There are several preschool and day care centers opening throughout Sugar Land and Missouri City. These facilities provide a range of child care services ranging from after-school programs to instruction-based curriculum to medical services.

Rainbow Station—an international network of preschools—has targeted Sugar Land for a new location and is in talks with multiple franchisees, founder and CEO Gail Johnson said.

"With the research we have done, [Sugar Land] seems to be a hot bed of growth with a large amount of young families, which is exactly who we look to serve," she said. "We look for local franchisees who hire locally. That is very important for us—to support the local economy. That is the way this business is designed."

The Sugar Land location would be built to resemble Rainbow Station's existing campuses, Johnson said. The operation is expected to house two structures totaling about 20,000 square feet on at least two-and-a-half acres. Each campus serves between 300–325 students and has an average of 75 employees—about 50 instructors and two in-house nurses along with administration and support staff.

Rainbow Station offers instruction throughout the school year and a variety of summer programs. In addition, each campus has at least one full-time nurse to provide on-site care for students who become ill.

"[Our curriculum] helps children discover the basic principles of being successful," Johnson said. "Not only are we getting students ready to learn, we are getting children ready for life in the 21st century."

The campuses are split by age group. One structure is designed to resemble a train and includes a nursery for children six weeks–2 years old. As students grow up, they progress through the train before reaching the preschool classroom located in the train's engine, which serves children 3–5 years old.

The second structure—The Village at Rainbow Station—serves students from 5–13 years old. Inside The Village, each classroom is designed to feature mock storefronts and offers volunteer opportunities along with other instruction and activities.

"We take what we know children are interested in and in each room we put different activities," Johnson said. "We are allowing the child to relax after school and enjoy something that is stimulating according to their interests."

Johnson—a pediatric nurse—was working as a faculty nurse at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing in the mid-1980s when she thought of an idea for a business that could help overburdened parents and their children.

"This was a time when women were exercising their rights [and] trying to have it all," Johnson said. "That was fairly new in the '80s. As I saw one family after another come through the clinics, I began to see these families were really struggling. It was interfering with their ability to live life."

Johnson left her position in academia to pursue a career as an entrepreneur. She opened the first Rainbow Station in December 1989.

"Along the way, I determined in order to be successful, we needed to care for not only children that were ill but all children," Johnson said.

After about 10 years of operation, Johnson began franchising her business. Today, Rainbow Station is comprised of 10 preschools throughout the country. The brand also operates a campus in China with plans to open a kindergarten campus in 2015, and the company is planning to open a location in Indonesia this fall.

For more information, call 210-495-5222, or visit www.rainbowstation.org.

Other child care facilities in the community include:

Adventure Kids Playcare

4945 Sweetwater Blvd.

Sugar Land 832-886-4153

www.adventurekidsplaycare.com

Casa dei Bambini

Slated to open summer 2014

108 Telfair Central Blvd.

Sugar Land 281-261-2272

www.cdbmontessori.com

The Goddard School

Slated to open summer 2014

6111 Sienna Ranch Drive

Missouri City 832-564-7808

www.goddardschool.com