I sent both my children to Backyard Friends from the ages of 2-4. Gina was an amazing caregiver and early childhood educator. She did a lot of age-appropriate hands on activities, art projects and lessons which I believe to be a more formal education than what my son received in the full day CDC program at LBUSD. Backyard Friends provided home cooked lunches daily and both of my kids were potty trained at school. I have seen Gina go above and beyond for her students and their families. She knows each child on an individual basis and gives them 100% personal attention. We have kept in touch with the families we attended school with here and see them regularly even though we don't live near one another and haven't been in school together for the last 3 years. Backyard Friends provides a great intimate setting for your children to learn, grow and make friends and lasting memories. read more

My daughter attended for 3 years, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. The environment was always warm, welcoming, and safe. The provider treated the children with so much care and made it feel like a second home. I always felt at ease knowing my daughter was not only well cared for but also learning and growing every day. She now is officially in kindergarten! We are so grateful for the love and support she received here and would highly recommend this daycare to any parent looking for a nurturing place for their child. read more

Backyard Friends Child Care - Child Care & Day Care Near Me

We sent both of our daughters to Gina from infancy to 3 and 4 years. She is great! She was very communicative and clear regarding schedules. My daughters always ran in without tears excited to play with friends. The girls learned their alphabet and counting to large numbers at an early age, as well as the days of the week and months of the year. If we ever had another we would send them to Gina again, we trust her and feel very comfortable with our children in her care. We always recommend backyard friends to anyone we know looking for child care. If you are considering a home daycare then look no further! read more

We got so lucky when we found Backyard Friends Child Care six years ago! My kids were always happy when I picked them up, and practically ran inside each morning. Our son started around 12 months old, and continued until he went to kindergarten. Then we brought our daughter here until she was two and we moved out of the area. Two totally different little personalities and they both THRIVED under the loving, attentive care at Backyard Friends Child Care. My son had no issue keeping up with the other kindergarteners since they do a lot of preschool programming at Backyard Friends. The kids get hands on projects everyday (art and nature projects), there are lots of fun toys inside and outside to play with, and they take the time to make every holiday is special for the kids. It's more than I expected in so many ways, and if we weren't moving we'd still be going here! read more

Backyard Friends Child Care was amazing for our son and us! Thank you to Gina and her great staff. So much love and support through some challenging times in the world and at home. Would recommend without hesitation and will miss them. My son learned so much, was engaged and always happy to go. Some amazing art projects, lessons and experiences. I feel very lucky to have been referred to Gina! read more

Miss Gina and Miss Erika are the best! My son went to Backyard Friends for 2 years, and we all had the best experience. They treated our son like their own. We didn't have to pack lunches, which saved us time and money. He would come home with fun stories of his day with his friends and the arts and crafts he had made that day. He was always clean and well taken care of. I will be wanting to take my new little guy there when he is old enough. Couldn't recommend enough! Thank you Backyard Friends! read more

Very friendly environment. Ms. Gina always has activities and lessons for the kids. Very pleased here and would 100% recommend.

Backyard Friends Child Care is a wonderful place to send your child. The children are WELL taken care of. I recommended Backyard Friends to my sister to send my nephew and niece here. They would tell me all the fun activities they did on the daily and were so excited to go. They made so many friends and were treated with care. This child care has built in preschool curriculum, potty training, and I love how diverse and welcoming they are. The childcare is kept well cleaned everyday and they are WONDERFUL at communicating. I highly recommend Backyard Friends to anyone looking for a place to send your child or children. Backyard friends will absolutely take care of your child because they value education and are passionate about providing your child with the best care. They want what's best for your child and will prepare them for their future going forward with school. read more

We feel so lucky to have found Backyard Friends! This was our first experience putting our kiddo into daycare and needless to say we were nervous. But Ms. Gina quickly eased our fears, giving us updates to let us know how things were going. It was also quickly apparent that Ms. Gina is highly experienced in childcare (she definitely taught me a thing or two) and is on top of every detail - giving me the peace of mind to know my kiddo was not only safe but in an environment in which she was able to learn and thrive. Ms. Gina and her team are one of a kind and we are so grateful for all they do! read more

We had such a great experience with Backyard Friends Child Care! My daughter had so much fun and was always happy there. Gina and her staff were very attentive to my daughter's needs. They do so many fun activities for the kids, including lots of arts and crafts. Backyard friends also has a great academic program. I definitely recommend Backyard Friends! read more

Our son had an amazing experience with Gina and her staff. He developed and learned so much which prepared him for pre-school. Gina and her staff always communicated well with us especially our little guys first couple of days. To this day every time we drive by Gina's house our son yells out"GINA" and we ask him if he wants to go and say yes!! Kids don't lie about what they like or don't like, so they made a great impression on both us and our son. Thank you!! read more

Gina Colocho is a professional child care provider. She is kind, caring, and a hard worker. She ensures that all the children are well taken care of and does the most to provide a great education for the kiddos. She is amazing and I highly recommend Backyard Friends Childcare for anyone looking for a nice, clean, and safe learning space to send your children. read more

