Buffalo Township day care to reopen in January
BUFFALO TWP — The former Kingsway Learning Center, located on South Pike Road in Buffalo Township, is reopening this January under new management and a new name: Giggle & Grow Learning Center.
The co-managers, Barb Daniels and Hallie Mellinger, say they have been transforming the space in the basement of the South Pike Road house since August to prepare for their new arrivals.
Daniels and Mellinger were both employed at the old Kingsway Learning Center before they were approached by the owners, Mandy and Rico Johnson, about taking ownership. For both, although they have worked at Kingsway for years, this is their first time at the helm of their own child care facility.
“We kind of had it handed over to us from the old owners,” Mellinger said. “They were like, ‘If you guys want to run it, you can run it.’”
“I’ve worked in child care before. I’ve worked with children for a while, but this is the first time I’ve opened a day care,” Daniels said.
Nevertheless, some families have taken up the limited amount of spots at the day care, including four children who already attended the Kingsway Learning Center.
Daniels and Mellinger say that the day care can accept up to 12 children on any given day, and tout the facility’s small group size as one of its strengths.
“I think our small group size is an advantage,” Daniels said. “We have a lot more one-on-one interaction with children, as opposed to a bigger center, where you have a lot more kids to keep an eye on and you don’t always get the one-to-one attention with each child.”
“Some families only need three days (a week). Some families only need two,” Mellinger said. “It depends on their schedule.”
In addition to the day care, the new learning center also will offer some preschool lessons.
“We do have lesson plans. We do teach everyday letters, numbers, colors, all those other things so that they’re ready for kindergarten,” Daniels said.
Although the Kingsway Learning Center day care may be no more, Daniels and Mellinger say that the old owners still intend to run the Kingsway summer camp, which wrapped up its most recent season at the same building this August.
Giggle and Grow still has openings available, and can be reached at 724-353-2577.
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