Child Care

We have a simple mission: To provide families from all backgrounds access to a high-quality, early educational experience that prepares their children to be lifelong learners in an ever changing world.

Yellow Checkmark

Developmentally Appropriate Curriculums

Yellow Checkmark

Operating Hours That Make Sense

Yellow Checkmark

A Clean, Safe, and Engaging Environment

Yellow Checkmark

Locations Close To Your Home & Work

Yellow Checkmark

A Culture of Collaboration & Kindness

Yellow Checkmark

Individual Attention Through An Average Student to Teacher Ratio of 4:1

Yellow Checkmark

Instilling and Reinforcing Respect, Fun, and Leadership

Facilities & Amenities

Brightside Academy is proud to offer cutting-edge, modern day facilities that grant your child opportunities for exploration and investigation that stimulates their development.

Black and Yellow Checkmark

Gyms that may be indoor or outdoor that promote purposeful play!

Black and Yellow Checkmark

Creative environments that stimulate knowledge in art, science, and the world.

Black and Yellow Checkmark

Safety-first thought process that includes secure entrances/exits with sign-in journals.

Black and Yellow Checkmark

Janitorial and maintenance techs that keep everything spotless and in working order.

Black and Yellow Checkmark

Education suites that are equipped with everything needed from books to supplies.

Black and Yellow Checkmark

Nutritious menus that meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards.

Staff & Certifications

With a team of 1,200+, we serve up to 5,000 children across 32 locations in Pennsylvania. For over 30 years, Brightside Academy has provided high-level child care and early education to children throughout Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. As a Keystone STARS-recognized organization committed to surpassing best practice standards, we focus on recruiting qualified professionals, emphasizing high-quality teacher-child interactions for positive outcomes in early education.

Black and Yellow Checkmarks

Appropriate practices that encourage proper child development.

Black and Yellow Checkmarks

Screening and assessment strategies.

Black and Yellow Checkmarks

Health, safety, and nutrition.

Black and Yellow Checkmarks

Diversity and inclusion.

Black and Yellow Checkmarks

Deep-dive specifics about the curriculum.

Black and Yellow Checkmarks

Educator-child interactions.

Black and Yellow Checkmarks

Lesson planning and individualized instruction.

Black and Yellow Checkmarks

Quality early learning environments.

Young beautiful teacher and toddlers playing meals using plastic food and cutlery toy at kindergarten.

Philosophy of Education

At Brightside Academy, we believe that children learn through play. Our safe and nurturing educational environment encourages exploration and discovery, develops self-confidence, and allows children to reach developmental milestones. Each child is unique, and we focus on nurturing their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth with diverse experiences tailored to individual learning styles. Join us in providing a supportive, inclusive, and multi-sensory setting for your child’s holistic development.

Learn More About Us

Infants

Infants thrive through relationship-based and responsive care, as well as nurturing and engaging environments. To foster brain development, infants are provided with opportunities to explore in a safe area with educators who respond to each child’s emotional and intellectual needs.

Infant Curriculum

Arrow Down

All About Us
During the infancy stage, building trust is a crucial area in a child’s development. The teacher and the infant will develop a nurturing bond and trusting relationship by getting to know one another, the classroom routine, and their likes and dislikes.

Innovation, Discovery, and Exploration
Children learn through play-through experiences, hands-on exploration, discovery, and curiosity. Play and learning go hand-in-hand. Children are naturally curious; therefore, children are naturally inclined to engage in S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) activities.

The World of Imagination
Imagination plays a huge part in a child’s learning. Allowing children the freedom to learn, discover, pretend, and explore contributes to their growth and development. Exposing young children to nursery rhymes and fairy tales allows them to experience the world of pretend. In addition, it allows infants to develop an ear for language, developing auditory skills, such as discriminating between sounds, and developing an ear for the music of words.

My World
Allowing children the freedom to learn, discover, pretend, and explore contributes to their growth and development. In this theme, children will be immersed in the world around them including the environment, animals, insects, and nature. Exposing children to the natural world connects them with their surroundings and helps them to make connections.

Growing, Moving, and Changing
Infants are constantly developing. During their first year of life, so many changes are occurring and they are growing by leaps and bounds. During the infancy stage, supporting them with movement and building upon their rapid development is important.

