A 3-year-old kid has a hard time blending in on a college campus-too young to be a child prodigy and too small to reach the computer keyboard, a toddler would not even pass as a prospective student. Yet there are toddlers at Brandeis. They crawl on their jungle gym across from the Castle, and make occasional appearances in Usdan or the library. This winter, you may have seen the children of the Lemberg Children's Center in brightly colored snowsuits, throwing snowballs at the teachers and Brandeis students who devote time to these kids every day.

Sarah Eisenhandler '06, who works at this preschool, recounted an on-campus field trip that the adults found adorable.

"We took them to the library one day, all these 2-year olds, and the moment we entered the door, they ran in and climbed onto peoples' laps that were sitting at computers, asking to play with the computers. Most of them didn't seem to mind and were trying very hard to not laugh too much," she said.

"It's a great place, fun and it's a nice stress reliever from school and work.," Eisenhandler said. "Its very relaxing, just coming here twice a week and having fun while helping the kids at the same time."

Nasrin Samadi '04, who also works at Lemberg , mentioned that the environment is great for children. "It's a really good center. They do art work and projects in a very diverse community where the teachers try to emphasize the different cultures that are there."

"There are so many things a child can do here that they cannot do at home," Executive Director Howard Baker said. "They can develop different skills and build independence while learning about relationships. There is socio-emotional learning and comfort issues with themselves, with others and within a group."

The Lemberg Center is a non-profit corporation independent of Brandeis that has existed for over 25 years.

There is more to Lemberg than just the kids, though they are certainly a vital element. An entire section of Lemberg is dedicated to psychology and developmental research. The children participate in research studies conducted by many different departments, both on-campus and elsewhere. The Psychology Department and Sociology Department, as well as the Heller School and the Peace and Conflict Studies program, all implement studies at Lemberg, mainly by testing the children in the pre-school environment.

"People from all over campus do projects here," Baker said. "Undergrad senior research papers are done, other students come to do environmental activities with the kids, they try out software they created for children, there are recycling programs ... every two weeks, there is something new for the kids to work with."

According to the Lemberg Web site, there are two studies currently underway: and "Guidebook for early childhood peace educators" and "Love and hate in the early childhood classroom," performed in conjunction with a special program called Dramatists-in-Residence.

"Guidelines for helping children during war," released last May, was conducted by Diane Levine of Educators for Social Responsibility (a non-Brandeis group). The cover story of the Feb. 24, 2003 issue of Newsweek magazine, "Our bodies, Our fears," by Geoffrey Cowley, also drew from a study conducted at Lemberg.

This month, Lemberg is hosting two actors from the City Stage Company in Boston, Larry Coen '80 and Chandra Pieragostini '90. Both earned bachelor's degrees in Theater Arts at Brandeis, and Pieragostini has worked as a teaching assistant at Lemberg since 1986. Throughout March, the actors will spend eight hours a day with the children and teachers, engaging the kids in role-playing activities that teach them better ways to interact with others and to be more independent. The visiting dramatists are also working with teachers to develop ways to deal with conflicts in the classroom, especially those involving love/hate situations that arise frequently in a classroom of 2 to 5-year-olds.

A division of Lemberg is the Center for Early Childhood Teacher Development (CECTD). This group's mission statement, according to its Web site, reads, "Our center's mission is to nurture social-emotional development, peace-building and inclusion through the Arts & Sciences. CECTD builds healthy educational communities through teacher development and research. Our primary focus is to produce and support the finest early care and education providers."

In addition to full-time teachers, the Lemberg staff includes a number of Brandeis students, both paid and volunteer.

"It's a demanding job with a lot of expectations, but most people that do work here love it," Karen Gutterman, the director of the Toddler Program and the Lemberg Summer Program, said. "We set schedules that have to be followed because the children need someone there and someone they know. The kids can get very attached to certain students."

Gutterman mentioned that one of the children once came up to her and said, "I learned how to curl my tongue today from Tongue Rachel."

Many students who work for Lemberg are psychology majors or enrolled in the education program, but they are not the only ones. Eisenhandler is on an American Studies and journalism track while another student who works there, Anna Beane '07, is a Psychology major interested in education.

"We get students from the theater department, the sciences, it doesn't matter. They bring different skills to the children and that's what does [matter]," Baker said. He also mentioned that Lemberg usually has about 50 teaching assistants a semester, but the children always seem to remember them.

Children can enroll at Lemberg as early as age 2, and can continue up through kindergarten. Karen Eichenlaub, the director of faculty, head teacher for Explorers (the younger age group of children) and associate director for childcare, said, "We prepare them for what most people know as kindergarten but we can do our best and bring them to first grade if they wish."

"We focus on all areas of development, a lot of multicultural areas, and we have the library for the children ... that has not only books but music as well," Eichenlaub explained. "We also meet with the parents at least twice a year to keep them up to date and involved. A lot of parents are actually faculty, staff and students [at Brandeis] so sometimes we will even take the kids on field trips to see their parents at work and then they will have lunch together."

According to Baker, about 70 percent of the kids come from Brandeis families, whether their parents are faculty or students, which gives the kids access to all Brandeis facilities.

Despite varied academic interests, most students who work at Lemberg cite similar reasons for the job. Samadi is considering the education program and used to work at a day care center, so working at Lemberg appealed to her. "The kids always say funny things that surprise you," she said. "It will be play time and we will say, 'OK, you be the teacher now and we will be the students, and one time, this boy imitated one of the teachers exactly; he remembered everything that teacher had said. Rather remarkable for a 3-year-old."

"Overall, the kids are very imaginative. They like role-playing and dress up," Samadi continued. "The boys are obsessed with trucks, like 'Thomas the Tank Engine' and 'Bob the Builder'-they can sing the theme songs to every cartoon-and they love garbage trucks, tow trucks and the bulldozers that drive by. They have very high amounts of energy."

As far as the girls, Samadi said that many " are very artistic. They love dolls, playing house, cooking pretend meals, and acting motherly or like doctors. Usually on rainy days, they love to watch Barney and Sesame Street sing-alongs."

"The kids are completely off the wall. They make all the adults crack up because it is so random," Josh Cohen '07, another student assistant, said. "The place is great. The kids have a lot of close contact with the teachers. Most places you go to are at ratios of one teacher for every 10 students; here it is one teacher for every four or five students."

According to those who work with them, the children are happy at Lemberg. Eichenlaub said, "A lot of the kids think we live here and love it like they love their parents.