I am very disgusted with this child care. I entrusted Gina with my precious son and I was upfront and honet regarding my son's potty training needs and she agreed with his plan of care and she seemed willing to assist. She had a reasonable fee so this daycare was attractive to me. My son had occasional potty accidents during his short time there and she initially seemed understanding regarding the issue. Over time, she became very frustrated and never once did she invite me in her home to sit down in private and have a proper discussion regarding this issue. On 2 occasions my son did not want to go to sleep for nap time and this too frustrated her as well. Eventually, she came to the point where she was blaming my son's potty accidents for when the other kids at the daycare had an potty accident and telling the other parents that it was all my son's fault! How ridiculus and unprofessional is that! I could not believe what she was telling me! Then one day out of the blue she handed me a two week notice that my son could not continue to come back. She didn't even bother to explain herself. She just said "Its all in the letter." The letter was horribly written and the tone was as if my son is just awful and he is just an innocent child trying to learn and thrive. Please don't bring your children this daycare. It will not be a good experience. Response to Gina: Gina C., I am now even more disgusted with you making a written statement and lying on me versus calling me direct to discuss like you did with Bethany C. (see one star review below) who had a similar complaint of your unprofessional manner of handling your wanting to dismiss her child from your care. Just as in her case you discussed my child with others, in my case other parents. You blamed my son for their children having potty accidents. You gave me a letter and never asked to meet with me in person. I did not lie or mislead you in any manner about the status of my son and his potty-training issues. It was indeed the very reason I brought him there and discussed his situation with you in full detail. You make it seem like I misled you. He does know how to do all the steps of using the toilet and you were fully aware he had accidents at times and that was why he was not able to stay at the previous preschool, where he had been for two months. If he did not know the steps he would not have lasted that long. We discussed that on occasion he would get so focused on other activities he would forget to ask. You touted your ability to fully train him and if your definition of his not being trained is because I put pull ups on him at night and do not wake him every two hours, then excuse me and Webster dictionary and most people, who would not agree. YOU did not even wake him from his nap time to make him go to the potty and instead added these accidents to the weekly count versus admitting he only had on average one accident a week while fully awake. Even adults have bed wetting issues at night yet know how to go to the toilet when fully awake. My telling you this after his enrollment was not lying to you by omission, I immediately mentioned this when we both agreed to use pull ups on him to help during the transition period of you fully training him. If I had intentionally lied knowing this was considered the hallmark of potty training, then why would I ever tell you. The earmark of a professional is to admit that they did their best, but they are just not able to meet the goals we had discussed and that you would prefer I find another facility. A professional would admit that they had lost patience with my son and did not want to continue with the plan we had discussed. A professional would then tell me to my face and end on a mutual understanding. You did not do this, rather you defamed my son and insulted me and to add more insult to injury, did not even refund me the full amount I was due. You owe me an additional $17, and if you think I am petty just consider for a moment how you would add such a small amount to your unprofessional profile. Hopefully, you will learn from this experience and indeed ask and examine yourself as to why you would blame my child to other parents, write me a letter and give the other lady who complained about you a phone call. read more

Instead of asking us to leave, she'd keep hinting to us that she wanted our spot for another child. Tried to push multi level marketing for Kangan water filters that she sold. Would argue with us about our child in front of other children. Very abrupt and at times a little abrasive when discussing sensitive issues about our daughter's care and medical history. Very unprofessional. After reading my post on Yelp, owner called my husband to clarify that she didn't need our spot for the other child, and to offer apologies for the way in which care was terminated. She did hint to us that she wanted us to find alternate care for several weeks before being straightforward and asking us to leave. Such private conversations about care for our daughter should have been done in private, and were instead done in front of the other children she was watching. I maintain that this was unprofessional behavior. read more

We love Miss Gina and Miss Erika. My oldest daughter went to Backyard Friends from 20 months to almost 4 years old, and my youngest daughter who is turning 2 has been there for over a year and will be there much longer. They have awesome art projects, several areas for the kids to play outside with lots of fun activities, and they run a great academic program. Both of my kids love(d) going and we couldn't be happier! read more

Gina and her staff were great. My daughter attended Backyard Friends for a few months before we moved out of state. Gina comes up with the coolest arts and craft projects you want to keep forever. Gina even made adjustments to meet the requirements of my work schedule. I highly recommend BYFs! read more

Gina is wonderful. Curriculum, socialization and the art projects are outstanding. Glad we found her. . read more

Our son has been enrolled in this daycare for almost 3 years. They have helped in teaching him his alphabet, numbers, colors & sight words. Gina & Erica are wonderful with the kids. They are caring, attentive & nurturing. Not only does he learn a lot, he also eats well & has lots of fun. We are confident that he is fully prepared to enter into kindergarten!! We recently enrolled our infant daughter. As difficult as it is to leave an infant, we are at ease because we know she is in loving, capable hands. I would highly recommend this daycare. Check it out! read more

Gina is great with the little ones! The children have their own classroom where learning and play takes place. The children are taught an array of skills including positive social skills, making new friends, and creating beautiful craft projects to take home to their parents. Three outdoor play areas are also available for fun times!! The environment here is truly magnificent- just like home away from home! read more

