About Us
History & Operations
Playful Hearts Childcare, LLC. was an accidental blessing. The owner, Jessica, was attending college for her Bachelor's degree in Social Work with hopes of working with children and families in foster care, when her children's daycare offered her a job. The passion grew from there. While that setting was not ideal for her, she realized that it was a service she knew should be and could be better. With that in mind Playful Hearts started with one belief... children deserve fun, loving educational care in early childhood to build a lifetime love of learning.
It first began as an in-home center that was both licensed and certified by the state to serve families 24/7. With families attending from Washington and surrounding counties and having to turn families away due to the limitations on in-home providers, it was evident that there was an overwhelming need for non-traditional care. We expanded and opened as a group center in January 2011 to serve more families. Over the years many changes and improvements have been made. In 2020, we took a big risk during COVID and made the move to join the Our Saviors Lutheran Church (OSLC) location. After extensive renovations we opened in November 2020 at our current location. While we are in the same building with OSLC, we do not teach religion. Parents can opt for their children to go down to the Church with their teacher and class for story time once a weekend for a short period of time during the school year where the kids sing, dance, play games, do arts and crafts or other activities with a member from the Church. It is very kid friendly and may mention God or religion but does not go in depth into religion. We have been a member of the CACFP, since we first opened and we serve all meals and snacks while in care. We are more than a babysitter or daycare; we are a preschool. Our team is well educated. Our teachers take observations of the children to complete assessments of their learning/progress. This process allows us to compile a thorough portfolio on each child, which tells us how to plan for the whole group AND each individual child to meet their individual needs. We recognize that parents are their children's first teacher and we are here to support and enhance that learning and growth. With parents at the helm, we offer many opportunities for parent engagement activities and volunteering to strengthen and build bonds.
We are licensed by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to provide care to 70 children ages 2 weeks of age through 12 years of age. We are open Mon-Fri 5:00am - 6:00pm. We offer flexible scheduling options, including full-time, part-time care, drop-in care (when available), and varied schedules, to accommodate busy families. Daycare assistance is accepted.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: Playful Hearts accepts all children that may benefit from the group experiences provided here. We believe that children of all ability levels and from all backgrounds are entitled to the same opportunities for participation, acceptance and belonging in childcare. Therefore, our programs are open to all children. Playful Hearts is committed to working with our families to enhance the childhood experiences of each child.
Diversity not only includes different races, but also cultural background, age, disability, and gender. Honoring diversity enriches the learning experiences of all our children and our staff. Staff communicate with our families to discover the cultural background and invite families to participate in events at the center. Additionally, we make every attempt to include the cultural heritage of all the families at the center. We do this by normalizing life for everyone, learning languages of our parents or learning ways to communicate with families with different languages, by inviting family members into the center for cultural enrichment activities, and by honoring holidays and traditions for other cultures.
Why we do what we do!
MISSION: We are dedicated to providing a high-quality safe, nurturing, respectful, and developmentally appropriate environment for children and their families. Our program is designed to foster social, emotional, intellectual, and physical growth in an atmosphere that enhances creativity and self-confidence. We strive to maintain a developmentally appropriate environment, which fosters individuality, creativity, and respects academic and cultural diversity.
PHILOSOPHY: Our underlying philosophy is that children learn through play, and our goal is to provide the very best care and enrichment environment possible through many kinds of play experiences, supporting each child’s progress at their own pace. Families are valued for the support they provide their children, for the partnerships they build with our staff, for their eagerness to help, and for their willingness to entrust their children into our care.
VISION: We get the once in a lifetime chance every day to change the world through the lives of the children we care for, who will one day become leaders in society. Our vision is to help set the stage for children to become lifetime learners by helping them develop a love for learning now.
Highest Rated center in West Bend
The goal of YoungStar is to help increase and recognize high-quality early care and education and childcare across the state. Safe, healthy, nurturing, and engaging childcare positively affects kids’ lives. Learn more about Youngstar HERE
At Playful Hearts ChildCare, LLC, we continue to strive to provide higher quality care by opting to be formally rated on the quality of care and our business practices by outside rating agencies through observation of our practices.
OUR RATINGS: After our 2026 formal rating by outside observations, we were again awarded 4 stars! Making us West Bends highest rated center and the only center in West Bend to be 4 stars; #1 out of 19 group centers in West Bend. We are the 7th highest rated center in Washington county.
We are currently working on accreditation to become 5 stars.
Some practices that help make our center stand out include advanced health and hygiene practices, staff interactions, strong business practices, staff education, regulatory compliance, and developmentally appropriate interactions, materials, and environment, incorporating WMELS.
Meet our Team
Each member of our team is selected for their unique talents and skills to best support the learning of the children.
- Dedicated & highly trained Early Childhood teachers
- Minimum 25 hours annual continuing education training
- Emergency response training
- First Aid training
- SIDS prevention training
- Abusive Head Trauma prevention & recognition training formerly Shaken Baby Syndrome
- Child Abuse & Neglect recognition, prevention, & reporting
- Infant, child, and adult CPR with AED
- Monthly staff meetings to review teaching techniques, improvements, licensing rules, & other pertinent information
Transportation
We provide transportation to and from Fair Park Elementary and Decorah Elementary School. We also bus to and from summer school when possible.
Our bus is equipped with a first aid kit, emergency roadside items, a fire extinguisher, eleven 5-point harness seats, seat belts in all seats, and many other safety features. Emergency contact information for each child is carried in the vehicle as well.
Our vehicles are safety inspected annually and fully insured. Drivers are at least 18 years of age, insured by the center, complete safe driving training, and must pass a driving record check before driving our vehicles.
Our Partners
