Where little ones
put down roots.
Three warm, family-run centers — Baby Roots and Village Roots on our Gallia Street campus in New Boston, plus Roots Child Care Center in Portsmouth. Learning through play, every day.
Gold Star Center
One family, three centers for every age.
Two centers on our Gallia Street campus in New Boston, plus a full-range center in Portsmouth. Each designed around the ages it serves.
Baby Roots
A quiet, attentive space where the smallest changes — first words, first steps, first friendships — get noticed and celebrated. Small group sizes mean lots of laps, soft voices, and steady rhythms.
- Low infant-to-staff ratio
- Daily journal & photos
- Flexible feeding
- Sensory playspace
Village Roots
Where children discover they are capable, kind, and full of ideas. Days unfold around play-based learning, art, music, movement, and the kind of friendships that shape a childhood.
- Toddler & preschool rooms
- Daily outdoor play
- Kindergarten readiness
- School-age before/after
Roots Child Care
Our newest home in Portsmouth serves every age under one roof — infants through school-age children. The one-stop option for families who need care across siblings, all in one warm, familiar place.
- Full age range
- One drop-off for siblings
- Kindergarten readiness
- Before & after school
Learning happens through play, in every direction.
Through their hands
Art, sensory bins, building, and the open-ended materials that turn a quiet morning into an experiment.
Through their voices
Story time, music, singing, and the everyday conversations that grow vocabulary and self-expression.
Through their bodies
Outdoor play, climbing, dancing, running. Big movement builds big brains — and a good appetite for lunch.
Through their friendships
Cooperation, taking turns, working through a disagreement. Social skills are taught alongside ABCs.
A nurturing place to develop the whole child.
More than academics. Our environment is built around eight everyday things every child deserves to grow.
A sense of self-worth
Children come to recognize themselves as a person of value — seen, heard, and important.
Empathy for others
Understanding people who are different from themselves, and treating those differences with kindness.
Respect — for self and others
The everyday practice of how we speak to one another, share space, and ask for what we need.
Self-regulation
The slow, important work of naming big feelings and learning what to do with them.
Creativity & imagination
Open-ended play that lets a cardboard box become a spaceship, a kitchen, or a quiet hiding spot.
Critical thinking
"What happens if…?" — the question that turns every block tower into a small science experiment.
Real-world life skills
Pouring water, washing hands, hanging up a coat. The competence that comes from doing it themselves.
Independence
The confidence that comes from trying, struggling a little, and finally doing it on their own.
The small changes that add up.
Ask a Roots parent what's different a few months in, and you'll hear the same kinds of things — quiet, real, unmistakable growth.
They come home with new words
Vocabulary that surprises you — the kind that comes from being talked with, not talked at, all day long.
They talk about their teachers by name
Not "my teacher" — a specific person, with specific things they said, who noticed them today.
They start helping at home
Wanting to pour their own water. Setting the table. Putting their shoes on the shelf. Independence practiced somewhere else shows up everywhere.
They make real friends
You'll hear the same names over and over. You'll meet those families at birthday parties. The village gets bigger.
Big feelings get a little smaller
Not because they stop having them — they'll always have them — but because they start finding words for what they feel.
Drop-off gets easier
The child who cried at the door in September walks in confidently by November. That confidence is the whole point.
You get your evenings back
A child who's been engaged, moved, fed, napped, and known all day comes home tired and content — the kind of tired that makes bedtime easier.
The people who entrust us with their children.
Both of our girls grew up at Roots. The staff knew them as people — their favorite books, their quirks, what kind of day they were having. You can't put a price on that kind of care.
I worried about leaving our 8-week-old. Baby Roots made that transition the easiest part of going back to work. The daily updates and photos got me through the hard mornings.
My son started kindergarten knowing his letters, yes — but more importantly, he knew how to ask for help, share with friends, and try things even when they were hard.
Our location
Roots Child Care Centers
1210 Mildale Road
Portsmouth, OH 45662
Three locations — see all →
Get directions →
Open weekdays
- Monday – Friday7:00 AM – 5:30 PM
- SaturdayClosed
- SundayClosed
Talk with us
740-529-1721
Call to schedule a tour or
ask any question.
Find us on Facebook →
The best way to know if Roots is the right home for your child is to stop by.
Schedule a tour, meet the teachers, see the rooms, and bring your little one along. We'll keep it short, honest, and pressure-free.