Penny Pumpernickel Pants Playcare

I can’t say enough good things about PPPP and Ophelia! It’s a wonderful place — you feel the joy right away as soon as you arrive, and that joyfulness doesn’t fade over time. From daily crafts and alphabet work, to yoga, singing, dance, meditation and storytime, it’s a holistic experience that every child (and parent) adores. My daughter is going to Kindergarten next year, and I know her time at PPPP has helped prepare her (in a playful way) for what’s to come. We’ve been going either two days a week or five days a week for a year now, and I highly recommend it!

Best school ever! My daughter has separation anxiety and Ophelia took great care of my daughter and always put her at ease. I used the school for drop in care and for the parents night out. My 3 year old would always love looking at the pictures on Facebook from her day. Ophelia really makes things special. She is so creative —from making fresh veggie juice with the kids to bubble bins to learning new letters to dancing and relaxing, I was always amazed to see how she made the day great for her kids. Amazing value too. I was new to Seattle and she have me great tips to feel settled. I could go on and on but would fully recommend this place for your child. You will be so happy with your decision and so will your child.

My daughter has been going to PPPP for almost two years now and I couldn’t be happier with the type of care she is receiving. She begs me to go to school every morning and when I pick her up she doesn’t want to leave. You can really tell how much Ophelia cares for each of her kids. I also love the «date nights» she offers once or twice a month.

Woohoo! As good as it gets! That is the 5 star description and that is truly how we feel about PPP. My kiddos LOVED Ophelia. They haven’t attended in 3 months and every time we get ready to go somewhere, they specifically ask if it is time to go back to Ophelia’s and the «Penny Pant School». The space is bright, there is a multitude of options for play and engagement and of course arts and crafts. I love the board. You will have to ask her about the board once you drop your kiddo off. It’s really cool.
Ophelia is warm, inviting and encouraging to both kid and parent. Such a great place, such a great person.

My son has been attending Penny Pumpernickel Pants Playcare (PPPP) for over a year now and we are just as happy today as we were when we first enrolled him. Actually, we started with drop-​in care and were so quickly enamored by Ophelia and her play-​care that we decided to make PPPP a more consistent part of our routine by enrolling our son.
Ophelia has gone above and beyond my expectations for a play-​care setting. There is plenty of free play, outside time and individual choice, but the kids’ days are wonderfully structured. There is a lot of learning going on! There are tons of books that the kids read or have read to them, art projects involving letters and words corresponding with monthly themes and educational songs and rhymes. We were thrilled when our 3 year old came home one day reciting all the months of the year after having sung a song about it with Ophelia! Parents also receive monthly newsletters with information about the curriculum/​themes for the month which helps to keep the learning going at home. On top of everything else, the kids juice fruits and veggies and do yoga!
We couldn’t be happier to have our son with Ophelia at PPPP!

Look no further! Penny Pumpernickel Pants Play care has everything your young one needs to feel safe, have fun, make friends, and learn the many things preschoolers should be learning. When I started looking for a preschool for my son, I was very nervous that i would never be satisfied. I have been a preschool teacher for years and have very high standards. Penny Pumpernickel was the first preschool I contacted and visited, and it was the last. I immediately felt welcomed and listened to by Ophelia. Her space was colorful, organized, child focused, and looked like lots of fun happened there everyday. I signed my son up and our life has been changed for the better ever since.
Ophelia is very passionate about her program and works very hard to ensure that each child’s emotional, physical, and cognitive needs are met while in her care. There is a great sense of community within her program and the kids really learn to be compassionate and empathetic with their peers. She follows a consistent daily schedule and includes all the main components of a developmentally appropriate preschool in each session. Circle time, free choice, group table time, snack time, lunch time, story time, outside time/​yoga, music. She does it all! The kids learn to work within a group and follow routine commands that prepare them for a lifetime of learning.
The daily art projects are some of the best I’ve seen. She always has messy, explorative, creative activities for the kids to engage with throughout each day. She makes healthy snacks and lunch for the kids and they actually eat it because she makes it fun. And she juices with the kids! My son will only drink «Ophelia’s juice», not the juice mama makes at home. You get to see everything they do each day because she takes photos of everything and posts them for you to see. Its been so nice to pick up my son and be able to ask him about the many things he did that day and actually have a conversation.
My son loves going to school and I love knowing that he is in Ophelia’s care, learning and exploring in a safe and fun environment. Ophelia offers great specials to give people an opportunity to try out her play care. Give it a try! You will not be disappointed!

