Lakeshore Children's Center has a new director and new vision. To compliment its commitment to teaching children through play to respect themselves and others, it has added a curriculum inspired by Reggio Emilia. The classroom has been refreshed and looks great. I am excited by what is happening at LCC and recommend this preschool to all families wanting a safe, loving and caring environment for their child. read more

This is a great camp for afterschool and the summer program is incredible! All the kids have a great time and they never have problems. The counselors and staff are so kind and they always deliver. The value of the camp is so great, and a pretty good price also. read more

My son is now almost 8 and still attends the after school program. They have been great. They are generally open most holidays and offer great camps during thanksgiving, spring break and in the summer. Going on 6 years with them I highly recommend their care. read more

This is a totally mixed review. We're here during OUSD's one-week spring break camp only. For my kid, it's fantastic -- great kids, great teachers, field trips to Chuck E. Cheese's and the bowling alley. He loves it. For me, it's a hassle. They double-billed me ... and then they verbally told me over the phone that they were open on certain dates but later said, "oops we forgot, one of the days is a holiday!" leaving me to scrounge for childcare. So my husband and I are sort of torn. But I'm giving it four stars because of Junior. read more

We absolutely LOVE LCC. It is not perfect by any means (I mean, no school is going to do things 100% in-line with how you would do it yourself), but really does provide a safe, nurturing environment for our kids to learn and grow both academically and emotionally. I love that the kids are cared for, but not overly coddled, allowing them to learn some life skills and self-sufficiency. The staff bring a lot of experience to the table-- many have been at LCC for 20+ years! There are also some younger staff members (some even alums of the school) who are bringing in a fresh perspective and helping to streamline things behind the scenes. There are a lot of different personalities among the staff, which teachers your children how to interact with a lot of different types of people-- I think it's great! All of the teachers truly seem to care about the children and combine a nurturing yet no-nonsense approach that is effective. The children feel safe to learn and also to make mistakes but know that they are held accountable for their behavior. One of the biggest selling points of the school is the compassion it helps to develop. It is a peace academy and teaches the kids how to interact and coexist. It gives them room (both physical and mental) to burn off a lot of their kid energy and also fosters problem-solving in a respectful way. The family community is also great-- it feels very diverse but ethnically and economically. It's mostly working parents who need a full-time preschool that isn't closed for random weeks throughout the year. People are pretty down-to-earth and approachable vs helicoptering their kids through every detail of their lives. To sum it up, if you want your children in a nurturing environment that allows them to be kids, this is the place! It is home-y and loving, a bit of a throwback to my mid-80s preschool experience, but in a good way. read more

My son attended the LCC preschool program for a year between ages 2-3, and just left in September 2023. At first, we though some of the quirks were due to the pademic, but as life returned to normal, LCC didn't shift along with it. The website states there is a credentialed Kinder teacher on staff, but this is out of date information. Our experience was troubling. This is billed as a co-op, but parents are not allowed or encouraged inside beyond reading books to the children at 5p (right before pickup) or volunteering for physical labor (upgrades to the facility) on the weekends. Little communication. On holidays you might get a photo texted, or a random text to bring wipes. At other times, my son came home with bloody skinned knees, etc. and no explanation. He often didn't want to go inside in the mornings. After I potty trained him on a long weekend, it was a struggle to get staff to continue the routine. Snacks are unhealthy (oreos, etc), and pizza parties are a frequent occurrence. When I brought him alternate, dairy-free pizza on those days, I found that other dairy-free kids were not given anything else and just watched as the other kids ate their pizza. He was also "accidentally" fed dairy at times. Along with some of the other parents, I began meeting with the director monthly. Most of what was agreed to by admin in those meetings never came to fruition, likely due to the conflict of interest (the facility director is the son of the head teacher). During the month we left, at least 4 other families also left for similar reasons. read more

