stools, and natural materials

Our Philosophy

Shaped by two traditions we love deeply

The Reggio Emilia Approach

In the rubble of post-war Italy, the families of a small city called Reggio Emilia decided their children deserved something extraordinary. They built schools from scratch — not on rules and rote learning, but on a radical idea: that children are already competent, already creative, already full of intelligence. The adult's role is not to pour knowledge in, but to listen.

This philosophy is the backbone of Curiosity's Child.

From Reggio, We Take

The Hundred Languages of Children — Children don't just speak in words. They speak in paint, in clay, in movement, in building, in song, in the way they line up pebbles on a windowsill. Every form of expression is valid. Every one is valued.
The Environment as Third Teacher — Light, texture, colour, arrangement — all of it is intentional. You'll notice this the moment you walk into our Great Room. Every shelf, every material, every corner has been placed with purpose.
The Power of Documentation — We don't test children — we observe them. You will see your child's thinking unfold through photographs and displays of work in progress, not through grades or checklists.
Relationships at the Centre — Nothing happens in a Reggio-inspired space without trust. The relationships here are not side features. They are the program.
No Fixed Curriculum — The curriculum emerges from the children's own interests, questions, and discoveries. The teacher follows the child, not a textbook.

Autumn provocation display with pumpkins, books, baskets, and natural materials

The English Playschool Tradition

I grew up in England, where the word "play" is built right into "playschool" — because play is the school. This isn't a quaint or accidental tradition. It runs deep in the English approach to early years education, and it runs deep in everything we do here.

The research is overwhelming: children who are given the freedom to really play — with time and space and materials and the absence of adult agenda — develop stronger language, deeper social skills, greater resilience, and a more enduring love of learning than children pushed into formal academics too early.

From This Tradition, We Take

The sanctity of unstructured time — Not every minute needs to be scheduled. Some of the most profound learning happens when a child is simply given the freedom to follow their own instincts.
The outdoors as essential, not optional — English playschools have long understood that fresh air, mud, weather, and wide open space are foundational to healthy development. Rain or shine, we go outside. Every day.
Warmth over rigidity — Children need to feel safe, warm, and genuinely loved before they can learn. That comes first. Everything else follows.
The teacher as companion, not commander — I'm down on the floor with the children — playing alongside them, noticing, wondering aloud, following the child's lead rather than directing it.

Children in green rain suits splashing and playing in puddles outdoors

"What we want is for children to be full of wonder and curiosity, to be unafraid of making mistakes, and to find joy in learning. Everything else follows."

Kelly Smith, Curiosity's Child

Also by Kelly

Helping families across Michigan

I also built Find MI Daycare — Michigan's most comprehensive licensed daycare directory. Over 7,800 providers across all 83 counties, completely free for parents to search.

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