My daughter has been at Sunflower since she was 7 months old and is now 17 months. Over the past few months, I've seen tremendous growth in her development. Amy focuses on skill-building through play and partners closely with me to help our LO reach her milestones. Although our daughter is currently one of the younger children in the daycare, Amy is very intentional about tailoring activities that are age and developmentally appropriate. She is incredibly attentive, and it's clear how much she genuinely cares about the kids in her care. I also appreciate how well organized and clean Amy's daycare is. I toured nearly 10 daycares, and hers was by far the cleanest. I fully expected our daughter to be frequently sick during the colder months, but she hasn't been ill at all this winter, which truly speaks to the level of cleanliness at Sunflower. Sunflower Daycare is a wonderful option for parents looking for a more structured and thoughtful environment. Amy shares updates at pickup and offers helpful feedback and advice on how we can continue supporting our daughter's development at home. Every morning we ask our LO if she wants to go to Amy's, and she always nods enthusiastically! read more

Our LO has been at Sunflower Daycare since she was 18 months old (now 2.5yrs). Amy is a great teacher and caregiver. I'm always impressed with the creative and intentional ways that she works on age-appropriate skills with my LO using age-appropriate tools and toys. She has helped my LO learn social skills and how to help herself, which has made home life so much easier! Amy has a way of instilling a joy for learning. In the past year, Amy has taught our LO how to use a spoon AND chopsticks and now coloring inside the lines. My LO has learned to sing several songs in English and Mandarin, and has even learned over 40 Chinese characters! Amy's space is always impeccably tidy, clean, and safe. She has a large variety of learning toys, books, and fun activities that are organized and stored safely. She makes a healthy breakfast, lunch, and snacks every day. My LO actually became more regular once she started coming to Amy's (TMI but it makes me happy ). I highly recommend Sunflower Daycare. Amy is organized, attentive, and patient with our LO and I appreciate her speaking honestly about what our LO is doing well and what she can work on. We couldn't be happier here. read more

My kid has been at Amy's daycare for 2.5 years now. He learned counting, singing, writing, caring, etc. from Amy. I love how Amy focuses on education. I'm sending my second child to Amy's soon. read more

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I was recommended Sunflower Daycare from my coworker and I'm so glad to have met Amy! We were looking for a day care, while my husband did his clinicals in Castro Valley and my three year old son felt very at home there. I was also really grateful that Amy was able to practice Chinese with my son too, so he can still converse with his grandparents when we move back home. Would highly recommend to others as well! read more

All of our children have attended Sunflower Daycare with Amy. We couldn't be happier about how our kids have come out completely ready for school. Our twins attended Sunflower from when they were 2 until they were 5 when they went off to TK in CVUSD. The twins were really well prepared for school emotionally and academically. Amy's structure and curriculum has helped with ensuring that the children are absolutely ready. Our youngest is currently attending Sunflower and has been there for over a year. He's steadily learning and loves play with other children in day care. Sunflower does a really good job in providing a structured, learning environment to help the children focus on their tasks. read more

My son has been at this daycare for 6 months. I am a pediatric occupational therapist and I feel like this daycare is the best place for our son to become school ready. It is owned and run by two wonderful people, Amy & Peter, in their home. The daycare is spotless & the bathroom for children has an extra low toilet that is ideal for potty training. Amy was a teacher in China & worked in the education system in the U.S. She has a structured daily schedule that follows school and classroom routines. She includes developmentally appropriate activities to help foster gross and fine motor skills. She works on circle and story time, and also teaches the children Mandarin. Amy is brilliant, energetic, warm and caring. I tried daycares before, but felt guilty that I was spending all of my energy helping other children and feeling like my child wasn't getting the teaching I could provide. This is not the case with Amy. She is OUTSTANDING and I feel so confident in her skills that I may not send my son to preschool because he will be school ready from being at Sunflower. Amy is also dedicated to continuing her professional development by taking workshops and participating in county programs. This daycare is wonderful for us. It is not a good fit for people if you expect pictures, text message updates and a daily routine check in sheet. Amy updates you at pick up, but she's so hands on, she doesn't have time to update you during the day. She also expects parents to follow through with implementing home practices and routines that support developmentally appropriate skill development. If you expect somebody else to teach your child, but you aren't prepared to follow through with it at home, look elsewhere. Amy and I both believe that parents are 100% accountable for being the primary teachers of their children. Amy and Peter are just phenomenal assets to supporting parents in maximizing their child's potential. I have had a wonderful experience with this daycare so far. . read more

