My Playpen Childcare Centre, Taman OUG

Founded in 2011 by a close family trio of 2 aunts and a niece who is passionate about early years care and education, My Playpen’s story started with a simple vision: to provide exceptional childcare services in a homely setting, where children can feel safe, loved, and well cared for.

This passion project soon grew into a full-fledged, licensed childcare centre. Today, My Playpen has a dedicated team of teachers and caregivers, with ⁠2 coveted 5-star award by the State Welfare Department (JKM) and the PERMATA division of the Ministry of Education (MOE). This means that it has received top marks in all aspects of childcare, from safety and hygiene to best practices.

Despite the accolades and its expanded headcount, the centre’s founders – Ms. Karen, Ms. Grace, and Ms. Laura – have never lost sight of their goal: to empower children to reach their maximum potential and support them through one of the most critical periods in their overall development.

Room to learn, grow, and play

My Playpen is located in Taman OUG, close to major hubs such as Bukit Jalil and Sri Petaling. It offers full-day programmes for children from 18 months to 4+ years old, providing parents with peace of mind while they are away at work.

The centre’s playground and large outdoor spaces are designed to be modular and open-ended, allowing teachers to move equipment or organise physical activities according to the children’s needs. Facilities include a bicycle track, and water and sand play areas which are surrounded by lots of greenery.

"I grew up in a small town where I had happy memories of my childhood. There was always plenty of space for me to play and run around. I wanted the same for My Playpen," says co-founder and principal, Ms. Karen Tan.

Inside the building, children are welcomed into a warm and cosy space that exudes homely vibes, with shelves neatly stacked with Montessori materials, allowing them to easily reach for learning materials of their choice. Like the outdoors, classrooms are modular, giving teachers flexibility to set up spaces to fit the children’s learning goals.

Being a five-star centre, safety and hygiene are of the utmost priority. Cleaning and sanitation are done thrice a day, and the premises are equipped with CCTVs. Meals are also prepared fresh in-house with separate storage for dry and wet food. Health officers visit regularly to ensure these standards are adhered to, for My Playpen to keep its ratings.

A child-centred, dynamic way of learning

My Playpen’s pedagogy incorporates a mix of best practices. For children below the age of four, the Montessori approach forms the pillar of their framework, supplemented by thematic and project-based learning.

A fundraising project for an old folk’s home, for instance, instils moral values like kindness and empathy, whilst allowing the children to link their learning with concepts such as the value of money, addition and subtraction, and more.

Learning is not confined to the four walls of a classroom either: lessons can take place outdoors, and the children move around frequently throughout their day. Even routine activities such as lunch and bath time are learning opportunities, as children learn to hone their independent living skills, such as how to set up their own place mats, clean the tables, or take out their sleeping bags for nap time.

Older children enjoy a more structured curriculum that incorporates elements from the National Preschool Standard Curriculum (KSPK), to prepare them for primary school. However, instead of rigid lesson plans where children work with the same books or materials across the board, teachers meet the children at their level and tailor their lessons accordingly. This is possible thanks to each class’s low student-to-teacher ratio of 1:4 students for the younger age group and 1:8 for the older children.

While the centre’s main medium of instruction is English, teachers strive to integrate as much Bahasa Melayu and Mandarin as possible into their daily conversations with the children, ensuring that they are well adapted when they go to Primary 1.

The centre also has an inclusive approach, where children are grouped according to their developmental age rather than physical age. In each classroom, there will be a small number of children with special needs, including those with mild developmental delays or disorders. They are supported by trained behavioural therapists, including Ms. Karen herself.

"For inclusive classes to be effective, we keep the ratio of special children to typical children low. The other children in the class act as supportive peer-figures, helping the child to reach their maximum potential," says Ms. Karen, who also writes My Playpen’s Individual Educational Plans (IEP).

Dedicated staff with a deep passion for what they do

My Playpen's teachers are not only qualified with a minimum of a Diploma in Early Childhood Education on top of a PERMATA certification for childcare, but they are also passionate and have a genuine love for children.

"The early childhood field is a dynamic one. What was established a decade ago may not be the same as it is today," says Ms. Karen. "We take pride in what we’re doing here and regularly send our teachers for courses to develop their soft skills, ensuring they are well-versed in all aspects of early childhood education and care giving," she adds.

A strong sense of community

The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child, but this neighbourliness has eroded in urban areas–something which My Playpen strives to recreate by partnering with local businesses.

Field trips are held several times a year to places such as the local clinic, the market, or the Indian Muslim eatery. “The restaurant workers will put on a teh tarik or roti canai making performance, and our children can experience queueing up and paying for their food, which is an excellent experience for them,” says Ms. Karen, adding that such trips afford the children with opportunities to broaden their world view, build meaningful connections, and improve their confidence and social skills.

Parents are involved in their child’s learning journey too. Ms. Karen and her co-founders believe in open communication, so aside from regularly updating parents on their child’s progress through an app, most of communication is done face to face when the parents come to pick up their children from the centre.

"Childhood experiences play a crucial role in shaping our attitudes and behaviour in later years. Our children spend close to 10 hours with us each day, and they are here for most of the week, which makes My Playpen like a second home for them. We have children who have left our school over a decade ago, and they still have fond memories of their time here. That is what we strive to achieve: to provide our children with happy childhood memories," Ms. Karen concludes.