Best Playgroup Cambridge Near Me

Kamian Coppins: I love this coop model! I’m so glad I found a super affordable way for my son to socialize with peers while I get a break from childcare. The space is really perfect and there are so many fun toys and activities. I love being part of the community and knowing all the people who are spending time with my child. It’s perfect for this toddler stage of our lives!

Sarah: We love Cambridge Co-op! Our daughter loves being there and it’s a great break for me. :)

Chantel Laser: My son has loved his time at Coop! He has made new friends, developed social skills, done cool activities and I get some kid-free time and adult interaction with a cool community of like minded parents. And the tuition is so low compared to other coops!

Lena Kuenkel: We could have not asked for a warmer or more loving first nursery school experience for our daughter. She is thriving at school and brings new songs and stories home every day. We can't recommend GNS enough, particularly as a first experience to little ones given the small group size and family-like environment.

Chris Straehla: Our daughter has thrived being a part of the GNS community. The teachers and staff are wonderful at fostering a kind, loving environment that fosters curiosity and relationships. A part-time preschool with 2, 3 and 5 day options has been a perfect fit for our family in the years leading up to kindergarten. I would highly recommend GNS!

Colleen Coffey: Our daughter has been enrolled at GNS for about 6 months and we could not be happier with our experience so far.  She attends the two-day program and every day she wakes up asking if it is a school day because she can't wait to go back.  The facilities are bright, fun and extremely clean.  Our daughter especially loves the outdoor time and spends a lot of time in the sandbox and mud kitchen cooking up lots of creations.For my husband and I being able to be a part of the school and her education through the cooperative program has been amazing.  We've both done one day of parent helping so far this year and it was so fun to be able to see our daughter in her school environment and helped give us a better sense of what her days at preschool look like.  Finally, the teachers are absolutely amazing.  We love that they use an emerging play curriculum and are always so impressed with the activities they come up with for the kids.

Zoe Trohatos: We are having such a wonderful experience at Garden Nursery School (GNS)! We love that GNS emphasizes social/emotional development and play! The teachers are exceptional and truly know all of the children. Our daughter is now in 2nd grade and still talks about her preschool teachers and the friends she made. GNS is the perfect first school experience, it gave our daughter the confidence and readiness to make the jump into elementary school. Our son is enrolled this year is having an amazing time! It is such a warm and welcoming environment. We highly recommend Garden Nursery school!

Angelika Makkas: GNS was an absolutely excellent school for our 2 children and a third starts next year. All of our children grew and learned leaps and bounds. But most importantly they are becoming empathetic kind people. Highly recommended.

Andrew Park: Our son was ready to start school but, of course, he had a rough start at the beginning. However, because of a great team of teachers and parent helpers, we are now fully enjoying to be part of GNS community! Best Pre-School experience ever!!

Devon B: Our 3 year old loves it. A very inclusive coop school.

Kate W: We started at GNS recently, but so far it’s been a great experience. The space is cozy, with plenty of natural light, and the teachers have been warm and friendly. Our son has fun every day he goes to school, and comes home excited to talk about what he’s done. He especially loves the daily dance parties! I also really like that GNS has a dedicated, fenced outdoor space with plenty of toys and a sandbox.We appreciate that there are a variety of attendance options- 2, 3, or 5 day, as well as early/extended care (FYI: late pickup is at 3 pm, there is no 5 pm option). This works for our family, but might not make sense if parents work during typical business hours.

Josefina Pelecanos: Our 4 year old daughter goes to Garden Nursery School five days a week and we are so happy with everything: the teachers and director are fantastic and make the school a warm, respectful and wonderful place for children to learn, play and grow. Our daughter loves to go to school every morning and we couldn't ask for more.

Sarah Moridpour: Amazing school and community! From the moment of our first visit, we knew that GNS was a unique place and we have found that to be true in every way- the director and teachers are just so warm and kind and the atmosphere is incredible.We love the parent-initiated and community-oriented structure of GNS; it has provided us with the benefits that many schools and daycare centers are lacking today: It is not only good for our daughter but for us as the parents, family, and community as a whole - we are learning together.We feel so lucky that we found GNS and the whole community.

