Scribbling with Magic Markers is a fairly standard activity for preschoolers, but at the Penn Children's Center, tots are scribbling on drywall instead.
On the other side of the wall, workers are hammering and drilling, busy building up the additional space that the center will soon occupy.
As the kids continue to color, construction goes on; the University-sponsored daycare center's expansion is slated to be completed by the end of March.
Deputy Provost Janice Bellace said this project represents the University's effort to help alleviate Penn's childcare crunch and, in turn, help the University recruit top professors who juggle their careers with family.
Daycare options help determine whether a university is perceived as family-friendly, Bellace said, which can affect its ability to recruit and retain faculty and staff.
Currently, the Center - open to all members of the University and surrounding communities - has room for 108 children. When the new space is put into use in September, it will have room for 56 more, PCC executive director Natalie Subeh said.
The expansion will bring 3,000 new square feet to the center, a 25-percent increase in space. The total cost, which entails construction, materials, design, furniture and labor, has not yet been finalized, but is expected to "come in under a million dollars," a Business Services spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail.
"Everybody who has children who works at Penn can benefit," University president Amy Gutmann said.
The project was largely inspired by the results of a University-administered survey, published last semester, that asked faculty and staff whether their childcare needs were being met.
Administrators hope the added slots will reduce the size of the center's wait list. Currently, parents can spend 12 to 15 months on the list before securing a spot for their child, Subeh said.
The staff size will also be increased, and several groups who don't have their own spaces will get classrooms, she added.
But while this expansion should help, it won't solve the childcare issue entirely, Bellace said.
That's why administrators are hoping to build more varied day-care options on the postal lands as Penn's campus pushes eastward, Bellace said.
In the meantime, the construction has provided an unexpected learning opportunity for PCC's pint-sized clientele.
Construction workers have given the tykes lessons on everything from spackling to cement.
"They have their own real-live Bob the Builders," Subeh said, referring to the children's television program.
Parents and Penn staff and faculty who use PCC say it offers essential services.
Cecilia Benencia, a researcher in the School of Medicine and the mother of a toddler at PCC, said that the Center has many benefits.
Benencia said that, when her family came to the United States from Argentina, they didn't know anyone and thus depended on Penn for help finding day care.
And Carole Mercaldo, an accounting manager in facilities, is the mother of a four-year-old who attends PCC.
Having daycare on campus "allows me to be able to do my job better. . It gives me a better peace of mind," Mercaldo said.
