Our boy is on week 3 of his second summer at YMCA Camp Cristina, he is sooo happy and we are happy…read morefor him. He loves the activities, the counselors and the kids. For most weeks he is signed up for Waterfront Camp and we were not sure if it would be the best option for him. We have no regrets, he excitedly shares all the things he does each day and really wants us to purchase kayaks. He is in 2nd grade and will be 8 in a few weeks. He also attends their afterschool program, Kid Day Out when schools are closed, takes swimming lessons, horseback riding and participates in Run Club all at YMCA Camp Cristina. It is his Happy Place! They are very responsive and quick to respond when we have questions or concerns. I generally send an email and within a few hours I have receive a reply or phone call.

it's very sad to see that somebody gave this place a three star rating. The staff and for the…read morevery most caring and dedicated staff. I believe for everything that summer camp in hot Florida involves, I think a lot needs to be taken into credit for all that they do. I am truly grateful for them and for the experience our family had this summer. Thank you to you all. I hope the YMCA hierarchy will take note of this group of thisvery hard-working and caringpeople.

We've been to Tech Playzone for 2 7-yr old birthday parties - Lego robotics and a Movie making…read moreparty. The owner, Desh, is FANTASTIC with the kids and she really gets kids excited about practical applications of science and technology. Desh is really high energy, keeps the kids excited and involved, and is great at dealing with those hiccups that inevitably come up when you've got a room full of 1st graders. We just moved out of the area, and I seriously considered postponing our move a few months just so we could have my daughter's party there. I've never seen another center like this, and I *so* wish there was one up here where I am.

From the owner: TechPlayzone - where bright kids play to learn. We are an award winning Science, Technology,…read moreEngineering and Math program for K-12th grade students. Focused on success and fun for all kids, TechPlayzone offers summer camps, robotics clubs, and afterschool enrichment.

My family has been there since my kids were 4/5. We love the camps and the character building…read morecurriculum. They are a Christian owned and operated business in the Fishhawk area. Great instructors, volunteers, and friends.

About a year ago, I signed up for a free woman's self defense class. I liked the class and felt it…read morewas informative but I had a shoulder injury that kept me from performing all of the moves. After the class, they offered 3 more classes for $5. I signed up but thought better of it until my shoulder healed. I call and spoke with the owner. They assured me that I could take the classes when my shoulder was better. I called a few months ago and spoke with Manny, the owner. He said he would get back to me. He never did. I called again and left a message. Still haven't heard back. It's really a shame because I was really interested in taking classes long term. Very disappointing!!!

I attended the kindergarten/elementary graduation a few months ago. It was so inspirational. The…read morechildren sang beautiful community building songs and enjoyed their interactions with each other so much. They play outside a lot and have so many nature based activities. It seems to be a wonderful educational adventure.

Highly recommend this daycare. They're so friendly and the staff is so nice and they really care…read moreand it shows. After I went through a nightmare with another daycare, I am so relieved to have people I trust my child with now. Love Morgan and Megan at the office, they're so kind even after a long day. Ms. Kathy and Ms. Suzanne are AMAZING! They have such kind hearts and you can tell they love what they do. River is awesome with my kiddo and so patient. I just love everyone we've met there so far. Thanks again for everything you all do!

Renamed a few years ago, this is a large open to the public (though not free) sports center. There…read moreare many tennis courts, and tennis classes are offered very small children to adults. The tennis instructors for the children Saturday morning classes are very good with the children, and turn the instruction into games. There is an over sized Olympic diving pool, workout facilities, and a multitude of other rooms. They offer after school programs and summer camps as well. Swimming lessons by age group are another offering. The parking lot is often too small for the number of cars here, and you will see quite a bit of parking on the street.

I'm here twice a week for volleyball practice and the place is always busy, with swimmers, daycare…read moreand ect. Even in the rush the front desk always manages to greet everyone who comes in and is very helpful.

I have had my 3 children in various daycares throughout the years- probably over 6 by now. Without…read morehesitation this one is by far the best, by a mile. I am beyond impressed by everyone at this school. From the director who is kind, personal, and wonderful, the admin staff are amazing coming up with creative ways to celebrate and teach, the staff always having a smile and hello when you pass, and of course the teachers. The teachers are what any parent is looking for for their children. The amount of effort and skill that goes into the daily learning is incredible. My 5 year old is in Ms Kim and Ms Maria's class, she has grown so much in a year. She just scored 99 %tile on the state testing and the knowledge she teaches us at dinner is beyond her years. She's leaving pre K knowing how to read, write, addition/subtraction. My other one is in Ms Marisol and Ms Teresitas 2's class and learning so much. I highly recommend this daycare for anyone questioning it. I highly recommend it to anyone who asks.

