First I should mention that we call Playhood Child Care "Casa Vicky." It really feels as if we are…read moretaking our daughter over to a friend's house. It's just that our friend (I'm talking about Vicky now) has two master's degrees in education and is also teaching early childhood education at U Mass Boston. Vicky's son also attends the school with the other kids and he's really sweet and hilarious. Our daughter loves him. The other teacher at the school, Laura, lives a couple of doors down the street and she has her own children who attended the school. Unfortunately they have since aged out. She has a degree in clinical psych and experience working with children and teenagers. Laura is extremely warm and loving. To me, Laura is more focused on emotional development and she strikes me as being very intuitive. Vicky is more academic and theoretical. She ensures that the curriculum is meeting the kids' and the parents' needs. I think that they make a very balanced and complimentary team. Vicky's husband is a musician and he comes to teach music sometimes and fills in if they need extra help. The school is in Vicky's house which they have modified to meet the needs of a six-toddler/pre-schooler school. There is a great enclosed backyard with toys, a sandbox, a little house with a slide and lots of small trees around the perimeter. The families that attend the school helped to plant those trees at a wonderful brunch last Spring. One of the things that I like the most about the school is that they use recycled materials to make collages and their own toys. Plastic bottles filled with puff balls, glitter and colored water make great kaleidoscopes. They can do more with a plastic tube than you can possibly imagine! I like that the value of re-use are part of the learning experience. "What ELSE can we use this for?" So...the Spanish thing. I am not a Spanish speaker. My wife is a native speaker and our daughter really is completely bilingual. She is almost 3 and she can talk your ears clean off in English or Spanish. She has been going to Playhood for around 18 months. I am completely jealous of how easily she has learned both languages because I have struggled for YEARS with Spanish. The only way to teach a kid a language is to immerse them in it. (I think of it as Spanish Submersion...glub....glub...glub). I have actually learned more Spanish since my daughter started talking than I have in years of study and linguistic abuse at the hands of my in-laws. Fortunately, both Vicky and Laura speak English as well, so I never have any problem communicating, getting reports or figuring out what is going on. Right now there are kids that mostly speak Spanish at home, mostly speak English at home, speak Spanish and Italian at home, and our house which is all Spanish for my wife and all English for me. We have gotten to meet all of the other parents at brunches at Casa Vicky or during drop offs and pickups. I feel like my daughter is completely safe and completely stimulated when she is at Casa Vicky. We were very lucky to have found them!

Our child has been at Playhood for over a year and we could not be more happy…read more Teachers: The teachers are creative, caring, thoughtful, and have a deep understanding of early childhood development. Because it is a small group of children with two teachers, they get a ton of individualized attention. The teachers send home a report with photos every day and touch base about any developmental issues. They helped us potty train, too! Our daughter is happy, growing, and learning Curriculum: The curriculum is structured but leaves plenty of room for the children to explore things they are interested in. The teachers modify their lesson plans when a child shows a specific interest in something. They do some form of art and/or music every day, they have free/guided play time every day. They often have sensory play or participate in preparing lunch. Space: It is in the home of one of the teachers. It is always very clean and perfectly set up for this age. There is a reading and greeting area upstairs, a playroom downstairs, space for sensory play, art and lunch near the kitchen upstairs, and a beautiful yard with plenty of things to explore. Food: Playhood provides a nutritious lunch and the kids love it. (Don't ask me how they do this, but the kids eat all their veggies!) Spanish immersion: If a child is coming in without knowing Spanish, they will help him or her out in English until the child can feel comfortable. For children with a base knowledge, you will see their Spanish blossom because they are getting it both from their teachers and from their peers. Philosophy: Most important to us was to find a place that was welcoming, kind and gentle, loving, responsible, creative, and stimulating for our child. We got lucky with Playhood! Cost: Very reasonable, especially when you consider the quality of education, the included lunch, and the comparison to other places in the area. I am happy to talk to any families thinking about Playhood. Feel free to contact me.

I have sent my son to Broadway Babies since he has was an infant and he has been loved and cared…read morefor by all of the staff there. If my baby has had a low grade temp or is not himself they have always been good about calling me and letting me know right away and I have even stopped in unannounced and have noticed the teachers to be just as on point as when I drop him off. There have been so many improvements to Broadway Babies in the last year from the renovations to the well kept classrooms and up beat nature of the staff. I am always comfortable dropping off my son and I know he his getting the best care and learning so much from the center.

This is the worst daycare that i have been to. My baby got a rash because of the neglect of the…read morestaff and to make it worse the director didn't even show any signs of caring.... just made excuses. I will never take my children here again and neither should you... worst daycare around, it needs to be shut down.