First, let me say that I hate to give negative reviews unless it's absolutely necessary. In this case, especially as it involves kids, I feel it's necessary. I am not a current parent there, but had my kid on their waiting list for a while. I decided to do an unscheduled visit. I had visited LCC twice before, and previously loved the place, and was excited that my child would be attending there at some point. (Read: Very Excited, so I have no reason to speak negatively if not for the truth). I observed circle time during my last visit. I was informed that the kids had been sitting there for about an hour, and you could tell they were a bit restless. (Not ideal, but I could let that slide). What I couldn't deal with was the teacher. I observed her use her finger to poke 3 kids on their heads, separately, while telling them they were not being good. I also observed her use her foot to shove a little boy's feet to the side. He was sitting on the floor, and she was standing. She was telling him that he was not being good. This to me is demeaning, and completely unacceptable. (Mind you, these kids were restless from sitting for an hour in circle time, they were not unruly by any means). When she finally dismissed the kids to go to the yard, she did so by calling their name one at a time, in kind of an intimidating fashion by pausing between names, calling out the ones who were being totally still. She said to about three of the kids "You're last. You're not being good." Honestly, I felt a bit deflated by the time the last kid was excused. A couple of other issues with this teacher is that her tone was harsh at times. She wasn't the cheerful type that you'd hope to have around your kid all day. Not once did she say "please" or "thank you" when talking to the kids. Kids learn respect by being respected. She was definitely not a good example of this. The crazy thing is that I was standing there in plain sight while observing her. So if she was doing this with me standing there, I couldn't help but wonder what does she do or say when no one is watching. I sent an e-mail to the school asking that I be withdrawn from the waiting list and explained my observation. I don't know how the other teachers are, but from what I observed, this is not a positive, confidence-building environment. The response I got back from the school was that they were indeed sorry for my observation and would address it with the teacher, that she had been there for 30 years, and that none of the parents had ever complained. In addition to her, there are a couple of safety issues that I feel are of concern with the school as well. I won't go into detail as this is the internet and I don't want to expose the kids in any way. But, I feel it's too easy to gain access to the children, and they should consider addressing that issue. Again, I was there to observe and make a final decision about having my child attend the school. I have no reason to say anything falsely negative about this place. My child was on the list and due to start soon. I wanted her to be there, for it to be a match. Unfortunately, it's not. read more

Irresponsible, unsafe aftercare. There were several incidences that made me remove my child from this after care. The director picked up my 4 year old with out a car seat. (she told me "I just forgot to put the seat in the van") The director fed my vegetarian child a Mc Donald hamburger. (Who give fast food to day care kids, let alone beef?) When I asked her why this happened, she told me my child wanted it. (What kind of care taking philosophy is that, give them any thing they want?) She was also fed walnuts (Once again her intake form said no walnuts due to allergies) All the after care kids are put together in one large room and are allowed to just run wild while the care takers just sit at the back table. I never once saw them standing or working with the kids. The older kids often talked about non-age appropriate things and I would have to spend time trying to explain why they said this or that. They would sit them in front of the TV for a few hours some times. My advice, pay a little more and send your child to a safe environment with educators. It was just a horrible experience. read more

We live in the neighborhood and it's so convenient but they used to require that kids are fully potty trained before they could sing up. They changed that recently so we moved out 2 year old from his day care in Berkeley and we are very happy. (We loved the place in Berkeley too but there were so many rules, and closed days, and regulations and exceptions. The teachers are great but they don't seem happy as I think they have higher ups breathing down their necks micro managing) Not so LCC. It's very loose. The kids just play. The teachers are loud and silly and the kids love them. The place is a little funky for sure but it still feels safe and our son loves it. Better still there's just one price for one long day. 7:30 am-5:30pm. You can drop in as you please. They are hardly ever closed, they feed them breakfast and the fee is super "affordable" compared to what we were paying. ( I can never reconcile the logic of a day care center that closes for up to 5 weeks a year and charges parents for this.. just irks the hell out of me! LCC DO NOT do this! Yay! They are a community based service as all day care centers should be! ) So we love it. Some folks want to know every little detail about every little thing their kid does ( our last place had a pee and poo sheet! Seriously! Do you really need to know when your kid takes a dump every day?) but this is my 3rd kid so I'm not so stressed about this any more. Just want to pick him up alive and happy each day. So far so good. read more

