Open house for 9-year dream; Perkins Child Development Center ready for toddlers.

Byline: Karen Nugent

LANCASTER - Like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory - minus the sweets, of course - the new Perkins Child Development Center sits ready and waiting for occupants to delight in its melange of bright new toys, furniture and equipment.

There are water tables for the toddlers, moving easels so art projects can be taken outside, old-fashioned wooden blocks and cars, color viewer sheets, and science toys with magnifying glasses to peer at objects such as sunflower seeds, postage stamps and pieces of lace.

The five classrooms are open to two playgrounds, including one just for infants, off a room complete with seven little cribs and a tiny - very low to the floor - "peewee potty."

The $10.2 million one-story center at Creamery Road and Main Street, on the north corner of the Perkins campus, is set to open Monday. Open houses are scheduled this week.

Program Director Pamela A. Bernard said 45 children from 6 months to 5 years old will occupy five classrooms, overseen by 10 staff members.

Perkins, a nonprofit school for special needs children, has been planning the child care center for nearly nine years, according to Laura Beckman-Devik, chief operating officer. It will not draw from Perkins' student body, she said, but from Lancaster and surrounding communities. Its locale, near the well-traveled intersection of Routes 117 and 70, is optimal for working families, she noted.

Ms. Beckman-Devik said one of Perkins' objectives was to expand its services to Lancaster residents - an idea that drew praise from town officials. Ms. Beckman-Devik said the day care is equipped to handle children with speech, social and other developmental problems. A separate room has been incorporated into the 5,900-square-foot building for speech and occupational therapists to work with children.

"The range of children will probably be the same you'd see in any day care center," she said.

The cost varies from $200 a week for children from 2.9 to 5 years, to $280 a week for infants 6 weeks to 15 months. The center will be open from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Ms. Bernard said play and exploration focusing on developing social skills will be emphasized. Play, she said is integral, and long blocks of uninterrupted playtime are scheduled, along with learning and problem solving for older children.

Infants will be given a safe, nurturing environment with their own, separate playground. Toddlers are divided into two groups: 15 months to 2 years old, and 2 years to 2.9 years. What Ms. Bernard called "young (age) 4's," from 2.9 to 4 years old, have a separate area, which includes a science area and water table.

Ms. Beckman-Devik said the center has sparked a lot of interest in town, and hopes all slots will be filled after the open houses this week. The open houses are scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. tomorrow

and 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Program Director Pam Bernard looks through teaching aids at the new Perkins Child Development Center in Lancaster.

PHOTOG: ED COLLIER