Echo Enrichment is a family oriented preschool that also offers social and education enrichment,…read moresummer camp, Friday night socials for kids (so parents can go out kid free) and special needs programs for teenagers one night a week. I moved to Burlington 2 years ago and heard about this place from time to time. My first experience with this fantastic facility was sending my 4 year old daughter to Science class there. Since that first time, she has taken more enrichment classes, had her birthday party there, attended summer camp along with my 2 special needs foster kids. My prior foster daughter attended the Saturday "night out" social (and loved it) and my 15 year old daughter has volunteered there for the past 2 summers. Maryanne (the owner and teacher) is fantastic with all the kids. She is always happy, calm and affectionate with the kids, offering them a fun unique learning experience with the comforts of home. Carlos, Maryanne's husband also works at Echo - he is a very warming and gentle man that all the kids love. He does more of the books and the meet and greet of parents but is always around offering a helping hand. Over the past year, I have noticed many parents pulling their kids out of public preschool and sending them to Echo. I've contemplated posting this because I still somewhat think of it as my kids special place that I can always take them to in a pinch with excitment.....without feeling bad. This is my 4 kids favorite place to go. My now 5 year old goes the most and generally jumps up and down, screaming in excitement when I tell her she is going. Echo has had a tremendous influence on her happiness and development.

My daughter and son have both attended this school and we've had a different experience with each…read morechild. My daughter who is your typical "cookie cutter student" and somewhat a quiet student did well, had a good experience and enjoyed the school because it was all about the social hour for her and making friends in a fun environment. The teacher did meet up with me one evening to tell me a concern regarding my daughter which by far was not a concern yet an opinion nor any of her business regarding my daughters love for dressing up for school. In the 2.5 years she was there however she only learned to somewhat write her name. My son was a completely different story. He attended the center for 2 years and does not know his alphabet nor can write his name. He has now been "let go" from the school due to the teacher stating he's be better off in a "smaller class size" as well as several other discussions of her opinions and observations regarding his behavior in which we've brought to the attention of his pediatrician, a kindergarten teacher, and a behavioral specialist all of which had agreed none of the described behavior had been concerning or unusual for that of a 4 year old BOY. Also coincidently, at the beginning of the year my email address somehow was not receiving the classes emails and I missed out on important dates such as "pajama day" and other fun days for the kids which lead me to drop off my son and run home to get his pajamas and run back to school so he wouldn't feel left out. We also had an issue in which my sons spot was taken on his scheduled day forcing me rearrange my work schedule to be able to accommodate my sons preschool schedule. (If you call this a preschool) Overall my most recent experience of this school is sadly negative. I'm still not sure if they are a daycare or a preschool because they'll claim to be both depending upon the situation the title is pertaining to. They play favoritism which I upsettingly have experienced and witnessed first hand. If you have a child that's is full of life, love and energy, then maybe this center is not for you!

I absolutely love them. Deidre is just the nicest woman you will ever speak to. The classes are…read moreso innovative and the space is meticulous. Children need fun, new, stimulating activities to do and this is definitely one for the longterm!

I nanny for a little girl that has been a part of this program for years and loves it. Deirdre is…read moreone of the sweetest and most patient women I've met. I've seen many amazing plays and watched a dear friend blossom while in this program! Highly recommend!

We visited the center to enroll our toddler…read more First impression: the center is in a basement with no windows and there is a terrible urine smell all throughout. As we walk through, there were only 4 teachers for 3 classroom (2 in infants, 1 for toddler and 1 for preschool), seems like the ratios are not being respected, how can they keep track of all the children when they are understaffed...? Now for the worst.: we walked in the bathroom where the children are being changed and there was a small child on the changing table by himself, the teacher had left the room to grab something, and 3 toddlers were playing around the toilet, again by themselves. This seems like a dangerous place for kids! The director Catherine apologized, but nevertheless that teacher shouldn't be allowed around kids, this is a child's life we are talking about, he could have fallen the changing table and get a concussion. Don't bring your child here, it's not a safe place .

Bright Future Educare Center has been wonderful in caring for our children. My son has been there…read morefrom the age of 1,5 years old and my daughter from the age of 3 months old. Every morning when we arrive, we are cheerfully greeted by the staff and the kids alike. My son has learned how to dance and sing, he was potty-trained and he's been doing craft projects. There are Christmas and Thanksgiving parties, and parties for the kids birthdays. The atmosphere is family-like, laid back, yet professional. Everybody knows each other by their first name and my kids simply love going there in the morning. We'll miss this place and the people (we are moving overseas).

We had our son going to this daycare since he was 1 y.o. (after switching from another daycare in…read moreWinthrop where we had a very unpleasant experience). The staff, Director and the owner were very nice and very responsive to all of our demands. Most teachers are great, attentive and are very caring. We have seen parents communing from northern neighborhoods here as well. We would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a good quality child care in Winthrop or around.

