Creche vs. Kindergarten — What's the Difference?

A representation of the Nativity, usually with statues or figurines.

Kindergarten (, US: (listen)) is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th century in Bavaria and Alsace to serve children whose parents both worked outside home.

A hospital for foundlings.

(in Britain and Australia) an establishment where children below the age of compulsory education play and learn; a nursery school.

Chiefly British A day nursery.

A program or class for four-year-old to six-year-old children that serves as an introduction to school.

Alternative form of crèche

An educational institution for young children, usually between ages 4 and 6; nursery school.

A public nursery, where the young children of poor women are cared for during the day, while their mothers are at work.

The elementary school grade before first grade.

A day-care center for young children.

(Philippines) The two levels between nursery and prep; the second and third years of preschool.

A three-dimensional model of the scene described in the Bible at the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable at Bethlehem, with Mary and Joseph near a manger in which a model of the infant Christ child is lain, and usually including figures of animals, shepherds, and the three wise men; - also called a Nativity scene. The figures in the scene are typically made as individual statues or figurines. Smaller models are displayed in homes and other indoor locations during the Christmans season, and larger models, often life-size, may be displayed out of doors.

A class within a primary school or a separate school for young children, usually between the ages of four and six years, designed to adapt children to the classroom environment before beginning academic training, on the theory that education should be begun by gratifying and cultivating the normal aptitude for exercise, play, observation, imitation, and construction; - a name given by Friedrich Froebel, a German educator, who introduced this method of training, in rooms opening on a garden.

A nest where the young of several animals are cared for in a communal fashion.

A preschool for children age 4 to 6 to prepare them for primary school

A hospital where foundlings (infant children of unknown parents) are taken in and cared for

A representation of Christ's nativity in the stable at Bethlehem