Our 3yo started attending Sunflower Daycare with Amy when he was 2. Under the care of Amy, we found that our little one has learned and acquired significant self-help skills, and he has improved on his social-emotional development. We are happy he enjoys going to school to interact with his young friends and Amy, and explore new things. We appreciate the the daily progress update from Amy as we work together to instill good values and positive habits in our little one. We are constantly amazed listening to our son singing Mandarin songs and speaking simple Cantonese words! read more

My oldest son joined Sunflower Daycare when he was around 1.5 yo. He recently just graduated from Sunflower Daycare at 5 yo. For all the years that he has been in Amy's and Peter's care, he has learned the following: - self care (toilet training) - motor skills - social emotional skills - recite poems in both cantonese and mandarin - sing songs in both cantonese and mandarin - read and write all alphabets - read and write numbers 0-9 and recognizing the double digits up to 100 - identify many shapes and colors that can get him ready for kindergarten - arts and craft - how to share with others - how to communicate with grown-ups and younger children - eating etiquette That's not a complete list but enough to get him ready for kindergarten. I would say that Amy is very straightforward and truthful in my son's evaluation and she gives direct feedback right away. And I agree with a lot of what she says and recommends to my son for areas of improvement. No one is perfect and there's always room for improvement no matter how perfect one's child is. I liked her facility a lot as well. It's very clean and she rotates her toys and activities so as to keep the children interested. Hence, I've started sending my 3 yo son to Sunflower Daycare early this year. To sum it all up, it's not just a daycare; it's a preschool environment. One ask that Amy will have is that parents need to cooperate with her to help achieve their goals (i.e. toilet training especially). It takes 2 to tango, so if one side doesn't align, then it won't work out. read more

I figure it's a good time to post an update. My daughter is now three and is still with Amy. Everything is still great! My girl can count nearly to 100, gets to play outside and with her friends during the day, naps and eats on a schedule, is able to recite traditional Chinese poems, and they do special things at school like planting carrots seeds that they get to eat once they grow. It's a nice place. Amy definitely likes to have a schedule and expects a lot of the kids in terms of good behavior and following direction...but I like that Sydney has some structure in her life during the day. I still highly recommend Sunflower. read more

I called to get information on if they were accepting new enrollment. The lady who answered the phone was rude and unprofessional. Not warm and inviting at all. She screened my phone call like I was a telemarketer. Who is this, why are you calling. Oh you don't live in CV. Well that won't work. read more

I feel that my son has had a very positive experience at Sunflower Daycare with Teacher Amy and that it has really made an impact on his language and development. When we first started my son was 2 1/2 years old and he only could say very few words, and after only 8 months with teacher Amy he has made so much progress with his speech and understanding. He is has learned the alphabet, colors, shapes and more importantly she explains things well to him and helps him learn important skills like being patient, paying attention and how to deal with interacting with others and his emotions. At first I wondered if it may be too strict of an environment for my son, but I like that Amy has set up structure and routines for the kids so they can learn to follow directions and focus on learning the lessons for the week. My son enjoys it and warmed up to Amy everyday picking a flower for her from the yard to give to her during pickup. She provides updates everyday during pickup on how my son did that day, what they were working on, and offers tips on things to try at home to help with whatever needs to be worked on. The daycare is English/Mandarin/Cantonese depending on your preference offer flexible hours, though late pickup fees are enforced and is home based on a quiet street. I'm very happy that we found Sunflower Daycare and Teacher Amy. read more

