Children enjoying water games at the Family Box center in Beijing. The company claims to be the first childhood entertainment and education center in China that has top-class facilities. Provided to China Daily

Family Box aims to make a splash in China with unique centers for education, all-round development

Open the box, for the party has just begun. The fairy castle is ablaze with lights, while the red carpet on the floor gets ready to receive the guests. Amid colorful balloons and decorations, out come Cinderella, Spider Man and friends to transport you into their dream world.

This is no fantasy, but something that is a reality at Family Box, a childhood development company. "Find the dreams of your children and bring them to reality" is what Family Box stands for, says a company official.

The company claims to be the first childhood entertainment and education center in China that has top-class entertainment facilities and offers advanced education concepts from the United Kingdom.

Family Box opened its first center in Beijing in December 2009 and has more than 2,000 members on its rolls. The clientele ranges from 3-month-old kids to 12 year olds and the company has already started making profits.

"Family Box plans to open around three to five centers in each city including Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen this year," says Zhang Wenyu, director for research and development at Family Box Ltd.

Over the next five years, the company plans to have 20 centers in each top-tier city and around 10 centers in every second-tier city.

"Since Family Box is still in an early development stage, despite the ambitious plans, our priorities will be to make the existing Beijing center the ideal place for training in the best educational practices from the UK," says Zhang.

The emphasis on European education stems largely from the fact that the top brass at Family Box, including Zhang, have all lived or studied in Europe for several years. The management firmly believes that young Chinese parents should incorporate broader values when educating their children.

"As parents, they should be conscious on how to bring up their children. The children should be able to develop an independent personality that values teamwork, creativity and individuality," says Zhang, who studied education psychology in the United Kingdom.

Family Box is the first Chinese institution to adopt the early year foundation stage (EYFS) standard from the UK.

EYFS is a term defined in the British government's Childcare Act 2006. The EYFS comprises a set of welfare requirements and a set of learning and development standards, that needs to be followed by institutions that look after children under the age of five - the mandatory age for compulsory education in the UK.

Family Box has held 15 term seminars so far and teamed up with big companies like Nokia, Schroeder and Bank of China to introduce advanced early childhood education concepts to their employees as more and more young Chinese parents start to realize the importance of early childhood education.

Early childhood education is called the "permanent sunrise industry". Compared to the overseas market, China's early education market started only in 1998. Since then it has seen exponential growth with experts estimating that the market for early education of children under the age of six could soon hit 30 billion yuan (3.37 billion euros) in China.

The children's education market in China is currently dominated by domestic brands like Babycare (Dongfang Aiying), R.Y.B Education Institution, and some overseas brands like Gymboree and My Gym.

US-based Gymboree has 150 franchisee centers in China. Another US-based company, My GYM, has 30 children fitness centers in 16 major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Family Box has a 6,000 square meter entertainment and education center in Wangjing, the northeastern part of the capital city. Unlike many other centers, this is a stand-alone three-story building surrounded by a beautiful park.

German architect Binke Lenhardt and Hao Dong from Crossboundaries Architects have designed the building. The outside wall of the building is completely covered with white and transparent glasses, providing a bright, natural and green environment for children to play.

"This is like a second home for my child," says Li Wenhui. Every weekend, she brings her three-year-old son to the center.

"Unlike other early child development centers, Family Box emphasizes more on entertainment rather than on in-class learning. My child likes to play here, and I also prefer to be here during the weekends," says the young mother.

Inside the building, there is a 9-meter-high giant climbing frame designed by the famous British designer Trevor Wetton. Special engineers from the UK were in charge of the installation of the frame.

Besides the climbing frame, there are different kinds of high and low slides, from a large six lane wavy slide to helix tube slides. Children can also find trampolines and jump and rock walls.

The most striking thing at Family Box is its professional baby and toddler swim training program. Family Box is the first center in China to introduce a swimming program for small children.