This little preschool is so sweet in its prime location overlooking Casino Beach. The kids learn a…read morelot to prep them for school.. Creativeness, learning skills, how to play nicely and develop lifelong friendships! The location also makes you want to walk there to pick them up, bring a lunch to have on Casino beach or go a little further towards Portland headlight. As a Nanny I enjoy the friendships made between the little ones and also the adults!! I have watched the children develop into wonderful smart respectful caring kiddos through the kind devoted teachers here. I highly recommend Maiden cove for your preschool children early development years!

Our daughter has attended NAMS for the past 2 years and she is having a wonderful and enriching…read moreexperience. The teachers inspire creativity through art and play while laying the ground work education she needs in preparation for elementary school. Our daughter is also learning how to form close friendships and recognize and express her emotions and this is invaluable. She is always happy and smiling when we pick her up and this makes being working parents much easier.

From the owner: We specialize in quality child care for infants through preschool children utilizing Montessori…read moreearly childhood educational practices. We are open year round and have years of experience.

My daughter has been attending this school since the summer and she really enjoys it. Breakfast is…read moreserved in the classroom and she eats lunch with her friends and teachers in the cafeteria. The classrooms are well appointed and keeps my little girl very involved. She likes her teachers a lot and comes home playing school. The school staff are always very friendly and helpful. I ask them for advice often and they are very willing to listen and provide guidance. Overall the school is a very supportive environment. The school has a nice size playground for the kids to remain active.

From the owner: As Maine's oldest child care center, we offer full-day, full-year, quality early care and education…read morefor children from 6 weeks to 5 years in our 6 classrooms. We prioritize low to moderate income families, and provide a healthy breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. We have a great outdoor playground and take advantage of our downtown Portland location with walking field trips.

Our child attended Toddle Inn for 4 years, from the time he was 8 weeks old until two months ago,…read morewhen we were suddenly told they could not accommodate him anymore and we were asked to leave immediately. It was a very traumatic experience for our family, as we had to explain to our extremely bright 4-year old that he wasn't going back to the place he considered his second home. It recently came to light that we were part of a corporate purge of children who they found too difficult to manage, and who didn't fit in to their one-size-fits-all program. DO NOT send your child here if they are gifted, "spirited", or require any level of additional attention beyond the very basic levels they're required to provide. The staff is a revolving door, with the exception of a handful of wonderful teachers who should leave that place and join a program where their dedication will be valued and the children will not be treated as disposable commodities for turning a profit.

HORRENDOUS PROGRAM!!!! do not be tempted by the convenient…read morelocation. The owners are negligent on ALL accounts. We had dozens of "accident reports" to sign for both of our children within weeks of beginning the program. Bruises, cuts, inexplicable injuries on the playground....and careless excuses for each from incompetent and underpaid staff. Every week there was a new "teacher" in our children's classrooms because the owners do not know how to run a buisness in order to take care of existing staff or to attract better staff. Lots of lazy blue collar staff with no previous childcare experience. Walked into my daughters classroom to hear a young staff member yell at a 2 year old toddler to "shut up and sit down"... I brought this up immediately to the owners and they did ZERO to address the issue. We pulled our children out immediately. If I could give this facility zero stars I absolutely would.

What a great place! The teachers/staff/owners all truly care about the kids. My husband and I have…read moreput 4 kids through Little Hands and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a daycare in the area. As our kids got older, we put them into the after-school program and that is a great spot as well. The kids are well taken care of, the activities and themes seem to keep the children engaged. When we talked to the kids about their day went, they tell us about all that they did and how they love their teachers. I always cried the day I went back to work after my maternity leaves... but it was always reassuring knowing that they were going to a place that was good for them. We recently moved to Missouri and we miss a lot about southern Maine, our kids still talk about Little Hands.