My daughter has been going to Amy for the last 2 years. She started there when she was a little over 16 months and is now 3.5yo. She has definitely learned soo much since being in Amy's care. It's always a great sign when your kid wakes up every morning and asks you if we are going to Amy's house and when you reply "yes", she says "hooray!" With Amy, I can 100% trust that my kid is well taken care of. At Amy's sunflower daycare my daughter has learned to share, sing and recognize a few Chinese words. (We don't speak it at home) Amy has even took it upon herself to help potty train my little one. She gives honest feedback and will always let you know your child's progress. (Good or bad) I also love that with your permission, amy will send updates and pictures during their day to day activities. She keeps her place super clean and organized. I always look forward to her pictures of my daughter gardening, playing with her best friends, singing to the melodies of amy's daughter playing on her piano and story time/circle time moments. Also, I love when she comes home with homemade drawings and projects that she has completed in class. I know My daughter (and myself) will be very sad when the day comes and she needs to start pre-k. We love Sunflower Daycare and I owe it all to Amy for taking care of and making my daughter into the polite toddler that she is today! (Always says please and thank you!) Thank you Amy! read more

I discovered Amy from 4C's of Alameda. I went back to work when my son was 5.5 months old, and had tried several daycares before sending him to Amy's at 11 months old in July of 2015. At the time, there were several factors that made us feel like Amy was a good choice for us. I'll list the top two: First, her daycare was super clean. I had visited many many home daycare providers as well as daycare centers, and I have seen the spectrum. She scored really high there and cleanliness is very important to us. Second, my son was a pretty high maintenance baby, needing lots of attention. When I picked him up on the first day, he was a content, happy baby. The second day when I dropped him off he was already reaching for Amy. Having left him with many different caretakers, this was unprecedented and I took that as a sign that he was happy there. Over the past 2 years, I have found Amy to be a creative and thoughtful caregiver. She tries new things until it works. She seeks self-improvement as a provider. She is open-minded. She is candid with her assessment of my son's development. There is no TV, the meals are home-cooked and healthy, and they have a great backyard for outside time. I speak Cantonese to my son and having her also speak Cantonese to him has been wonderful for his language development, I never expected him to recite Tang Dynasty poems, but surprise!! I do however wish that there was more visibility into my baby's day: Having a daily written breakdown would be nice, esp when he was a baby. Being able to sit in on a typical morning would also be nice. Tasting a sample of the food he's fed would be nice. After all, my baby LOVES her husband's cooking and I want to know the secret!! With that said, she does regularly share photos with me and she usually remembers to share some interesting/funny/darling moment with me. Overall, we are very pleased with sending our son to Amy's. read more

We feel so lucky to have found Amy, and have her as the person who has helped us to raise our children. After visiting several daycare providers in the Hayward/Castro Valley area, I was impressed with how caring Amy is and especially her Chinese teachings. Unlike other daycare centers I have been to, Amy nurtures kids with bilingual education at an early age. Amt provides a well-rounded experience for the children in her care. Healthy meals, engaging activities, balanced play time, and age-appropriate learning. I highly recommend Sunflower Daycare, especially if you are looking bilingual (Chinese and English) education implemented with daycare service at a very reasonable cost! read more

The kids are always happy... even speding 8 hours a day, every day at Amy's Sunflower Daycare. Very happy with this daycare. The kids are always happy to enter in the morning and are smiling at pick up. Amy is very tidy and clean, and the kids have had less colds since starting here, vs constant colds at the last daycare. She is able to teach a range of age appropriate material to the kids. Even considering the diverse age range of her charges. Both academically and socially the kids are doing well. Amy takes an interest in how well the kids are doing, and she is constantly improving both her own skill levels as an educator through seminars and Community education programs and her facility with new learning toys and landscaping etc. I've kept my older son with her rather than sending him to preschool, and its great that the 1 year old can be there too. I've known several other castro valley mothers who had Amy as their #1 choice, but were unable to get their kids in due to waitlists. Fortunately for me, the wait wasn't too long. I would absolutely recommend Amy's Daycare. read more

We sent our 1 year old son to Amy's daycare for a good six months. Our son loved going to Amy's everyday. She is very attentive and observant. Within the first few days of sending our son to Amy, she had already understood all of his habits and challenges. Our son is a picky eater and she would do everything to try to interest him in eating. She would make him different foods and different ways to encourage him. Amy has a very clean home and a lot of great programs, toys and attitude. We highly recommend Amy's homecare. She is so caring and loving. read more

