SANDPOINT — A new child care center on Division Avenue will open by the end of September, offering a daycare for kids 3 months to 5 years old.

Not only will Sandpoint Play and Learn offer child care, it will also offer a learning environment for the youngsters, as the name suggests. The key, said owner Kelley Wendle, is to figure out where the kids are at, from infants to preschoolers, and help them make milestones and get ready for kindergarten.

"I want each kid to succeed," Wendle said. "And it will be a team effort between the parents and the teachers. My staff is really good — I'm really pleased with all of their talents."

Wendle said she has many years of experience in the child care business and holds a degree in child development. She has been the owner of Latchkey Kids, which provides after school care for working parents, for the past eight years. With Farmin-Stidwell and Kootenai elementary's new after-school program, Wendle said Latchkey Kids will no longer be held at those schools, so her employees will be moving over to the new daycare as the lead teachers. Wendle said she is looking to hire two more leads and 10 more assistants as well.

The building that formerly housed the Sandpoint Teen Center is under remodel as Wendle prepares to open the new daycare. The rooms are being separated as walls are being installed, and the building will be set up to house the youngest children downstairs, with the preschool-age children upstairs. Cameras and a sprinkler system are being installed, as is a small toilet rooms for toddlers and "sinks, sinks, and more sinks," throughout the building, Wendle said. There will also be two separate fenced areas outside — one for the infants and "waddlers," and one for the older kids, she said.

Work began at the end of July with Idagon as the contractor on the project. Wendle expects the building to be finished and ready to open within the next three weeks.

For information, contact Wendle at 208-597-4889, kelley@sandpointdaycare.org, or visit sandpointdaycare.org.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.