Hakuna Matata Kid Care holds formal grand opening

No worries, just be happy.

Hakuna Matata Kid Care, named after a Swahili phrase that translates to "No Worries" and was made famous by the 1994 Disney movie "The Lion King," held its formal grand opening on Thursday in Steeleville.

"It started out where I had three kids of my own, we needed a daycare, didn't know where to go with our kids, so I was like 'Let's check this out, see if we can do this,'" said April Eichenseer, who owns the business with her husband, Tim. "There's a lot of involvement with the state. You can't open a licensed daycare, or even a daycare, without going through the State of Illinois.

"So, we have to follow all their guidelines."

Eichenseer said those guidelines included the renovation of the building in making it appropriate for the children.

"One is you have to have a certain amount of toilets to a certain amount of children and you have to have an equal amount for boys and girls," she said. "As funny as it is, you have to have a certain amount of LEGO blocks per child in the classroom.

"You have to have building blocks, foam blocks."

Each class has its own schedule each day with certain activities each one is required by the state to do.

"Each class has a learning program," Eichenseer said. "Whether it's something as much as learning what 2+2 is in the school-age class to learning what your ABCs are.

"And it's all based off their ages."

Hakuna Matata officially opened on Monday and has a list of 43 children. The business, which is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., is state licensed for 44 in the facility at one time.

"I'm working down my list and as we move forward, I will then put out an ad saying we are taking more enrollments," Eichenseer said. "But right now, we're slowly getting started and building to that point."

In terms of the daily schedule, which varies by classroom, facility serves breakfast until 8 a.m., with a mid-morning snack at 10 a.m.

"Some of the classrooms will have morning outside time, some will just do quiet time or what they refer to as 'sensory time,'" Eichenseer said. "They might have a bucket of water and they may learn something with water objects.

"Or, they may have sand or something and they'll go through that."

In the afternoon, the children will have a learning period, story period and a quiet time.

"That's where if they're school-age and below, they're on cots and they take naps or at least rest," Eichenseer said. "If they're infants, they have cribs and of course, take naps in there.

"We have snack time at 3 p.m. and from there, it's pretty much free play."

Catering is from St. Mark's Lutheran School during the school year and Dave's Food Center during the summer. Bus service during the school year will also be available.

"I love kids and one thing led to another," Eichenseer said. "It just kept going and I kept told my husband, 'At what point does it stop?'

"And he's like, 'We don't. Until there's a big red stop sign that says we stop.'"

Eichenseer said her long-term goals for the business are to stay full with 44 kids.

"My goal is to have a waiting list," she said. "I want to see us, down the road, do fun field trips."

Hakuna Matata will have an open house on May 21 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Refreshments will be available. For more information, call 618-965-4114.