On a rainy afternoon last week, the new Children's Center at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf seemed unusually quiet, as the Edgewood landmark's smallest pupils recovered from a long day in the pumpkin patch.

Most of the center's two dozen children, age 3 to 6, were gone for the day, picked up at Trax Farms in Union by parents or caregivers, after spending happy hours checking out various forms of livestock and produce.

Pigs and pumpkins, kindergarten teacher Carrie Rain said, were the hands-down favorites of the youngsters, the first to use the school's $3.6 million Children's Center.

Ms. Rain, of Irwin, who has worked at the school for the past seven years, described the center as "very functional and child-focused."

The facility, which opened Sept. 29, houses preschool and kindergarten programs and can accommodate up to 30 deaf and hard-of-hearing pupils.

Previously, the program's staff and pupils used a separate building on Walnut Street, across from the main campus at 300 E. Swissvale Ave. Now they are housed within renovated and previously unused space in a building which also houses a girls dormitory. About 88 of the school's 200-plus pupils live part of the week on campus.

WPSD Marketing Director Vicki Cherney said renovating the space gave the community's youngest members better interaction with older students and the many deaf staff members.

"These routine experiences can help children develop self-esteem and a clear concept of who they are and what they can be," said Ms. Cherney, who, along with every WPSD staff member, simultaneously speaks and signs all conversations.

More than 200 private donors have contributed $2.7 million toward the center, which totals 19,000 square feet on two floors and includes a landscaped outdoor Quiet Garden for nature activities, staff meetings and parent-child visits.

Major contributors include the Eden Hall Foundation, The Hearst Foundations, the Massey Charitable Trust and the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

The center has four classrooms, each of which can be rearranged to meet the particular learning needs of each age group. Each area is supplied with computers, Internet access and wireless technology, with adjacent separate speech therapy rooms, a teaching/learning kitchen and a meeting place for snacks and celebrations.

A 4,500-square-foot playroom, children's computer lab, teacher workroom and conference area are one level down from the classrooms.