Our Services

Penn Pals Child Care Centers provides quality child care for children ages 6 weeks through 5th grade.

Hours of operation are 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

We follow a developmentally appropriate curriculum for all age groups, with the children grouped according to age and developmental stage.

The Toddler, Preschool and Pre-K rooms utilize a curriculum that is designed to prepare the children for the Penn-Trafford kindergarten program.

Penn Pals Philosophy

We know (like you do) that children are this world’s greatest resource. We know that there are many ways to nurture, care for and love our children.

Our goals are to provide your children with love and warmth, a safe environment, a high-quality and age-appropriate curriculum with a variety of stimulating experiences. Penn Pals is a place where they feel secure and happy.

We can do this most successfully by fostering a close relationship with the family that has the healthy development of the child as the focal point. We always welcome and strongly encourage parents to drop in or call at any time during the day-just to say “hi” or to discuss their child’s progress.

The staff at Penn Pals all meet state regulations and are well trained in the most effective curriculum designed for your young children. We are here to serve your child and you. We will do all that we can to make you feel comfortable with your decision to choose Penn Pals Child Care Center.

Transportation

Penn Pals Child Care Centers provides transportation with our own buses to the local elementary schools within the Penn-Trafford School District.

Each of the centers services two of the elementary schools.

The Paintertown location provides transportation to Sunrise and Level Green Elementary schools.

The Blank Road location provides transportation to McCullough and Harrison Park Elementary schools.

We provide transportation to and from the schools both before and after the school day.

We also provide transportation to the schools for the afternoon kindergarten sessions.

Summer School-age program

Penn Pals is a year-round child care facility.

In the summer, we offer an exciting full-day program for our school-age children.

This program offers multiple weekly field trips, daily outdoor play, art projects, themed activities, enriching visiting presentations and much more!!

Keystone STARS

Penn Pals is currently enrolled in the Keystone STARS. This is a program which enhances our center by rewarding us for going above and beyond the Department of Public Welfare’s standards. We are required to document certain aspects of your child’s development as well as information passed along to the parents.

Upon your child’s enrollment, we encourage you to take advantage of our “Getting to Know You” meeting. Once your child is enrolled, you may have some questions or concerns about lessons, activities, tuition, vacation credit days, holidays, etc. This would be a great time to request a meeting with either the Director, Teacher or both. Just let us know, and we will be happy to help!

Conferences are also available at any time. Please feel free to call or stop by if you have a quick question or you can also schedule a time at your convenience with your child’s teacher to discuss his/her progress.

When it comes time for your child to transition to a new age group, classroom, a new school or even being home alone, we will do our best to help you and your child make it a smooth and happy transition. We have books, activities and years of experience to help you through.

At the upper level of Keystone Stars, we begin to do bi-weekly observations of the children in our care starting within the first 45 days of their enrollment. We will complete this first observation and then set up to have a conference with you about your child’s development and adjustment to our learning facility. If you are not interested in having a conference at that time we will have a paper where you can decline to have the conference

If for any reason you need to move your child to another center, we will be happy to send your child’s records with you. This could save a lot of time. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to call!

Preschool/Kindergarten Readiness Program

In addition to an excellent curriculum in the full-day child care setting, Penn Pals also offers a separate preschool and kindergarten-readiness program that is designed to prepare the children for the Penn-Trafford kindergarten curriculum.

The preschool program is for children that are 3 years old by September 1st and meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 to 11:30.

The kindergarten readiness program is for children that are 4 years old by September 1st and meets Monday through Thursday from 12:30 to 3:00.

The preschool program operates independently from the child care center, however, enrollment is available for the day care children depending on space availability. This program is located at our center on Paintertown Road

The preschool teachers at Penn Pals are certified by the state of Pennsylvania and have a broad-based experience in early childhood education instruction that encompasses a wide scope of subjects at many different levels. The content of the Comprehensive Preschool Program will be developmentally appropriate for the age and ability of each child. Components of the program will encompass language concepts and vocabulary, fine and gross-motor skills, perception, self-help, and social skills. A hands-on approach will be used to stimulate all learning.