This preschool has been an absolute blessing for our family! As a first-time preschool family, our…read moreson had always been home with me, so we were a little nervous about how he'd adjust, especially since he's naturally shy and takes time warming up in new social settings. From our very first tour, Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Diane put us completely at ease. We actually visited twice before signing up for the fall, and both times they were so warm and reassuring. That really set the tone for everything that followed. The first week, the teachers were incredibly accommodating and communicative. They even sent me personal texts with updates on how he was doing, which meant the world to a nervous mom. We started with just 2 days a week, but he loved it so much that we transitioned to 3 days before we knew it. What truly speaks to how enriching their programs are is that the moment he gets in the car, he talks endlessly about his day, what he learned, and the friends he made. The activities keep him so engaged and excited that learning feels like pure fun to him. He's thrived so much that he asked on his own to do the full summer program before starting Kindergarten, and we didn't hesitate for a second. When we realized his K program doesn't have school one day a week, the school graciously agreed to let him continue coming through the fall so he can still see his friends and spend time in class with Ms. Lucie, who is so warm and wonderful with the kids. He is absolutely thrilled. The environment is nurturing, the communication is excellent, they are flexible with families schedules, and it's clear that everyone here truly cares about each child as an individual. I can't recommend this preschool enough to any family looking for a warm, safe, and enriching early learning experience. We only wish we had signed him up sooner!

Locally owned, deeply caring, and genuinely magical -- Vaulting Frogs is a rare gem in early…read moreeducation. We moved our daughter to Vaulting Frogs after a difficult experience at a nationally-run preschool, and the difference has been night and day. At her previous school, we faced inflexible scheduling, rigid policies around naptime (with no accommodation for children who struggled to sleep), and staff who didn't seem to understand or honor our daughter's emotional needs. Sadly, each school day, without fail, had begun to start with tears and anxiety. At Vaulting Frogs, all of that changed. From the very first week, our child began to look forward to going to school -- and came home happy, inspired, and calm. The warmth and flexibility of the Vaulting Frogs team has made all the difference. They truly see each child as an individual. If your child needs a nap, they'll have one. If they don't, that's okay too. There's no pressure -- just thoughtful guidance and supportive structure. The curriculum is vibrant and imaginative, full of engaging hands-on projects that feel joyful rather than overly scripted. They have a wonderful gym for movement and gymnastics-style play, a charming fenced outdoor area with playhouses and seasonal splash zone fun during the summer, and a cozy classroom that feels more like a welcoming learning home than an institution. What really stands out most is the heart of the owners, Jennifer and Diane, and their teachers. The staff at Vaulting Frogs is present, communicative, warm, and truly invested in each family's and child's experience. You can feel that this is a locally owned preschool with a heart and soul, not a franchise focused on policy and profits. Vaulting Frogs created a space where our child felt safe, confident, and genuinely excited to learn each day. Their thoughtful approach -- including financial and scheduling flexibility -- supported our family in balancing the demands of work and life outside of school, and we are so, so grateful. Highly, highly recommended.

I can't say enough good things about Fun Foundations. The owner, Danielle, has an endless amount of…read moreenergy and goes above and beyond to teach the kids in fun, exciting, supportive and unique ways. Not only is Fun Foundations a safe and loving environment, the education Danielle and her teachers provide is thorough and of the highest quality. The multi-age program combined with the high quality educational program have provided many opportunities for my 2.5 year-old to be exposed to concepts and social situations she wouldn't normally get to experience at her age and her development over the last year that she's been at Fun Foundations has been phenomenal. In addition to providing a strong educational and social foundation for our kids, Fun Foundations is extremely family-oriented. Danielle often provides opportunities for the families with kids attending the school to get to know each other. Her focus on communication and keeping the parents involved in their kids day-to-day activities at school is unlike any experience I've had in other child care and preschool settings. I have had my 2 kids in a few other preschool/daycare programs over the last 5.5 years and have never been as happy as we are at Fun Foundations. This school is unlike any other in the best ways possible and I highly recommend it.

SMS has provided foundational learning experiences for my three kids over the last 6yrs (youngest…read morestill attending). They are at an excellent location, easy commute from our work places, and have an excellent family-like staff & environment. Highly recommended!!!

