The Directory
Kid friendly businesses, organizations and services in the Des Moines area.
Whether you live in Ankeny, Altoona, Clive, Des Moines, Grimes, Indianola, Johnston, Urbandale, Waukee, Windsor Heights, West Des Moines or beyond, find the local resources your family needs in in the dsm4kids Directory!
While all submissions are considered, inclusion in the Directory is based on relevance. Businesses or organizations outside of Central Iowa or primarily geared toward adults may not be listed.
If you are a business or organization and would like to submit a directory listing, please click on Submit Business Listing.
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For over 100 years, Des Moines Public Schools has been educating the students of Iowa’s capital city. Today, we are the largest provider of public education in Iowa, with more than 30,000 students and nearly 5,000 teachers and staff at work in more than 60 schools throughout the community.
Des Moines is a vibrant, innovative and diverse city. In fact, Parenting magazine ranked Des Moines #5 on the list of the best cities in the nation to raise a family, in large part due to great schools and learning opportunities.
Those traits are reflected throughout our school district in the breadth of the programs we offer and the constituency we serve. Our students, parents, teachers and staff come from many different backgrounds, all of which contribute to the richness of a DMPS education. The wide range of opportunities in Des Moines meets the academic interests, abilities and goals of every student.
We boast the largest variety of educational programs – many of them nationally renowned – in Iowa. That includes the state’s only International Baccalaureate curriculum and the only public Montessori school. According to the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education, our Central Academy’s “record of excellence with Advanced Placement is an honor for the entire state of Iowa,” producing more National AP Scholars in one recent year than 13 entire states! The Downtown School is regarded as a national model. Several schools feature continuous calendars throughout the year, and our Career & Tech Institute delivers training in everything from culinary arts to aviation technology, a scope that is rare in districts with comparable profiles.
Over the last decade a comprehensive and ongoing capital improvements campaign has renovated and updated many of our schools, 53 of which have now earned the Energy Star designation. State of the art learning environments are outfitted with everything from the latest technology to air conditioning.