My son spent a year at PPP Playcare attending one day a week starting when he was 2.5 years old.
At the time he started attending my son was very anxious about being apart from me and the first few weeks at PPP Playcare were rocky. Ophelia wasn’t sure that he was a good fit and I was worried both about my son’s struggle to be apart from me and that Ophelia also wasn’t confident in the match. I figured at one point that I had made a colossal mistake. So… I talked to Ophelia one day and voiced my concerns and she was very receptive to my frustrations. We agreed to work together on some strategies to make his time at PPP Playcare more enjoyable and from then on, success! My son didn’t love going over night but I felt like Ophelia was trying everything to make his experience a good one. When we started attending PPP Playcare there were tears and fits and «I don’t want to go» every week. After a few months he happily waltzed into Playcare without even a backwards glance! Wow!
Other highlights, not potty-​trained? Not a problem! Ophelia has a VERY clean bathroom complete with multiple training potties and was up for changing diapers and also supporting my potty-​training strategy when the time came. The main room has an ever-​evolving set of toys, my son was NEVER bored. Ophelia also has a curriculum and a schedule for each day which includes a snack and lunch! (Often fresh pressed fruit and veggie juices too). I also love that Ophelia posts pictures real-​time to the PPP Playcare Facebook page so that I can see what my son is doing and ask him specific questions when I pick up about his day.
In short, I am counting the days until my daughter is 2.5 as we will definitely be coming back.

My son has been attending PPPP for 6 months since he was 2.5 yo and if we weren’t moving, he would be going there until he started Kindergarten. From the get-​go I was impressed with Ophelia’s Playcare. My son was in a standard daycare before and was completely bored. After just 1 – 2 weeks, I saw what a fantastic preschool program can do for kids! My son was blossoming. Ophelia does different crafts, games and free time ever day. Plus, she has the kids cook, do yoga (which has helped my son learn to focus), sing, dance, do puzzles etc. She puts up pictures of what they are doing during the day on facebook so I can ask him about it on our way home and at dinner, which helps develop his memory. Each month has new themes so things keep fresh and every day he learns something new.
in addition to the awesome preschool is how easy Ophelia made logistics. She knows how crazy it is to schedule/​find childcare and purposefully made it easy! She is very prompt on emails. Also, It was great that my son could start at age 2.5, which very few preschools allow. I really like the mixed age group. The kids learn from each other. Plus, since its a small class Ophelia really tries to customize the activities to each child. Ophelia even worked with our potty-​training plan. She was very flexible on how many and what days of the week my son attended, which was great since I was working part time. A nice bonus is that the sessions are 4 hours long. I can actually get errands done AND exercise. Most of the other preschools in the area are only 2 – 3 hours. We will miss Ophelia and all the kids at PPPP.

There’s nothing worse than being in a pinch for childcare. Boy did we get lucky when we found out about PPPP. We were in need of sporadic care for our 3 year old son when we stumbled across PPPP. We were impressed from the get go when we received a very prompt and informative response to our inquiry about getting our son set up to do drop-​in play care. And from the moment we walked through the door Ophelia has created a warm, welcoming, safe space where our boy can be himself, enjoy his time with playmates and learn. There’s nothing more important to a parent than knowing that their child is well cared for when we can’t be with them. Ophelia is both wonderful with the kids and skilled in her communication with parents. In addition to our normal interactions with her we appreciate the frequent updates to the Facebook page where we can see our boy having a great time with his friends. We highly recommend PPPP!