This is a great place for children. My son goes here and he loves it. The teachers have a great deal of experience, are friendly, and care about the children. Play is structured but there is a lot of opportunity for fun and learning. In addition to the large sand-filled playground outside, during rainy days the kids play in a huge hall with lots of natural light. The place is a bit funky but safe, comfortable, and well run. It is a neighborhood preschool with lots of siblings, entire families, going through the school, kind of a hidden gem. read more

Lakeshore Children's Center - Photo of the outside playground - Child Care & Day Care Near Me - Oakland, California

My granddaughter attended LCC last year, moving to SoCal at the end of January of this year. During the summer, she visited me for a few weeks, and she happily went back without missing a beat! She formed quite a few special relationships there with teachers and classmates. I am a volunteer story reader for the Oakland Public Library, and I've continued reading at LCC at least once a month because those children are one of my favorite audience! They are attentive, engaged, and well-behaved, which I attribute to the caring staff there. read more

My daughter has been going to LCC for about 4 months now and I really couldn't be happier. LCC is such a warm and caring place, my daughter just loves it. The teachers have all been there for years and years (most of them over 20yrs) and there is a real since of family. The staff provides lots of awesome activities for the kids like bringing in a mobile zoo, bounce house, parties and lots and lots of crafts for the kids to make. My daughter spelled her name the other day and I was completely blown away. Once a month they have "Parents Night Out" so for a small fee you can drop your child off and have a date night with your significant other (so awesome) while knowing your child is safe with people you are comfortable with. There is a camping trip in August for LCC families which we are all looking forward to. Their rates are very, very reasonable and I really couldn't be happier with our choice of LCC. P.S. To that one person who wrote a negative review (without even having your child enrolled there) I think your completely full of it. I mean you can't start out a review by saying "First, let me say that I hate to give negative reviews unless absolutely necessary." but yet you only have one review on Yelp and it's negative!!! I call Shenanigans on Michelle R. review! read more

We've been LCC parents for over a year now. Our little boy (in Kleines but moving to Kinder) loves the place, the teachers, and the environment. Not only are they play-based, and spend a fair amount of time outside, when it rains (which it did a lot this year) they have a massive room called Barnett Hall to bring the children just behind the school--all interconnected so the children are 100% protected. This would be a five star review except for one thing: they don't tend to give you much communication about how your child's day went. I'd prefer to get a one-page check-off sheet on whether he ate, slept, behaved, listened, seemed happy, seemed off, seemed sick, etc. While the teachers are always very happy to tell you how they did (if you get their early enough to talk with one who has been there all day) this sheet would make it much easier. It is clear that all the teachers I've come across truly care for the kids, give a lot of attention, and clearly are involved. I'd just like to get some of that detail. Also, it would be great if occasionally they could take the kids on excursions but that may be asking too much! Overall I highly recommend LCC. Trustworthy, Safe, Fun, and Social--all the things kids need to be successful. read more

My son was enrolled to start at LCC a few weeks ago. He is two and this would have been the first time he would have been away from me. I couldn't, in good conscience leave him there. I went to one day of "orientation" with him before he were to start, full-time. I walked into the large hall where tons of children were just running a-muck. I'm all for free play but not one adult was interacting with the children and kids started coming up to me because I was interacting with my son. The doors to both the boy and girl bathrooms are left open and toddlers and older kids were freely going in and out. The doors to outside where there is a parking lot, driveway and main road are open and my son attempted to push them open twice- luckily I was there because it didn't seem like any adult had noticed. The place and toys were filthy (I carried sanitizing wipes to continually wipe my sons hand and then used it to wipe a toy car he was riding oN and it was black from filth but used to be white). There were outlets exposed, one of the "teachers" had a Bluetooth head set in, the other sitting on her phone. We stayed for an hour and I had enough. To think of leaving him there sends me in a panic, still. I'm so glad we went through with the "orientation" day. He's now in a beautiful daycare that is spotless, safe, engaging and warm. With only 4 other children as opposed to 18! It's worth the $500 more a month! Please stay away from this place. read more

