Our Educators
We’re thinkers and doers, dedicated to caring for kids
through the learning environments we create,
the programs we design
and facilitate, and the broader conversations we’re having about childhood
and well-being.
Our Educators
Lainie Holmes
Founder + Creative Vision
for LYKKE Kids
Lainie Holmes has a Bachelor of Arts degree (in Child and Youth Studies), a Bachelor of Education (teaching degree, qualified K - grade 10), a Masters of Education and her qualifications to be
a principal in Ontario.
With a background in teaching and educational leadership, Lainie founded LYKKE Kids with a simple belief that kids need to feel empowered - to make their own decisions, to feel confident around others, and to spend time doing things that bring them joy.
What does Lainie bring to our team
+ to kids?
Lainie builds strong relationships with kids. She can tune in to how they’re feeling and what they might need. She considers each child’s strengths and interests as she sets up the space and plans programming, and ensures that all kids feel welcome, included, and capable. Lainie is also wildly creative with a brain that never stops moving - always considering ways to change and improve in service of kids.
Nicole Stolys
Atelierista + Co-facilitator
of P.A. Day Camps and
Summer programming
Nicole has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree and Masters of Arts in Child Study and Education through Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education (OISE).
Spring 2025, Nicole travelled to
Reggio Emilia, Italy as part of
a study group to learn more about
the Reggio Emilia Approach.
What does Nicole bring to our team
+ to kids?
Nicole sees kids as thinkers and doers.
She has this quiet reverence, observing kids closely and carefully listening in - to better understand them as little people, what they are doing through their play + how we can support their growth. Nicole is highly reflective in her practice and we all benefit from her thinking.
At LYKKE Kids, we’re exploring what comes next for childhood.
We’re constantly thinking about how we can better support the learning and well-being of kids - through the spaces we create, the interactions we have with children, the conversations we have with grown-ups, and the offerings we design to help move us all beyond traditional ideas of play and education.
At the heart of our work, is an exploration of wonder as a way of learning - for kids and for us as grown-ups.
As practitioners, we’re currently wondering:
what’s possible when we design spaces, experiences and systems around the wonder, creativity and well-being of children?
what are we noticing? what do children need from us now?
what might happen to the well-being and the social-emotional skills of children if they experienced more “unstructured time” in their lives? (as in free play in school settings and also outside of school)
what might become possible if we stopped asking children to fit into our old systems and started thinking differently to design better systems for kids?
As we look into the new year, LYKKE Kids is interested in building a growing community of people who believe that the well-being of children is something we all have an important role in shaping - parents, educators, caregivers, designers, researchers, entrepreneurs, city planners, and more.
Join our newsletter to find out what’s to come.
Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.
- Diane Ackerma -