day care center
A non-school facility which takes care of children for short terms while their parents are busy.
A day care center is a facility devoted to taking care of children (usually ages 1-9) by the hour or by the day when their parents are away or busy. It may operate on a commercial, sponsored, or charitable basis, and is often run by a government or by the parents' employer. Day care centers generally take care of children for very short intervals (less than a full day) and do not provide overnight stays.
Although some educational activities may be provided by day care center workers, they are not schools. A facility providing regularly scheduled education for children ages 1 to 4 is a pre-school.
Care is provided for part of a day while parents are away or occupied. Overnight accommodation is excluded, and incidental educational play does not make the center a school with a regular teaching program.