Rachael Elliott: Our kids love going to Garden Nursery School, and we love the school's focus on play, respect, kindness, and communication. It's been an amazing year of growth for both of our kids, and especially the social and communication advances that we've seen in our son this year...we credit the teachers for their loving consistency, patience, and amazing care for each individual child in the school.Given the intimate size of the school and teacher-to-child ratio, we expected our kids would get lots of attention and guidance. (That was the case!)What surprised me was how impactful the cooperative aspect is at GNS: parents take turns helping out alongside teachers in the classroom, so we develop bonds with all of the children, in addition to the pleasure of seeing our own kids at play. Not to mention the respect I've gained for the many other parents who help keep the school running through volunteering their expertise in many fields. As a result, the sense of community at the school is vibrant and thriving.The school director and teachers are outstanding, and are clearly invested in creating a respectful environment among all of the children. Each day, our kids had opportunities to develop their social skills, language acquisition, fine and gross motor skills, etc. through creative play, problem solving, stories, dance party, and songs. When confronted with conflicts between students, the teachers help the children deal with their 'big feelings' by putting them into words and making a plan for how to move forward. They are attentive to the various and varied needs of each child in the classroom.After one year at Garden Nursery School, we can better understand what makes this place so fabulous. It was a poignant goodbye in June to the kids who are moving or entering school, and our younger one is so excited to return come September!

Amanda VanVleck: We had the privilege of spending 3 phenomenal years as part of the Garden Nursery family. The amazing teachers and director have created a safe and nurturing environment where each individual child is gifted the space and time and rich experiences to allow for extraordinary growth - both social/emotional and academic. My son lost both of his grandparents during his time at Garden Nursery and their long illnesses consumed our home life, but GNS offered him consistency, predictability and the warmest home away from home during these difficult years. I would recommend this school to anyone looking for a "just right" school experience en route to Kindergarten - there are 2-day, 3-day and 5-day programs. (Our son is thriving in Kindergarten now and I owe his confidence and willingness to take risks and his inclusive instincts to his amazing experience at Garden Nursery School.)

Katie Brillantes: We LOVE Garden Nursery School! My first 2 kids went to another pre-school as GNS was oversubscribed and we didn't win the lottery. My third finally got in and we couldn't be happier. It is a truly unique place where children and families form a community and share in the joy of each child's growth. The curriculum is child-lead and really evolves based on the interests of the group. My son's class decided to do all things train related for awhile and now they are running a restaurant (making menus, drawing play money, etc..). Since the ideas come from the kids, they are very engaged and take ownership over their projects. Another focus of GNS is to help children build their social / emotional skills. My son receives individual attention from the teachers everyday and they have really taken the time to get to know him. He had a hard time with separation at the beginning and the teachers helped him feel safe and comfortable in the most kind and nurturing way. Now he loves to go to school and happily waves from the "goodbye window" everyday. So grateful for such a wonderful start to school for my son. Couldn't recommend GNS more.

Merrill B. Lamont III: we're coming back next year! "PLAY is the 'work' of being a child" - that quote plus the focus on emotional-social development is what brought us - you can tell the staff are made for what they do - my 3yo daughter is having fun - it's actually a community for parents, too

Meg Vadakekalam: We can't say enough about how much we love GNS! It has been such a warm, supportive, empowering environment for our shy daughter. Since she started in the fall, we have watched her grow more confident every week and she is always so excited to go to school and play with her friends. The teachers and director are amazing and so dedicated, and the cooperative structure allows us to be an active part of the school community, which is so great for our daughter as well as ourselves. We highly recommend this wonderful school!

