Sweet Butterfly is an excellent daycare. We sent our oldest here from 13 months until after his 3rd birthday. We are now sending our youngest (also started at 13 months).
Highlights:
1. The curriculum and activities are very intentional and thoughtfully planned by the owner, Teacher Cindy Traidman. The kids learned about shapes, colors, letters, days of week, and the significance of holidays. They also practice saying please and thank you, saying sorry, how to wash their hands, and how to feed themselves.
2. The food is nutritious. The staff provides morning snack (2 fruits and starch), lunch (rice/noodles/bread, meat/tofu, vegetables, fruit, and milk), and also dinner! The milk and eggs are organic. The meals are seasoned and very well-balanced (including leafy greens) and typically freshly cooked. We receive photos of the food at almost every lunch and dinner. And my oldest son is very good at eating vegetables, partially because of constant exposure at daycare.
3. The staff to student ratio is really high. On any given day there are 8-12 students max, depending on current enrollment and absences. There have been 3 full-time staff and a rotating cast of part-time staff, some of whom are from the student program which Teacher Cindy runs to train young adults.
5. Teacher Cindy (and Teacher Chao Yu) primarily use Mandarin with the kids, but also communicate to us (the parents) in English. Teacher Anna and the junior staff only speak English to the kids. So the kids truly get the full bilingual experience, and many parents who don't speak mandarin (including us) send their kids to Sweet Butterfly.
4. The staff is warm and cater to each student's needs. They give the kids lots of hugs, and held/patted our babies to sleep when they were still adjusting to naps in the daycare crib. They feed kids who are still learning how to eat and use utensils. They make sure every kid is dressed appropriately for the weather. Teacher Cindy requires us to send sun hats in the sunny months, rainsuits in the wet months, sleep sacks for naps, and always makes sure to put jackets on the kids in the winter (sometimes zipped in the back for kids who are fond of taking off their clothes), and sunscreen in the summer.
5. Music class from 9:30-10:00am on Mondays is a very interactive session taught by Teacher Sean from Sean's Music Factory! (He also runs the paid class at Santa Clara Community Center). Teacher Sean plays his guitar, and also brings instruments (drums, xylophones, shakers) for the kids to try out as well. It's an incredible value that we are so lucky to get included in the Sweet Butterfly experience.
6. The staff send constant photo updates throughout the day via their Brightwheel app. We typically get multiple photos of each activity of the day (morning lesson, morning outdoor play, afternoon lesson/craft, afternoon outdoor play) and also their lunch and dinner food. We don't typically get photos of morning snack food, kids eating, or kids napping, but are very happy to get such unprecedented visibility as we do.
7. Staff really go out of their way to celebrate birthdays and graduation. Parents can bring cake/decoration/gifts themselves or give a budget to Teacher Cindy to organize. The staff have been so supportive of setting up the party and making our kids feel special.
8. The outdoor playground is AMAZING. It is really perfect for this age range. The backyard is so spacious with a play structure and so many bikes, trikes, and cars for the kids to ride. There are also walkers, balls, and other outdoor toys. The perimeter of the backyard makes a perfect round paved track for the kids to ride their bikes on.
Things to keep in mind:
- In our experience, the best age for Sweet Butterfly is between 1.5-3yo. At 13 months, our kids still couldn't walk, often needed 2 naps a day, and struggled to go from 11:30 lunch until 4:00 dinner without a snack in between. Although the schedule and facility can be challenging for infants, it is very ideal for toddlers. Sweet Butterfly's outdoor playground is better for kids who can walk. The meal and nap schedule is better for kids who are firmly on a 1-nap schedule, and can go up to 5 hours without eating. After 3yo, other kids started to leave for preschool so the new cohort was very young. We would have happily kept our 3yo there longer but there were no longer other kids his age anymore. However, older kids come back for drop-in daycare frequently and seem to love coming back.
- Daily schedule:
8:30 indoor play (many kids don't arrive until after 9am)
9:30 morning snack and lesson/storytime (except Monday, which is music class with no snack)
10:15 diapers/toilet
10:30 outdoor play
11:30 lunch
12:30 diapers/toilet
1:00 nap
3:00 diapers/toilet
3:15 afternoon lesson/activity/craft
4:00 dinner
5:00 diapers/toilet
5:15 outdoor play
6:00 close read more