We absolutely love this school! I am blown away daily at the incredible amount of knowledge my…read morechild has obtained. He started in the "upper" 3s preschool program over a year ago.His wonderful teachers Ms. Elissa & Ms. Marwa have instilled values, respect, culture, independence with lots of learning through play. These teachers are high quality, educated and have 15-20 years experience. Our son is always creating, exploring and problemsolving. We've loved having consistent teachers who are absolutely amazing with our son! We started our baby in the baby room and it's been such a wonderful experience! Ms. Lisa, Ms. Kerry and Ms. Mckenzie along with the other providers are so loving, sweet & we'vefelt very comfortable having our babe in their care. He's now in the 1 year old room & excelling with the wonderful care there as well! Ms. Angela & Ms. Natalee are incredibly sweet! I love that at such a young age our babe is exploring & already learningso much. We feel so lucky to have our children in such a wonderful environment. Setting the foundation is important to us and The Goddard School is assisting us as working parents to do so. We are so appreciative & thankful for the wonderful teachers & establishment!

My son recently attended a free class and then a week of summer camp with TDBA. I am so impressed…read morewith TDBA's ability to keep the kids moving and make the most of their time. Teddy and the other coaches are knowledgable, encouraging, and supportive to every child. My son struggles with new experiences and has difficulty with stamina. He ended each day of camp in such a great mood, feeling so positive and excited about his day. I feel that my 7 year old was seen, encrouaged, and challenged appropriately during his time with TBDA. We plan to continue attending TBDA sessions through the school year. Thanks so much Teddy and coaches for being a light in this city. You are all a blessing! My son tells me he is the GOAT =)

From the owner: Tampa's Most Fun Summer Camp! Get Signed Up! FUN is #1!read more

My son started here at 8 months old back in September…read more.... On his very first day, I noticed a little girl had a cold, she was coughing, and had bright green mucous dripping out. I voiced my concerns with the director but nothing was done because she had a "doctors note" saying it was allergies. My son caught her "allergies" the next day, but when I took him to the doctor, they called it a viral infection..... funny how that works. No other children were sick and he doesn't go anywhere else. Our entire family caught this virus and it took us an entire month to get rid of it. On Day 3, I caught one of the daycare workers kissing my son on his cheeks and he developed a rash shortly after because he does have sensitive skin. Now I tried my hardest to not be the "problematic parent" so I kept some of my minor concerns to myself. A few weeks after getting rid of the "allergies", I was picking my son up and noticed the same girl with the same symptoms as last time and sure enough my son was sick the next day. This time, I received a call a few hours later that my son needed to be picked up because he was developing a rash and that he couldn't return until we had a doctors note (the rash was from the viral infection that he caught). I mentioned to the director AGAIN that the little girl was sick and she had passed it to my son, but they denied it and called it "allergies" again so nothing was done, (I have a feeling she was somebodies daughter that worked there and that's why they allowed it). My son was the only one that was forced to stay home and I had to take off work, even though he caught it from the little girl. It's easy to go to the doctors office and lie about symptoms to get a note but that was the final straw for us. I hate that I have to change my sons routine and introduce him to a new daycare, but this was just unacceptable to me. I was told "we clean and sanitize every day", I never once saw them sanitize anything and it's not done when they leave or overnight because I checked the cameras a few times. There's 8 babies in the classroom and allowing other kids to get sick because of 1 child seems irresponsible to me. These are babies and they all handle sicknesses differently, if I can visually see that a child is sick, it's your duty and responsibility as a daycare owner to prevent the rest of your daycare children from catching it. Also, the tuition is way to expensive for the camera quality to be so terrible and most of the time my son was just crawling around doing his own thing instead of learning or participating in activities. I spoke with the owner to try and address my concerns before switching, he was very dismissive and offered to waive 1 of the weeks from the 2 week withdrawal policy -_- One day I picked him up with a large red bite mark on his arm, but they didn't call me to notify me. When I asked what happen I was told "a child bit him". We had officially decided to switch daycares at that point, but it's unsettling to know that. I took a picture 6hrs later and the mark was still prevalent. He received a "boo boo" report almost every couple of days... The last incident, I was watching the cameras and they had an older kid in his class at the end of the day and she was bullying my 9month old, I caught her kick and push him while the teacher wasn't paying attention and when I called about it, I was told "we'll talk to her parents". Unacceptable. My son started a new daycare and I couldn't be happier! He hasn't gotten sick, no boo boo reports, no marks/cuts/scratches..... they sanitize daily (I see them doing it as I'm picking him up) and they wash their hands after every diaper change. They are very interactive and engaging with the children, better camera quality, the babies have outside play time, they do activities and learning, music circle. It's worth what we pay plus more

