Provider Spotlight—Andrea Hollis

Jenn's Play Care is located about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh in a tiny borough with sidewalks but no stoplights. Their program operates in a former church building with a lot of space to run both inside and out. Even in winter, there are lots of options for active play. There is a full kitchen. There are many bathrooms. They enroll children 6 weeks up to 12 years. They have "more kids that want to be there than staff that they can hire."

When asked what she loves about toddlers, Andrea said, "My favorite thing is their imagination. I will come in with an agenda (probably my biggest mistake). We have to have our lesson plan…the 4 or 5 things that we have on paper. My idea and their imagination are totally different." She does have the freedom to deviate from the plans on paper. "I am toddler-led. If they decide they are going to sit down and pick flowers, we sit and play with the flowers. If they rip up the paper instead of painting, that's what we do. The bigger the mess is, the more fun."

Andrea grew up as one of the oldest of 16 grandchildren. It just seemed natural caring for younger cousins, kids at her church, and children in the neighborhood. She was babysitting by the time she was 12, and family and friends started calling her the "baby whisperer." Andrea reflects, "That's what I am in my heart, the way I breathe, kids are attracted to me. I'm attracted to them. It's been in me all my life. I always wanted to do something with children."

As a young adult, leaving home and going to college was overwhelming, so she nannied for a family, demonstrating a particular gift of caring for their child with autism. From there, she worked for nine years in ECE programs, then took an eleven-year hiatus to raise her three boys. She then returned to the profession in 2024. Right now her toddler group has a lot of boys. She says, "We aren't tea party and painting people right now." Though she said they DO love to dress up as princesses and firefighters, and they dance a lot in those costumes. Her current challenge is to help them manage their emotions. "They are learning how to live together."

According to Andrea, her group is big into lining things up and categorizing–cupcake containers, shape sorters, matching; pushing things around–shopping carts and baby buggies. They just fill them up and push them around. She is very comfortable with letting them move things from one center to another. Andrea recently completed the BKC course "Finding Wonder in Found Objects." One take-away she remembers was another teacher's rule about only "scrap on scrap" (You can't hit a person, only the play item, like pool noodle can hit a pool noodle, not a friend). She said the courses are "so helpful to see each other's perspectives. It opens my eyes."

She is super excited to offer a cardboard bonanza this fall! She's been saving boxes, tubes, and odd pieces of packaging and can't wait to see how these loose parts are explored by the children. "We're sure it's going to be way more creative than the ship's mast that I'm imagining."

When she's off in the summer, home with her own kids, her child care "kids" take a neighborhood walk (field trip!!!) to her house to say hello and to check on her snake! The children know the community and all the dogs' names!

Her commitment to the children is obvious. "They are with us So Much. I want to do everything I can to make their experience as good as it can be." She recently had a "full circle" moment when one of the people she cared for as an infant came back to the program now as a college intern! She had to get used to calling him Mr. Vincent instead of his infant nickname!

Have you made some satisfying changes to your program after completing a course with us? Are you particularly excited about a strategy or moment that has happened recently in your classroom? We want to celebrate that with you. To nominate yourself or a colleague, click here. Maybe we'll spotlight your work in a future BKC Buzz.