We have been taking our infant to the **Cambridge** location part-time since the end of October. I…read morecannot speak much re: Julie, the owner, who I only dealt with during the registration process and she doesn't appear to be at the Cambridge location much. I can't say enough about the Cambridge location. It's small, but I think that adds to the family-like atmosphere I experience there. I am 100% positive I am leaving my baby in wonderful hands. You can tell all the staff adores her and she gets tons of love. All the teachers, including those not in her "room" and the location's director, Gina, know my girl and her personality. And they know all the other kids too. The infant teachers, Sonia and Dinora, are great. I can tell my daughter loves it there. Is it the fanciest day care in the world? No. But we aren't the fanciest people in the world. What it lacks in frills it makes up for with a family-atmosphere, love, attention, learning, and play. We are moving soon and I am incredibly sad to leave. If it wouldn't add hours to our commutes, I'd be keeping my daughter there, no question!

On yelp, when you hover over two stars it says "Could've been better", and for three stars, it says…read more"OK". My experience at TLC wasn't OK. We started out talking with Gina who was a peach. She was friendly, responsive and communicative. She got me all the paperwork to start my son, and I felt great about it. The same day I filed that paperwork, they sent out an email about a tuition increase. I was shocked because I literally stood right in front of them, probably while the email had already been drafted, and nobody decided to tell me. From there, I had a bit of a snag with some medical documents, which meant we missed our original start date. We had everything sorted out by Wednesday, but despite the fact that my kid would only be attending part time, they advised they would not be willing to work with me in terms of full time versus part time tuition, so I kept him out for the full first week, which as a single mother working full-time wasn't excellent. After some time, I learned that there were several part time kids at the location who paid part time rates, but they didn't want to offer that to our family for some reason. Once we started, I expected the teachers to introduce themselves, especially since we started during COVID, so I didn't get to go into the school or even see these women's faces... but nope. I only learned one of their names, because the other teachers would call her over to receive checks - yes, that's right, it's 2021 and this place still ONLY accepts checks. Speaking of checks, on our second week there, I handed one to one of the teachers at drop off, and it apparently got lost. The director, Julie, emailed me several weeks later to try to shake me down (the abrasive tone of this email is what ended up being the straw that broke the camel's back for me). When I told her that I wished she'd told me sooner, she advised that not telling parents about their missed payments was a "courtesy"? lol. Like, just say that you forgot, don't make something up about trying to do me a favor while messing up my bank ledger. At that point, I started digging, and realized that they'd been gladly charging me the higher tuition rate that hadn't come into practice yet and for full time status while my kid was part time... but had the audacity to treat me like the jerk for them losing one of my checks, claiming i'd missed a payment like they were some kind of collections agency and not someone I was trusting my child with. In all, I overpaid $635 to this school, who tried to shake me down for $300. I called them out for the questionable tone, math, and ethics, but didn't receive a response. Icing on the cake, I asked them to waive the two month withdrawal policy, and they did, as a courtesy, and said my son would be withdrawn "effective immediately"... like did you just expel my 3 year old? Anyway. The teachers were nice, the kids and families are good. The school itself is small but seemingly tight knit. I know a lot of people who have had good experiences there, but overall, I was really dissatisfied and felt that I was being treated like an ATM versus a customer who was entrusting their child with care providers. But only if an ATM required writing paper checks in 2021 - I'm still blown away by that one!

As an employee, I am biased; however, this is by far one of the best centers I have ever been in. I…read morehave worked in several centers - privately owned, corporations, and now PTCC, which is a non-profit. PTCC is by far the best on so many levels. We do so much to help enrich the life of each child, parent, teacher, and family as a whole. There is always something exciting happening at PTCC. It could be that Wayne is singing with his guitar (he visits once a week), Coach Carroll is teaching us how to use our imagination to get fit (she comes every other week), or our new yoga teacher is helping a child appreciate stretching and breathing. Our teachers are some of the best in the country. We are all committed to making PTCC the best place for children. We have workshops to inspire, continue our education, and bring us more together as a family. As you walk through the halls of PTCC you will hear laughter, sometimes a baby crying, and lots of chatter. You will see smiles, hugs, kisses. You will feel a sense of community, pride, and excitement. Your child would fall in love if he or she visited the center, and so would you. Its a very exciting place that helps bring the imagination to life while expanding our knowledge of a variety of subjects. Our curriculum is based on Reggio Emilia's philosophies from schools in Italy. We take great pride in this and each year we are working to make it more "Reggio." Bottom line - Your child would be happy, safe, engaged, intrigued, loved, and excited at Peabody Terrace Children's Center and because of that you would be able to breathe easy while at work.

Amazing teachers. Beautiful school…read more Ask how much their teachers make. Ask how much planning time they get. Ask how much their ADMINS make. It will make you ill. Considering how much tuition costs, the fact that Harvard pays their rent, there is no excuse. No one who is charge of caring for your child should be treated this poorly.