I highly recommend SMS. It is the best and one of the most mature Montessori schools in the Redmond…read morearea. Family run and teachers stay for decades. I cannot say enough good things about them - they are excellent. The front desk staff, Jane especially, greet you with smiles and any information you need as well as help for any issue. Teachers are attentive and thoughtful, and they communicate well to parents. For issues and concerns they pick up the phone when you call, they do what they say they will do and most important - our kids loved their teachers and we parents got to be proud of our children's development. I had my two girls go through their pre-school program in 2014-2020 time frame and I couldn't be happier - big shout out to Mrs. Kerr and Mrs. Digdhe in class room 5!

A community unlike any other. My son has flourished here and so have I in part thanks to the…read morewonderful Parent Ed that goes along with school. I am amazed every week with the new curriculum presented to the children. The outdoor area is NAEYC certified and simply amazing. Eating grapes from the vines in the garden and watching the kids climb the apple tree are a fave of mine. If you're looking for an amazing place for your child to grow, look no further!

So weird, if you scroll down there are 13 reviews that Yelp claims are "that are not currently…read morerecommended" and they are all positive. For some reason only the negative reviews are showing up here on the main page. I know most of those 13 other people, they are great people and all have children at the preschool. They should most certainly be relevant. On with my review.... Being a new parent was very intimidating for me. Had they been boys, I likely would have been the "men don't cry, rub some dirt on it and walk it off" type dad. I'm extremely thankful I had two girls as it made me toss that parenting plan out the window. Sadly, I didn't have a backup in place. Our first daughter was around 18 months old or so and our photographer (who had 2 kids at WFP and also has a "not currently recommended review) strongly suggested WFP. We had actually started the preschool hunt about the same time, so we went to the open house. The open house was good, didn't blow our socks off or anything. We still shopped around for other schools. Most of the "preschools" we tutored, were really just day care. 2 or three burnt out adults trying to wrangle a mass of toddlers who have 0 impulse control. A couple of the tours were just an eyeful of staff running around putting out fires (not literally) and trying to keep the place in one piece. No time for nurturing, one on one care, educating. Really, just mayhem. Which of course has it's purpose as well, developing those social skills is very important and what better environment to do that in than the Thunderdome. Our eldest was very shy around strangers and had extreme separation anxiety. WFP won out our hunt simply because we could be there with her to hold her hand whatever that little brain was going through... Since my review is already getting a bit wordy, I'll just say this last week (3 years later) my daughter gave a presentation from her journal in front of the entire class as though no one else was there. She is strong, confident, and extremely outgoing. She has made quite a few friends at the preschool and by the end of the weekend she is excited to get back at it. Our youngest is frequently jealous of our eldest because she only gets to go to preschool one day a week (ups to 3 days a week next year). She has also flourished at the preschool though she is about as opposite of her sister as one could be. So I say thanks to WFP. My parenting plan is to raise confident women with a depth of self worth whose bottom will never be found and I strongly believe that Beth, Cecile, Jodie, and the other parents of WFP have given my girls the foundation they will need to achieve those goals.

Both of my sons have attended RTG. In addition to providing wonderful learning opportunities for…read moreboth them and me, it has helped me form my parenting "village" with the connections I have made with other parents in the program. We still spend some of the other families from my oldest son's class at RTG weekly, 4 or 5 years later! We love our teachers, and my sons have looked forward to going every week. I also appreciate that there are both indoor and outdoor class options - we do both and enjoy both formats!

Miss Amy is awesome! The school is awesome! We had very great time all the years we have been with…read morethe school.

We have been attending parent-child or drop off preschool with Tiny Treks since January 2015 as a…read morefamily with three kids. Our youngest is about to graduate from drop off preschool and it will be an end to a very special era for us with Tiny Treks NW. We have been loved, supported, and educated by Tiny Treks teachers and staff and many are lifelong friends for us now. Couldn't recommend them enough! Definitely check them out!