Jeff Rawson: GNS is truly a top-notch place! Our two kids are excited to go every morning, and come home with stories of unique activities from each day. The kids are so enthusiastic for their nursery school that they proudly wear their GNS t-shirts around town. The teachers work diligently, far above the minimum, to plan enriching activities for the kids, and they clearly implement the science of early childhood development into their practices. GNS is far more than a daycare, and will foster your child's emotional, intellectual, and social development. We've also enjoyed the expectation of parental participation; it's given us a chance to be involved with our kids at the school, to spend more time in the space and with the teachers, and bonded us with a community of other local parents.

Deidre Deegan: An incredible school with the best teachers and community spirit. Our daughter attended for two years, and is now in Kindergarten. She's more than well prepared and so confident and socially/emotionally more than ready, in no small part thanks to GNS. We really miss the school and teachers! The philosophy is to focus on social emotional as the foundation, with everything else branching and building from there. Science, math and early literacy are baked into the activities, though all our daughter knew was cozy, fun, friends. The parents are really involved, a wonderful built in community and nest type experience for the start of school -/ this is what preschool should be!

Daniel Wendel: I cannot imagine a more perfect first introduction to "school" than Garden Nursery School. My son found a second home at GNS where he was loved, understood, and valued for who he is. And that was true of each of his friends here, too. My son is now in a kindergarten program he loves at a Montessori school in Cambridge, so it's been 8 months since we left GNS, but when we went back to visit for "Alumni Day" last weekend, he absolutely glowed with joy. All of the friends who returned for a visit picked up right where they had left off, and, due to the community that developed from the co-op structure and "parent helping", the parents were really excited to catch up too!It is hard to identify exactly what it is that makes GNS so special, because it is a combination of so many things working together. But here are a few things that stand out:- Parent helping means that I got to know (and really care for!) the other kids in the class, beyond the caricatures that come from first impressions. In other schools I would have noticed the rambunctious kid at drop-off who was making my son feel a little intimidated. But at GNS, I helped to comfort that boy when he was crying because of how much he missed his daddy, and I learned that his heart was even bigger than his energy as he made the extra effort to invite my son into his games and activities. Perhaps it was the good influence of the teachers, or just that all the kids were all abnormally awesome, but I came to know and care for all of the children, and I know the other parents similarly care for my son.- The teachers treat the children with constant love, respect, and delight. I learned a tremendous amount about parenting by watching them! Everything from acknowledging and accepting "big feelings" to sharing in the awe of what a butterfly wing looks like under a magnifying glass let the children know that they were known, valued, and safe.- The play-based curriculum ("play is kids' work!") is wonderful. One thing my wife and I noticed when visiting other preschools was that in most places, our arrival caused some disturbance in the class, and typically several children would come talk to us or want to play with us, often competing for our attention. But when we visited GNS, we were struck with how unimportant our visit seemed! We certainly felt a warmth and happiness in the air, but there was also a sense of security and purpose that was lacking in our visits elsewhere. I described it to my wife as "this picture isn't going to color itself!" and "these cars aren't going to drive themselves!". It was as if each of them felt they were contributing something to the world in their play, whereas in other schools the children were just biding their time until they got to go home again.My predominant feeling when reflecting back on our experience at GNS is one of gratitude. We really struggled with our decisions about childcare and preschool, and ultimately felt like we were just kind of guessing and hoping for the best. So I'm extremely grateful that we got to be a part of something so wonderful. I wish that every preschooler could have the experience my son had.

Ellenor Barish: We have loved our time at GNS. The staff is highly skilled, compassionate and passionate about their work with our families. They encourage each child to explore and develop their personal interests and to share their experiences with their classmates. GNS is a place where children bloom. And as Parent Helpers we get to witness and participate in the process in a unique way. Plus - it’s easy to get there via public transportation.

Mathias Neuber: GNS has been a great experience for both us and the kids. The kids love the time that they spend at the school. They love going there and talk enthusiastically about their day and the their teachers and friends. The focus of the school on learning through play and preparing them socially for kindergarten. The teachers are amazing with children this age--as parents, we have learned many tips and tricks from the teachers on raising our children. As a co-op, GNS actively involves the parents in their child's learning and development. We are asked to participate in the classroom a few times during the year which helps us understand how our children interact in environments outside of the home and family. We could not think of a better place for nursery schools.

