4-17-2025 4:04pm

Bilingual Bowie daycare plans to offer afterschool program

Photo courtesy of BabyFe Bilingual Learning Center

Located at the Melford Town Center in Bowie, BabyFe Bilingual Learning Center plans to expand its Spanish immersion daycare by adding an afterschool program for older children.

Currently open to children ages six weeks to 5-year-olds, the center will soon offer after school programs for 5- to 9-year-olds as early as June, Michelle Luna, the enrollment specialist at BabyFe said.

Learning two languages at an early age can have a positive impact on a child’s development and future career, she said.

“It's gonna benefit them in the long run when they're older,” Luna said.

Spanish is the second most common language in the country, she said, “so you know that would be good for their resume. You know, getting a job … a person that speaks Spanish is worth two people.”

The Bowie area happens to be home to several daycare programs offering foreign language: Belair Cooperative Nursery School, Eden Kids at Fairwood, Leal Angels at Bowie Town Center, as well as BabyFe, according to their websites. At BabyFe, children can hear and use Spanish exclusively in some classrooms.

Offering Spanish immersion sets BabyFe apart from other daycare centers, said Luna, who has been with the company for four years. The staff also works to keep parents involved in their child’s education by holding four parent-teacher conferences per year.

The curriculum is designed to prepare children for kindergarten as well as expose them to Spanish. Luna highlighted the Frog Street curriculum that focuses on gross and fine motor skills as well as cognitive, sensory and physical development to fully prepare the students for kindergarten.

“So that curriculum really helps us and the teachers, obviously, to be able to … touch each milestone,” she said.

BabyFe also emphasizes the importance of learning nursery rhymes. As the website states, children who know at least eight nursery rhymes by age four tend to be in the highest level for reading amongst their peers by age eight.

In addition to the Bowie location, which has been in operation for roughly three years, a second BabyFe establishment is located in Alexandria, Va.

Entrepreneur Michele Coggins started the BabyFe concept after searching for Spanish language classes for parents and small children and not finding any in her area. She relocated the company from Southern Maryland to Melford in 2023, according to a press release.

Coggins said at the time, “Melford Town Center represents the perfect location for our move because it serves such a diverse demographic with parents eager to enrich their child’s educational experience,” the release stated.

Exposure to a second language should begin “as soon as feasible,” researchers have found.

Bilingual preschool programs “not only expose children to diverse languages, but promote positive attitudes and related cultural knowledge,” according to research published in the journal Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Tess Phillips covers Bowie as a student reporter in the University of Maryland Local News Network.