I can't believe how much our son, age almost 6, knows about nature..really..it's really due to…read moreTeacher Ann who he has been learning from for two years. The consistency of being exposed to the nature jewels of the area with someone who is willing to explain and point out cool stuff means he can really appreciate the wonders around us. We're very grateful :-)

I don't know why it's taken so long (about four years) for me to review this place, but it deserves…read moreabout five-star "as good  as it gets" review.  My boy was there from about 18 months until almost three years old, and really appreciated the place, particularly after mixed experiences with a subsequent Montessori school. It is open to children from 15 months to 6 years old.  The facility is the basement of a large residential home. The owner-headmaster of the school (and a much school in Issaquah) lives upstairs. The entrance is around the back, shielded by the house from the street noise of Bel-Red Road. Access from the parking lot is by a nicely landscaped boardwalk.  The schoolyard is securely fenced, with lots of forested natural scenery outside the fence. The highlight is a stream called Country Creek, through the corner of the school's property. (It starts near Cascade View Park and flows into the Sammamish River.) The city has it marked as salmon spawning habitat, but I haven't seen its salmon run. Indoors, there's a toddler school room, and preschool room, and some office and other private space. Both classrooms were brightly lit and cheerful even in the gloom of winter. They were spotlessly clean -- and our boy was there before pandemic. It was well equipped, with learning materials organized Montessori-style.  The teachers were dedicated and caring, and because of the small classes they always had abundant time for the children. And because the owner is a Montessori teacher who lives upstairs, a familiar substitute was always available when teachers needed days off.  Communications were excellent: a simple form with a few little status updates, written notes about anything unusual during the day and scheduled events ahead, plus availability to talk about any concerns at pick-up time. (They weren't champions with e-mail, but better at it than a subsequent school.)  A highlight event (scheduled well in advance so parents could see their kids' delight) while our boy was there was a visit from a mobile petting zoo. A truck (maybe more than one) arrived one day with rabbits, goats, sheep, assorted other animals -- and a pony. Their staff set up cages and hand-wash stations, and let the kids interact with the animals. In the parking lot, kids took turns riding the pony. Now I want to look at my photos and videos and share them with our boy.  The tuition was very affordable. In part, that's probably because it shares overhead with the owner's house. But it's also due to the place's one inconvenience, that parents had to send lunches when dropping off the children.  A note about Montessori schools in general: the learning style is exploratory and largely self-directed. Budget permitting, I think it's ideal for most toddlers and preschoolers, except for some with special needs. But it's not such a clear choice for elementary school and up; if a child absorbs a strong sense of self-motivation to work at school, it's superior. If not, a conventional classroom with stronger guidance may be a better fit. But Prime Time enrolls kids during the early years when Montessori is best for most children.  In retrospect I wish we had kept him there until he was too old, but we had previously wait-listed him at another Montessori school (which provided excellent lunches). Our reasoning had been to transfer him while he was little, to get the disruption of changing schools over with earlier. But as it turned out, the pandemic was a vastly greater disruption to children (and adults) of all ages.  After all that praise -- and the observation that the inconvenience of sending lunches was balanced by the very reasonable price -- I feel comfortable giving Prime Time a five-star "as good as it gets" without any concerns about grade inflation.

Great school with small classrooms! Loving teachers. They provide a very clean and nurturing…read morelearning environment and really love the kids! The playground area is very beautiful and offers lots of things for the kids to do.

We love NBM! Our child has been a student for the past 2 years. The staff and the Montessori method…read morehas really worked to bring out her academic and social skills. The past year has brought many unexpected challenges with the pandemic, and NBM has done an excellent job at with holding protocols to keep the kids, staff and families healthy. We have always had a good working relationship with the administration and have appreciated their willingness to be flexible and open to feedback during this time. Any news families looking forward an early development learning center for their child, I would hands down recommend North Bend Montessori.

North Bend Montessori is a most special place. My daughter has attended for two years and I have…read moreseen tremendous emotional and academic growth in that short amount of time. Beyond (and even more important than) that, she is loved so very well by the teachers and support staff at this school. She wakes up excited to go to school every day and talks about her teachers and friends all afternoon. I know that my daughter is in the BEST hands every day that she is there. I cannot recommend this school highly enough and am excited for my son to attend, too.