My grandsons go here for VPK. It is a free program. Everyone here is very nice, the building is…read morealways clean (a little clutter in the lobby). They are very flexible with daycare (if I cannot sit, my son can leave the boys there with short notice. Of course there is a fee for that, but I do not know what it is). Almost everyone here speaks Spanish as well as English which I'm sure is a plus to many in this area. My grandsons seem very happy here, they are always excited about "going to school" They had no socialization skills before this because they were in private daycare, so this has helped the very much. Their teachers are great, really care about the kids in their class. I wholeheartedly recommend Discovery Point (On Symmes Road) for your child's PVK and daycare needs.

I have 2 boys- D (4) and A (2.5). From the very first week at the center (end of July), I had many…read morered flags. We were typically the first few to drop off. It was more often than not, my children were never greeted with a hello, much less a hug or even a high five. The boys were never made to feel like their teachers were excited to see them. A sense of community/emotional safety was not obvious in this center...ever. I let this go, as I know my teacher background leaves me hyper-aware to subjects and research that not everyone has access to. It wasn't directly impacting my boys, so I let it go. Fast forward to school year starting- D in VPK and A in Pre K. D was coming home stating that he was the "the bad kid" and his teachers "hated him". D is very intelligent and manipulative at times, so again, I let it go. I am a teacher...I know what kids can say to skirt around the truth. And he is not always an angel of a child. :-) However, weeks of this went on. I tried everything I could at home to reassure him that he was not the bad kid, that sometimes he made poor choices but he was NOT a BAD kid. They boys' father attempted to speak to the director and teacher as well, but they blamed the emotional shaming on the other kids. Stating the other kids were the ones making him feel that way. Well, you're the teacher. Make this stop. Immediately. What sent me for a whirl, is when D told me about how his name was always on the "bad list". The next day I went into the classroom to confirm this "bad list", and sure as anything, there it was. A HUGE list on a chalk board, titled with a sad face ":-(" and a list of children's names. I quickly erased his name, reassured him again this does not define him and left. This is literally public shaming. Current research shows that behaviors should NOT be public knowledge. That only the child and their grown ups should be made aware of their areas for improvement. After weeks of this shaming, D took on the role of bad child. While this is also inexcusable, D felt he could do no right in the classroom, so he didn't. He was getting in trouble more and more. The behaviors got worse and worse. The only way behaviors were communicated were through extremely broken English, or a translator. I am unsure how they are communicating to my child if the teachers were barely able to communicate with me. NO attempt was made at filling in the social gaps that D was exhibiting. Shaming and disciplining were the only actions the center offered. And while D's actions were completely unacceptable, he was never given the support for the social-emotional lessons he needed. My children spent 40 hours a week with this center, and I paid a pretty penny to the center. I expect social-emotional skills to be taught just as much, if not more, than reading and math. I cannot teach D these skills in a home where there aren't 18 other kids. The school is responsible for these lessons. Long story short, the center ended up dismissing D for a scenario that NO ONE can explicitly explain. No details were given about what happened, just that the following day would be his last day. When I attempted to seek more information and ask clarifying questions, the director felt it appropriate to talk to me on speaker phone and gave me attitude when I requested for her to take me off. I also asked to speak to the owners (who I had never seen or met), and was told I would receive a call by the end of the business day. That was 3 weeks ago...I never received a call. I will say, A (a very 'in the box' and easy going child), never experienced any of this is his classroom. He probably never exuded behaviors to warrant any redirection, but his teachers were all very kind and warm. It was mainly Ms. Soraya and the director that were very cold to myself and D. I would not send your kids here if emotional safety is a priority for you and your family. It just is not a center that hugs first and teaches second.