I want to 2nd everything that Lydia A. wrote. I came on here to write a review of Backyard Friends based on our experience so far but I couldn't have wrote it better than she did. We faced the exact same situation with our son and it was like night and day. Some children just need a little extra individual attention and Gina and her staff are great at this. This a great, well-rounded home child care! read more

I am so thankful my husband found Backyard Friends Daycare. I was so afraid of leaving my baby with somebody we didn't know. From the first time we met Gina, we knew this was the place. They are truly one of a kind. My daughter has learned so much from counting, to learning her letters, colors, shapes and so much more. She's always happy when we pick her up. She eats healthy meals and snacks and always comes home with the cutest projects. I'm so thankful we were able to meet these individuals who have shown nothing but a caring heart. I'm sad to know that our journey with Backyard Friends will soon come to an end, but grateful to have had the opportunity to create beautiful memories in my Daughter's life. read more

My husband and I highly recommend this daycare! Our oldest has been attending Backyard Friends since she was 2 months old. She is now 3 1/2 years. From the very beginning, Gina has exhibited nothing but kindness and attentiveness to our daughter's needs. Olivia loves sharing with us her daily learnings, such as her letter writing, drawings, and projects. Additionally, Gina differentiates her instruction to fit My daughter's needs and models best practices by teaching our daughter to respect the other children and clean up after herself, as well as allowing opportunities to play outside (she has three separate outside play areas). In terms of meeting our weekly schedule, Gina is extremely flexible. She has always made sure to honor and follow our eating preferences for our daughter. Now our eight month old, our youngest, is also attending this daycare. We are very appreciative in the care our children receive....our children love Gina and Erica. For these reasons listed and more, I give this stellar review and recommendation. read more

Backyard friends was a Godsend for my family. I informed Gina of the challenges my son was having at his previous daycare and she accepted him anyway. Within the first week my son was potty trained. My son has a lot of energy and their day care did adequately accommodate his playful behavior. They are on top of the daily curriculum. My son learned a lot during his time at backyard friends and it was sad to see him leave. Very best wishes to Gina and the very nice staff at backyard friends. Would strongly recommend backyard friends. read more

Gina and her staff are unrivaled. My son has been at Backyard Friends for a few months now. He came from a preschool with a larger child to student ratio, where he was struggling in the environment and "lost in the crowd" of other kids. He was constantly in trouble and was having mostly bad days. He was struggling emotionally and socially. When we met with Gina for the first time, we explained the entire situation to her. She welcomed our son with open arms and was looking forward to helping him. We made an immediate move to her daycare. After just a few weeks in her care, he was a totally different child. He comes home everyday with art projects, and looks forward to going to daycare in the morning for the first time EVER. After three years of crying during dropoffs, he no longer cries! Gina, Erica, and Tammy have taught and guided him in how to better interact with the other children. He has started the Kindergarten curriculum early, and is learning so much. As parents, we could not be happier, and we could not ask for anything more in a child care provider. We are forever grateful to Gina and her staff for accepting the challenge and helping our son to excel and thrive, rather than just survive his days. They genuinely care about all of the kids in their care. It is completely night and day from the center he was in previously. Backyard Friends is making a big difference in his life everyday in multiple ways. Highly recommend! read more

Having grown up in Long Beach I know this is one of the best neighborhoods to raise your children. My boy and girl are an integral part of this community and Back yard friends gives them the tools they need to succeed in life this stage of their life! Thank you Gina and Backyard friends child care. read more

My son attended Backyard Friends a few years ago. I was extremely pleased with Gina and her staff. They are very professional and well organized. I have never observed Gina or anyone else who worked there conduct them self in an inadequate manner. I am always recommending Backyard Friends as a referral for parents who need a good childcare. It is a very difficult transition to need a childcare establishment and I highly recommend Backyard Friends childcare. read more

Our son has been attending Backyard Friends for about a year now when he was two years old. He can now recite each letter of the alphabet and name two words that begin with that letter beyond many other things. He has learned so much from Gina, Erica and Tammy and he has so much fun there. Mere words cannot express our gratitude as they are truly exceptional. With the school curriculum, art projects, fun games and great care, we are beyond lucky in finding this place. Caring for our son and building his educational foundation is priceless!! read more

I love backyard friends child care. They are very professional and nurturing. Great curriculum and activities for the children. I highly recommend them. read more

My son has been going to Backyard Friends daycare for over three years, from the age of 2 to 5. He loves Gina! She has a great structure for the children, including arts and crafts, playtime, nap time and educational activities. The environment is clean, safe, warm, and nurturing. I recommend highly Backyard Friends because Gina treats all of the children like they are her own. read more

My daughter has been going here for two years now and she absolutely loves it, she has from day 1! She has learned so much from Gina, Erica and Tammy. She will be going to kindergarten in Sept and I know that she is sooo ready, thanks to these lovely ladies. They genuinely care about the children and their well being. My sister in law is a teacher at a great school and has always been impressed with my daughters progress and they projects they do with the kids. Hands down these ladies are great in every way, very nice and approachable, easy to get along with and wonderful with the kids! read more