Parkfield Playhouse

My name is Kara Downing but now days I go by Miss Kara. I grew up in south eastern Colorado on a 2500 acre farm with my brother and sister. I was the youngest sibling and always wanted a younger brother or sister. As a young child I was always helping take care of my younger cousins and I loved babysitting. My grandma was an elementary teacher and I remember going to help in her classroom and the idea of teaching seemed like so much fun. I believe all of these factors helped my find my passion with working with children.
In high school I was involved with sports (softball, basketball, track) was FFA vice president, and a member of the National Honor Society. After high school I received an athletic scholarship to play softball. While in college I started a physical education program at a local Lutheran Church School. The people and the children became family to me and I was offered a part time teaching assistant job working with the kindergarten class. During the summers of college I spent my time coaching softball to young girls. Over my four years of coaching we won four state titles, four regional titles, three Nationals appearances as well as an invitation to the Babe Ruth Little League World Series.
After obtaining my degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Colorado State University in the year 2008 I moved to Denver Colorado and I am now proud to call this city my home! My first job here in Denver I worked for Knowledge Beginnings Corporation as an infant room supervisor and later became the pre-Kindergarten teacher. From this experience I gained the confidence to start my own daycare program. I now own and operate a licensed family childcare home out of my basement called Parkfield Playhouse. I am CPR and First Aid certified and do over 15 hours of continued education every year. I offer preschool curriculum and am part of a state funded food program that offers nutritional education to ensure that each child gets healthy food for each meal. I offer breakfast, am snack, lunch, pm snack and dinner.