About Us

Ann and Andy's is a New York State Licensed Child Care Center that has been caring for children since 1973. Our nurturing staff, and welcoming classrooms, create a safe environment for children to develop self-awareness and create strong bonds with their teachers and peers. Our structured curriculum meets the needs of children at every stage of development and our creative play spaces create an enjoyable place that children are excited to visit day after day.

We provide childcare to children ages 2 months to 14 years old. Our center offers infant, toddler, and preschool programs, as well as, a before and afterschool program for school aged children. Drop-in care is also available for your occasional childcare needs.

Ann and Andy's provides a home-like environment that combines planned educational activities and spontaneous play for children of all ages. Our program provides varied activities that create memorable learning experiences for young children. Our staff is made up of qualified teachers who have many years of experience and training in working with children to create a friendly, caring, and stress-free environment.

Our Philosophy

At Ann & Andy each child is considered on two levels; first as a individual and then as a member of a group. The specific needs of each child, whether it be the consideration of the child's readiness to speak or the special handling of naptime instructions, is addressed with the help of regular communication and consultation with parents. By considering each child's individual needs, our staff is able to support each child's natural development rather than imposing tasks that a child may not be ready for. On a group level, the child is considered as a member of a community which offers the opportunity for social growth and a sense of belonging. Ann and Andy provides a safe and caring environment for every child to grow as an individual while building strong bonds and lasting relationships with others.

Our goal is to create memorable learning experiences for each child, within an environment which is welcoming and enjoyable .Our unique and inovative indoor and outdoor play spaces encourage exploration, experimentation and discovery. Our daily routines, and curriculum are designed to foster physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language development while emphasizing literacy, creative expression, health and safety and cultural awareness. Our staff is carefully trained to maintain a balance between planned activities and child initiated play to promote a positive environment which does not stress or over stimulate children. For your child to fully benefit from the academic program offered by Ann and Andy, we strongly recommend a minimum of three days per week for the nursery and preschool aged programs.

OUR STORY

Welcome to Ann and Andy Child Care Center! Together, myself, Deborah Asadoorian, my sister, Cheryl Anstett and our mother Anna Fucci, have been following our passion to provide quality child care to the families of Westchester County since 1973. What started as a small home child care center has flourished into a beautiful campus which houses programs designed to cater to infants as young as 2 months to children 14 years old. Our perseverance, work ethic and vision have allowed for our small business to be a lasting and growing presence within the communities that we serve.

The importance of family has always been at the forefront of the decisions made to develop, improve and grow our program. The beginning of the business was no different. In 1973, Our mother made the difficult decision to quit her job and stay home full time to care for her husband. Our father suffered from a longtime illness that required constant in-home care. From this family hardship came the decision to start a family child care center. This way, our mother would continue to work while being able to care for and support her husband. Being a close knit family, my sister and I were eager to help.

Part of our home was converted to create an atmosphere where the children we cared for became the focus. It was a wonderful place for children to grow and learn. With only a handful of children in our care, our program began to take form. Our child care center was designed to create a home-like, caring, family environment. Our mother provided home cooked meals and acted as a surrogate grandmother to the children in our care. I handled the business' finances and management while Cheryl took on the role of liaison between the families and the child care, opening lines of communication with clients in order to develop relationships and better understand the needs of the children in our care. Together we collaborated to create the activities, curriculum and quality educational programming, that still exists today. As our program began to take shape, it wasn’t long before we were caring for 15 children.

Our business was a success, but unfortunately, our father's health was deteriorating. In 1976, he passed away. As we dealt with the grief of our family’s loss our neighbors began to place pressure to have our child care service removed from what they considered to be a 'once very quiet residential area'. The pressure of the circumstances proved to be too much to bear at the time. We decided to close our doors. For one year we evaluated what course of action would be best for our family. As fate would have it, none of us could deny our calling. We were simply meant to care for children.

In 1977, we decided that in order to restart our child care service and ensure its continued success both then and in the future, we would need to find a new, bigger location. It was not easy to find a place that would accommodate the number of children we wished to care for as well as the towns requirements. That aside, we had made a commitment to our lives work and we were determined not to give up. We finally decided to rent a beautiful home on 2 acres of land. With pleas made before the zoning board and the town hall we were permitted to care for 28 children. We became licensed by the state of New York and we were back in business! In 1983, we grew even more and relocated once again. We became an incorporated business and were permitted to care for 60 children.

Our approach to providing affordable, flexible, reliable quality child care was attracting more and more clients. Not only were the children in our center being cared for as if they were extensions of our own family, but they were being taught skills that prepared them to enter elementary school. In addition, field trips and extracurricular activities allowed the children to practice life skills in diverse situations. We were honored to play a role in the upbringing of confident, capable, caring, securely attached individuals. Our business continued to grow.

However, as the business grew, we were met with more stringent regulations and requirements both by the state and the town. We relocated, renovated and extended our childcare facilities several times over in order to ensure the continued quality of care we provided. We never gave up our mission. Government requirements were consistently met and the quality of childcare we provided often exceeded the expectations of our clients and competitors.

In 1991, our school moved once more, this time to our current location. Our programs were now housed within two buildings on a beautiful 5 acre campus. We were now licensed to care for 154 children. We had now established an afterschool program, which allowed us to continue meeting the needs of our clients even after their children had reached school age. Our program continued to mature; Our 20 outdoor play spaces began to take shape for every age and stage of development for the children in our care.

Our curriculum began to expand as well. In 1995 we implemented a Senior Visitation Program. This new program allowed the children in our care to discover how to build relationships with people in their community as well as how their actions could have a positive impact on the health and well-being of others. Inspired be the work of Vivian Gussin Paley, Cheryl decided to implement a journal writing program within the preschool which allowed children to explore their feelings, expand their observations and develop a love for writing.

In 2008, a computer lab was built to develop our children’s exposure to technology and encourage computer literacy. In 2009, we expanded our summer program to better satisfy the needs and interest of our oldest campers. Our Acres of Adventure Summer Program included field trips, sports lessons, group activities, and outdoor play time in a caring and nonjudgmental environment. It is our experience that the children who complete this program are able to build lasting relationships and create memories that last a life time.

To this day we are so proud of what our business has become. As we continue to pursue our passion for childcare, we will continue to look for ways to improve our program and better serve the children in our care. For this reason, we all know that we will remain one of the leading choices for quality childcare in Westchester County.