Preschool class in South Africa, boy looking to camera.

Toddlers

Learning is a developmental process that occurs naturally and progressively within stimulating and nurturing surroundings. Fostering independence and language development in this preliminary stage is essential to your toddler’s developmental growth. Brightside Academy follows the Creative Curriculum framework and offers a wide variety of engaging play experiences that encourage growth, creativity, and curiosity.

Toddler Curriculum

Arrow Down up

All About Us
During the toddler stage, creating a strong social-emotional foundation and building language skills is key. Children must develop a bond with their teachers and classmates. Communication and engaging interactions promote language and support building a classroom community.

Highlighted Activities:

  • Creating a self portrait
  • Creating a growth chart
  • Going for a listening walk
  • Getting to know more about our feelings with feeling blocks

Farm and Harvest
Starting at an early age, we should be introducing children to food, where our food comes from, as well as physical health and wellbeing. By doing this, we are promoting healthy habits and stimulating children’s curiosity. Food education is an opportunity for children to learn about where food comes from and to establish a healthy relationship with food. The study of farm and food helps children develop an understanding about how food is grown, how farmers care for animals, about the land, and about healthy food choices. Understanding these building blocks allows children to start making connections, understand responsibility, learn to care for animals and other humans, and begin to develop an appreciation for the food process.

Highlighted Activities:

  • Creating a cardboard garden
  • Building a barn with blocks
  • Grocery Shopping in the dramatic play area
  • Exploring fruits and vegetables

Caring for Ourselves and Others
Children learn through play-through experiences, hands-on exploration, discovery, and curiosity. Play and learning go hand-in-hand. Children are naturally curious; therefore, children are naturally inclined to engage in S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) activities.

Highlighted activities:

  • Exploring bubbles
  • Sink and float activity with an orange
  • Buttoning, zipping, and snapping practice
  • Touch and feel box
  • Creating new colors by mixing

The World of Imagination
Imagination plays a huge part in a young child’s learning. Allowing children the freedom to learn, discover, pretend, and explore contributes to their growth and development. Exposing young children to nursery rhymes and fairy tales allows them to experience the world of pretend. In addition, it allows children to develop an ear for language, developing auditory skills, such as discriminating between sounds, and developing an ear for the music of words.

Highlighted activities:

  • Humpty Dumpty’s Wall: Stacking blocks and placing a plastic egg on top to see if the wall falls down
  • Sink and float activity with an orange
  • It’s Raining It’s Pouring: Hopping on paper puddles to develop gross motor skills
  • Huff and Puff: Exploring the Big Bad Wolf’s huff and puff by blowing bubbles
  • Henny Penny: Making their own creations with play dough

Our Earth, Our Environment
Connecting with nature and the real world is important for children to begin to develop connections and understand the world around them. The natural world is a teacher itself. The environment and the world around us provide opportunities to learn, play, and grow. The natural environment provides children with tactile experiences that are cross-curricular.

Highlighted activities:

  • Recycled Art
  • Nature painting
  • Learning about water by melting ice cubes
  • Planting seeds

My Neighborhood
Knowing where we live, how we move, and important people in our neighborhoods is important for children in order to develop a sense of community. Supporting children with understanding these concepts helps for them to begin to understand the world around them.

Highlighted activities:

  • Exploring telephones
  • Nature painting
  • Making road and neighborhoods in the block area
  • Washing cars in the sand/water table
  • Various hands-on activities about community helpers

Air, Land, and Sea: Animals and Insects All Around Me
Learning about animals and insects is a great way to continue exposing children to the world around them. Many children may have animals in their home as pets.

Highlighted Activities:

  • Animal Yoga Poses
  • Fishing in the water table for plastic fish
  • Milking the Cow: To develop fine motor skills, children will “milk” a cardboard cow

Summer Fun
Summer is a time for children to continue their learning and growing through new and exciting experiences. During this study, we will be exploring all of the exciting things that people do during this time of year: camping, vacations, and going to the beach.

brightside field

Building a Bright Future Together!

At Brightside Academy, every day is an adventure, filled with learning, laughter and lifelong friendships. We’re your child’s home away from home!

Program Partnerships & Credentials

naeyc
PA Keystone Stars logo