Meron Getaneh: I feel very safe leveling my children at this school because of the kind and friendly environment and staff.

Kaveh Daneshvar: We feel very lucky to have our daughter at this daycare center. She started in the infant room when she was six months old and now she is about to transition to the toddler room. The main teacher in the infant room is highly experienced and brings a lot of joy and love to the babies. The assistant teacher and all the other teachers are very kind and caring too. The owner of the center is very receptive to feedback and always looking into ways to improve the center. In addition, this daycare center has a couple of features that set it apart from other centers in the area: they provide food (lunch, snacks, etc.), and there is a live camera that you can use to see your child from your cellphone on on your computer.

Milien Sophonie: It was a great Daycare. Thank you for being there for my child and teach her some good thing.

Ghosts Girl: Pretty racist

Ryoji Amamoto: Although we were only at Kiddie Academy for 4 months, the teachers took care of our then-4 month old with the utmost care! Our little one loved going to daycare everyday! Being able to watch him everyday through WatchMeGrow and Tadpole was also very helpful. I would totally recommend Kiddie Academy of Cambridge to any parent

Taina Pimentel: I was concern about choosing the right school/ daycare for my child. I am extremely happy with the progress my son has made, they work his schedule with early intervention perfectly. They have great teachers, very kind, respectful and the owner is so sweet! Highly recommend it.

Dianne Francis: Kiddie Academy was a great transition for my 3 and 4 year olds. They were able to be in the same classroom and LOVED their teachers. It's been 3 months since they attended the school now and they still talk about their friends and teachers at there. The teachers really care about the the kids in their care. I also loved the WatchMeGrow app and the ability to peek in on my kids in the middle of the day should I desire. Would definitely recommend.

Maria Cecilia Saberi: Kiddie Academy of Cambridge was excellent. My son's childcare was closed during the holidays and so he went to Kiddie Academy and had a blast. The teachers were kind and caring to my son who was initially nervous going in. During the second day, he told me he wanted to go to school which shows me that he had a great experience there. I would definitely go back to Kiddie academy again for my son's childcare.

Meghan McGill: Our 1.5 year old daughter started at Kiddie Academy in September 2021. The owner and director immediately made us feel welcome and have great communication with parents. The teachers here are so kind and warm. My daughter has really bonded with them and is happy to see them every morning when they greet her at the door. It’s a challenging time to run a daycare center, and we’re so grateful to KA for keeping our daughter happy, healthy, and engaged!

r liu: Positive:Professionalism,Quality,Reliability,Responsiveness,Value

Dr. Leah Schweitzer: Have really been impressed with our experience at Kiddie Academy. Our two year old was enrolled at age 3 months but was pulled out due to COVID; he returned to the toddler room a few months ago. We have found the owner and staff to be incredibly responsive and flexible to changes in my schedule. In addition, the teachers have been amazing— warm, caring— our kid loves them. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for childcare in Cambridge area.

Eva Liu: Positive:Professionalism,Quality,Responsiveness,Value

Hadar Ben Ari: Positive:Professionalism,ReliabilityThe teachers in Kiddie were incredible, warm, and professional.

Masayuki Goto: Positive:Reliability,Responsiveness,Value

Abigail Conway: Positive:Professionalism,Reliability,Responsiveness

Luri: Kiddie is very suitable for children of toddler age, especially those in kindergarten for the first time, because there are video cameras for parents to know their children’s situation at any time.

Xiaofu L: Kiddie Academy of Cambridge did a great job during the pandemic. My son(2) started at this center in April and loves here so much. We were so impressed with the warmness of the staff. My son were excited to go to school everyday and have fallen in love with the teachers and friends.

Martin Williams: Positive:Professionalism,Quality,Reliability,Responsiveness,ValueAbsolutely the best daycare I've had the pleasure to work with!

Biddline Durosier: Positive:Professionalism

Nat R.: Very unprofessional teachers/ staff members.