I will preface my review by saying that not all schools are for all kids, and that this place has some genuinely kind staff, but that my child and my family suffered here with the lack of structure and engagement. Some kids may do fine in a place like this, and the price is great, but I have learned that I got what I paid for and I am willing to pay more for a better experience for my son. My three year old son had a terrible experience at LCC! Within just two weeks we saw his behavior completely decline into multiple daily tantrums, hitting, crying and making up excuses not to go to school every day. The kids spend the first two hours of the day romping in a big, uncontained room without activities or structure. My son felt unsafe in the space. My son never came home reporting about the interesting things he did or the things he learned, he only complained. Now, my son had had previous positive experiences at school, so this was not just him making things up. My concerns were that the teachers never communicated with me about his day or his struggles or what they were doing to support him. The facility was unsafe and it was easy to push the side gate open and the front gate was often opened by the toddlers, so was also unsafe. They only wash the blankets for nap time once a month and all the cots are stacked on top of each other, so it was a breeding ground for all sorts of things! In one month my son got a terrible case of pink eye and a cold and he is usually really healthy. They give the children cookies regularly for snack and there are birthdays almost weekly where kids eat cupcakes and other sweets, so my son was particularly a mess on those days, as he doesn't do well with sugar. The engagement is limited, the explorations of life and learning are limited and the staff, while kind, are not doing much to foster an environment of curiosity and the development of the social and emotional well being of the children. Now he is 100% himself again and the behaviors have subsided, he just needed to get out of the school. I have more complaints, but I will leave it at this. I hope this is helpful to some prospective parents. read more

I love lakeshore. The teachers really love the kids. My daughter has fully thrived being in a loving & playful environment. Kids get to be kids, running & playing. I'm thankful to find this school after 2 not so great preschool experiences. The un structured mornings & afternoons are probably not for everyone but I really feel it's a great way to be a kid. read more

I was surprised to come across the unfavorable review written in 2009. My daughter attended Lakeshore Children's Center for two years before entering Kindergarten in 2006. I have friends with children currently enrolled and I continue to do occasional volunteer work at the school. While no school is a perfect fit for everyone I found Lakeshore to be a warm, welcoming, fun, play based environment for my daughter. Director, Ms. Rae Rita Thompson, has administered LCC for the past nine years along with a dedicated staff of licensed early childhood development teachers. When my daughter attended LCC, I found the older staff members quite loving in a grandparent sort of way. I never observed demeaning behavior demonstrated by a teacher. The staff was consistently courteous to each other, my daughter, and me. We all, children and adults, have less than perfect days. I occasionally had an opportunity to participate in or observe circle time. Teachers, some who have been there for thirty years, sat with the children on the carpet or on a chair. There was never an expectation that the children would sit still or be perfectly quiet. I never observed children being dismissed one at a time to go to the playground based on their behavior. There is one circle time per day and the remainder of the time is spent outside on the playground or, in the event of rain, in Barnett Hall where there is a large indoor play area. There is opportunity after naptime to participate in a staff supported craft or activity. The safety issue resurfaces at every turn in my daughter's life. It was addressed in pre-school, now in elementary school, and the camps she attends. LCC requires that children be signed in and out by a parent or guardian and a gate secures both the entrance to the school and the enclosed playground. For safety and liability reasons enrichment programs are provided on site (clown, jumpy house, magician, zoo docents, music program, etc) as an alternative to field trips. LCC is a valuable neighborhood resource with a diverse student/teacher population and an active supportive parent community. I would not hesitate to recommend it to other families looking for a play based preschool. read more

