KinderCare: Learning Together is so much Better

November 19, 2022


KinderCare Learning Centers is an American childcare and early childhood education facility chain.


There are 1484 KinderCare Learning Centers in the United States

The first KinderCare facility was opened in 1969 by Perry Mendel, a real estate developer who wanted to provide working mothers with quality preschool childcare.

The first facility was opened on July 14, on Sunshine Drive in Montgomery, Alabama, accommodating 70 children. One year later, a second facility was opened and the company changed its name to Kinder-Care Learning Centers, Inc. The company is based in Portland, Oregon.


By 1971, 19 centers were in operation and the first infant care was offered.


KinderCare, Des Moines, Iowa

Offering educational programs for infants from the age of six weeks all the way up to 12 years old, KinderCare is the third-largest privately held company headquartered in Oregon. There are approximately 200,000 children enrolled in the 1,484 early childhood education centers.

In addition to early childhood education, KinderCare also offers over 600 before-and-after-school programs and more than 100 employer-sponsored centers.


The company went public in 1972 and by 1974, had 60 centers in 17 states and over 500 employees nationwide.

In 1977, the company made its first major acquisition when it purchased the 15 facilities of Playcare. The expansion went on and in 1979 it acquired Mini-Skools, Living and Learning, and American Pre-Schools.


In 1985, the company opened its 1,000th center.


By 1987, Kinder-Care was expanding at the rate of one new center every three days. The Sylvan Learning Centers, providers of supplemental instruction and tutoring, were added to their list of acquisitions.


In 1992, the company updated its bell tower logo and began to render the KinderCare name in camel case.


KinderCare was acquired in 2005 by the Knowledge Learning Corporation (KLC) division of Knowledge Universe. The deal was valued at over US$1 billion and made KLC the nation’s largest private child care and education provider.

In July 2015, a Swiss enterprise by the name of Partners Group, bought Knowledge Universe. Knowledge Universe renamed itself as KinderCare Education in January 2016; it also operates Knowledge Beginnings, Children’s Creative Learning Centers (CCLC), and Champions. Today there are 1,464 KinderCare centers in the United States.

Gloria Sauvé
Communications