A new child care center is preparing to open in Springfield, which will be the third location for a local business owner.
Janene Purdon-Menke plans to open the first phase of Little Yellow Wagon, 2160 S. Sixth St., by August, which will serve kids age three to five years old. By November, she hopes to accept children as young as six weeks, and by January the age range will expand to include school-age children, all the way up to 15 years old.
“We see a huge need with the instability of SCOPE, Boys and Girls Clubs and some of those things going on in the world,” Purdon-Menke said, referencing state and federal funding challenges that many child care organizations have been facing. “We are working as fast as we can to get things up and running.”
Little Yellow Wagon will occupy the space that most recently housed Distinctive Designs for Kitchens & Baths. That business closed last year after the owners retired. Purdon-Menke said she is also taking over two smaller suites in the building that were recently vacated, and said she hopes to continue expanding over time.
“We’ll initially be able to serve 98 kids, but our intention is to encompass that entire building as the other tenants move out,” she said.
Purdon-Menke, a Springfield native, began her career as a Realtor and still holds a real estate license. But in 2020, she opened Little Red Wagon in Jacksonville and the business quickly took off. Two years later, she purchased the former Lafayette School building and relocated to the 16,000-square-foot space, which allowed her to increase her capacity to 174 kids.
“We started with eight core employees who followed me from other establishments,” Purdon-Menke said. “And all three of my children work for me, so we are definitely a family organization. We built a wonderful school; we’re not just a day care, we’re a learning experience.”
Last year, the business expanded to Rochester with the opening of Little Blue Wagon, 207 S. Walnut St.
“We serve all kinds of children from all walks of life, including special needs, autistic, Down syndrome,” said Purdon-Menke. “The kids learn at their own level, so when you accommodate that, they don’t get bored and they don’t have the (negative) behaviors.”
The child care centers also offer more flexible scheduling than traditional day cares, such as drop-in or before and after school care. There is also transportation available for kids who need picked up from school and brought to the center.
“We try to help families with whatever they need to be successful in their work day,” said Purdon-Menke, who said she believes there will be extensive demand for placements.
Two major Springfield child care providers, Children’s House at Central Baptist Church and Building Blocks, both closed last year, leaving many parents scrambling to find alternative placements. Kasi Maisenbacher opened Kardinal Kids, a newly constructed child care center on the west side of Springfield, in February this year but told Illinois Times she already had more than 100 infants on a waiting list for four available spots.
Purdon-Menke said she is currently accepting registrations for children age six weeks to 15 years. Little Yellow Wagon will initially be open from 6 a.m.-6 p.m Monday through Friday.Â
This article appears in SBJ August 2025 and SBJ July 2025.