Its current clients are no older than 11, but the school itself is about to turn 30 this week.

More than 4,500 students later, the nonprofit South Whidbey Children’s Center will celebrate three decades as an early learning facility.

“I think we’ll continue through the next 30 years and beyond,” Kristina Saunsaucie, executive director of the center, said Monday. “We’re a solid part of this community.”

Or as one of its satisfied customers, Samaira Simons, 5, put it Monday afternoon: “It’s fun. I love playing outside, and we make paper airplanes.”

In honor of the center’s longevity, a community potluck will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the South Whidbey Sports Complex along Langley Road. There will be music, face painting and the annual Moving Up ceremony for students, Saunsaucie said.

The center has progressed from a small operation in temporary quarters at the South Whidbey Senior Center to the South End’s largest early childcare and preschool facility, Saunsaucie said.

It offers five distinct programs for children ages 1 through 11 overseen by 25 teachers and staff. Its programs include preschool and after-school learning sessions.

Saunsaucie said the center is one of only two childcare facilities on Whidbey Island accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, an honor received by only 10 percent of learning centers nationwide.

She said most of the children currently enrolled in the center’s programs live on the South End, but a few travel from as far as Coupeville and Oak Harbor.

She said the program’s focus is active, hands-on learning geared to the needs of each student.

“If a child is interested in bugs, we would go and look for bugs, or look for pictures of bugs in books about bugs, or paint a bug or read stories about bugs,” Saunsaucie said.

“We also do a lot of music and movement,” she said. “We plan around what the children are naturally interested in.”

She said about 100 families are currently involved in the center’s programs, most of the children on the younger end of the spectrum. She said that while the center is not a co-op, it does encourage parent participation and offers parent education classes.

Heather and Aaron Racicot of Langley have enrolled their two children in the center for the past three years.

“They stress active learning,” Heather Racicot said. “What I like so much is that they kind of understand each child’s needs and provide a nurturing and rich environment.”

She said her daughter Maddy, 6, and son Emmett, 4, particularly enjoy outdoor activities such as gardening and making things, and the frequent field trips to the library, the marina or one of the area’s beaches.

“There’s also a ferry trip to Mukilteo for ice cream,” Racicot said. “It’s pretty fun.”

The center has been around so long, second-generation families are now enrolled, Saunsaucie said.

For example, Jennifer and Mike Pearson of Freeland attended preschool together in the ’80s. They later married and started a family. Today, their three children are enrolled in the program, Saunsaucie said.

The center was founded in 1980 by Mully Mullally of Langley, who served as director until 2005.

Mullally said the center has always emphasized “the nurturing of the healthy development of the whole child.”

Saunsaucie, of Freeland, has been involved with the school for the past eight years. Her two sons, Oliver, 13, and Ian, 11, have gone through the program. Ian is about to “graduate” and head for middle school, she said.

“Children leave here with social, problem-solving and emotional skills,” she said. “We meet the community’s needs.”

Saunsaucie said that for the first time in recent years, there’s no waiting list to attend the center. In fact, she said, there are still openings for the coming school year, where in the past there may have been a one- to two-year wait list.

She blames the economy, and unemployment in the area, forcing people to make hard choices when it comes to childcare.

“In the past, we’ve been full,” Saunsaucie. “Now we have parents who are unemployed, where they weren’t a year ago.”

But despite the downturn, Racicot predicts the future for the center is bright.

“I love the deep roots it has in the community,” she said. “There’s a long history, and a legacy of families.”

To learn more about the center, call 221-4499 or visit www.swchildrenscenter.com.