I wanted to put in a good word for LCC. I live in the neighborhood and have sent all my kids through LCC and and have loved it. More importantly my kids did too. They all three have come away from their time at LCC well adjusted and very prepared for kindergarten. The curriculum is play based, which I like best for preschoolers, but really the atmosphere and curriculum of the school is driven by the GREAT teachers and staff. The teachers have all been there for many years and are gifted and talented people. My kids were embraced from the moment they arrived at LCC by nothing but love and acceptance and that has paid tremendous benefits. Every day, my son arrives at school to hugs and shouts of joy and then we have to practically drag him away at the end of the day because he is having such a good time. All my kids formed lasting friendships though the school and we parents felt a part of the community as well. Another thing I have really loved about the school, is that both the staff and student body reflect the very diverse culture we have here in Oakland. I read the negative review posted with some surprise and can only assume that the reviewer is either wrong or missed a big piece of the picture of the school. I don't expect that LCC would suit all families or all kids, but I would recommend it to anyone without hesitation. read more

Our son has been at LCC for 1 1/2 years now, and my younger son will join him there in a few weeks. We really love the school, and here's my top 5 on why it's a great place: (1) It's play-based. Even when they are learning, the kids are having fun and are allowed to be kids. They provide opportunities to learn in different ways - whether it is listening to story-telling in circle time, learning letters by doing artwork, puzzles, building with blocks, cooking, taking turns on the playground, always helping to clean up, etc. Plus, being a "peace academy," LCC teaches kids to respect themselves and to respect others. (2) The teachers are AMAZING. Many have been there for over 20 years, and they are wonderful with the kids. It takes a special person to teach preschool, and LCC has been able to attract the best of them - and keep them - over the years. (3) It's accommodating to working families. School is open from 7am to 6pm (with a nominal monthly charge for the early/late hours). So many other preschools that we looked at didn't open til 8am, and that does not work for me and my husband. They are also open most days of the year. (4) Continuity of care. Your child can start here at age 2 1/2 and continue going through elementary school through the School Age Program. LCC has a van they use to drop off and pick up kids from neighboring elementary schools. This is especially convenient when you have younger siblings who go to LCC for preschool. (5) It's a family. Lots of families who live in the neighborhood, and are involved at the school. There are a lot of other perks (affordable, diverse, parent's night out!) that I won't elaborate on. If you are looking for fancy, "new," Montessori, or high-tech, this place is probably not for you. But if you want a safe, happy environment where your child can learn and play, you should check it out. read more

If you like a place that has a homey feel, convenient location and place where there is teacher longevity, then this is the place for you. Some of the teachers here give your child the loving feeling and genuinely care about your child's well-being. This child, must of course of course be the most well-behaved toddler and always be agreeable. Then there are those teachers that blur the lines of appropriate teacher behavior because they raise their voice, reprimand your child across the yard instead of leaving their seated position to process incidents, put your child in an extended time-out and discipline your child by taping their fingers for being introduced to inappropriate hand gestures while under their supervision. Don't ever expect to get an incident report if your child gets clunked in the head by a toy train or if any bullying behavior is occurring cause that will never happen. You just might get an excuse like, "That child is new and is still learning." My child was not free from wrong-doing, just always got in trouble for anything because my child was always being watched. Don't ever expect good behavior to be recognized. You'll only get a call or a conference if your child doesn't conform to expected docile behavior, and with the conference, there will be a list of infractions, that prove that more monitoring and processing is needed. I wished that more professional development was provided to the staff because there are teachers there who definitely exhibit biased behaviors towards children who are male, children who are strong-willed, and children who are bigger and more savvy. read more

This is a fun, safe place for children. My daughter and her younger brother both went to the school and both of them loved it. The staff is well-trained and kind and communicate any problem with the children with their parents. When my children went to kindergarten, they were well prepared and adjusted! I couldn't recommend this place more. read more