We have been telling all of our friends to call Amy when they ask us for recommendations for daycare. We had toured a few daycares in the area and were impressed with the setup, cleaniness and bilingual program of Sunflower Daycare. We knew it would be a great match when our 18 month old refused to leave Amy's house and went straight to her when he wanted help with a toy during our tour. Every morning, Tyler wants to ring the doorbell, goes into Amy's arms and waves good-bye to me while closing the door. He has been with Amy for about 4 months now and we are constantly amazed at the amount that he learns every day. He had always been fighting nap time and would refuse to sleep without his pacifier, but Amy trained him to nap on his own without a pacifier within his first couple days at daycare! He naps better now and it helps him sleep through the night. He has also learned to communicate his wants to us in English and Cantonese, sometimes even saying something in Mandarin! He has begun counting in both languages, reciting the alphabet and even dancing while singing a few songs. I really enjoy Amy's updates when I pick Tyler up and look forward to seeing what new things he will learn. read more

WARNING: NEVER GO TO THIS DAYCARE! I sent my son there around November 2015. Amy was the owner and she was so nice at the beginning because she was trying to have more businesses as the daycare just opened for a year. I recommended my friend who has a twin to her as she said she still had opening at that time. After I referred my friend there, my son was frequently being scolded by her in front of other parents, for example, my son just bite a book that day and she scolded him when I picked him up at the front door, my son was very scared and cried out loud. (I was not saying my son was correct, but for his age of 1.5 years old, he started teething at that time, this was normal for any babies with such an action) I found out finally the main purpose behind the scene - she overtook infant number that was allowed for a small license daycare. She then suddenly raised up my price for the upcoming month and trying to kick my son out from her place. She loves money cause she was taking $2000 each month for the twins, better than taking $900 from me for one baby. This was really unacceptable and unethical behavior I have ever seen in a day care. As a parent, I have to speak out for my son here as he received an unfair service. I also complained to the children council, however, of course I was not successful because she had the right number of kids in her daycare after she kicked my son out by the time the inspector came to her house for a check. Thanks to her, I found a better one for my son. read more

This is to follow up on my previous review. My daughter has now been going to Amy's for over a year. We are so happy we found this daycare. Amy have been so great with my daughter. My daughter is almost 1.5 years old. She is happy and loves going to daycare. When I pick her up, there are days she doesn't want to leave daycare! I can see how much she is thriving here. She has learned so much from Amy and from observing the other kids. I can tell that Amy has set up a stimulating environment with an emphasis on learning, reading and playing together. My daughter demonstrates these skills at home (preferring books over electronics) and when we go out to parks (interested in playing with other kids). Amy is very good about communicating the events of each day: good and bad. Along with this she will work with me to help my daughter. For example; she will tell me that my daughter did not nap very well one day and then offer solutions on things we can both work on to encourage a good nap schedule. I just can't say enough how happy we are to have found Amy. This is how a daycare should be. As a parent I feel so confident in the quality of care my daughter is receiving. read more

My son joint Amy's daycare at two-year old and has been there for more than 6 months so far. He enjoys being there so much and can't wait to go to see his friends each morning. He learned a lot during this half year and has been taken care by Amy so well. I even don't know where to start. Ok, let's go one by one. First let's go for the basics, Amy is very responsible and good at taken care of the children's day to day life. I never seen my son had diaper rash since went to Amy's. Amy always gives me updates on his popo schedule. She also tried to get him potty trained. Amy's place is soooooo clean and organized, even the deck outside. Secondly let's talk about the style of this place. Amy is amazing in teaching children. She always finds creative ways to help them learn. For example she assigns each kid a number and let them find their number to hang their bag and cloth each day. When they get familiar with that number she assigns a new number. She teaches based on what's happening recently. While the wild fire happened recently in California, she teaches how this happens in nature. She also teaches them a Chinese poem about wild fire. She also teaches dates, weather, etc etc. The kids there also sings together accompanied by piano played by Amy's sweet daughter. When I picked him up in the afternoon and hear the piano playing inside, I always feel so relaxed. I've been visiting several preschools in the area before. To be honest, kids can learn so much more at Amy's than almost any of the preschools around. This is why there're still kids over 4 year old still staying without hurry into preschool. Lastly Amy's place is trilingual. can you believe:) She speaks Cantonese, English, and Madarin. We mainly speaks Madarin with our son at home and he already picked up some English from daycare. I can still keep typing about how I love Amy's place but have to go now. I feel so lucky I found this place. Thanks Amy! read more