The Enchanted Garden—“where creativity blossoms”—offers programs for children from infancy to second grade.

Founded by Director Judy Hirt-Manheimer, the school specializes in programs centered on the arts. Infants and toddlers, for example, may enroll in “Judy’s Music” and “Music, Mommy, and Me" classes which introduce parent-accompanied children to music or a “Happy Feet” class for an introduction to dance.

Enchanted Garden preschool programs offer four day a week, two-hour programs with an optional fifth "flex" day at no extra charge. Children from age 4 to 8 can enroll in more specialized classes like individual music instruction, ballet or tap.

Hirt-Manheimer, who holds a master's degree in Dance Therapy/Psychology from Goddard College, is a nationally-recognized innovator in early childhood music education as well as an author and music education consultant for Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Publishing.

The Enchanted Garden has an unusual origin as an educational institution. It started as a public access television show in 1989. That series, in turn, was based on the Music, Mommy & Me program that Hirt-Manheimer developed in her living room to teach music to a handful of friends and their young children. When classes grew too large for a living room setting, they moved to the offices of Ridgefield Parks and Recreation, then into a storefront in downtown Ridgefield and finally to its current location at 165 Danbury Rd. The building was partly designed by Sesame Street artist Tim Clarke, who crafted a child-sized village for Enchanted Garden students to play in, and the school’s popularity has led to a second location at 529 Ethan Allen Highway.