A new preschool classroom is set to open Monday at the Riverhouse Children’s Center in the hopes of meeting some of the increasing demand for early childhood care in La Plata County.

Currently, the Riverhouse Children’s Center at 742 Florida Road serves 86 children, from the ages of 6 weeks to 5 years old. With the expansion, the center will be able to take in an additional 14 children, including five infants, five toddlers and four preschoolers.

Carolyn Tinsley, Riverhouse’s executive director, said the need for early childhood care in the county is high, but the amount of options for parents is scarce.

“We live in a community that is struggling to support working families,” Tinsley said in a news release. “We are excited to be able to serve more children in our community and felt it necessary to utilize as much of our facility as possible to accomplish this.”

Nicole Neales, a program coordinator at the center, estimated there are about 40 early childhood care centers in the county, but there is still the demand for more classrooms.

“It seems like everybody had babies two years ago,” she said.

Neales said the current trend is for parents to stay at home for a year to a year-and-a-half, and then return to work. So, now is a crucial time for parents to get their child enrolled in early care, a reason for the center’s expansion. And, as research has shown, early childhood care has positive effects on the rest of a child’s life.

“They definitely set the tone for the rest of their life,” Neales said. “If a child is provided with ample opportunity for learning and a safe environment, it will improve the quality of the rest of their life.”

Riverhouse focuses on a range of developmental skills, from academic to social. Activities are geared in a way that aims to engage students to take in new information.

“It has to be a perfect mix of basic needs, proper stimulation, knowing what to look for, how to challenge,” Neales said.

The expansion was funded from a grant from the Southwest Colorado Early Childhood Collaborative. Riverhouse Children’s Center is a nonprofit, in operation since 2002.