Where do parents connect in Alameda? Looking for a preschool
Hello, I'm wondering if anyone has updated reviews of three preschools in Alameda: Luna's Bilingual Montessori, The Child Unique (especially Pacific and Encinal locations), and Fuzzy Caterpillar. I understand that BPN has fewer Alameda folks on it, I'd also love some advice from anyone in the know about where parents share information and advice about the island. My understanding is that the Yahoo group that used to exist doesn't anymore. Thanks so much!
Jul 6, 2025
Parent Replies
You can find lots of Alameda info on facebook or reddit. My younger one went to Fuzzy. It was great until it wasn't. The school is large and not equipped to handle neurodiverse children. It is loud and very busy. We almost switched to Luna's, seems lovely. Child Unique didn't have enough outside time. Those are 3 very different pre schools. I suggest you visit them all and think about what you are looking for in a preschool.
My kids went to Kiddie Kampus co-op preschool in Alameda and were super happy there. May not work for everyone but worth a look!
Join the Alameda Peeps Facebook group, it's very active.
As the other poster said those are 3 different approaches to the preschool experience. Are you in any of the community facebook groups? It's the primary way people connect in the community via the 20XX Alameda Mamas (just search by birth year), or Alameda Peeps etc. You might get some traction on the Alameda reddit page but the facebook groups are large with lots of eyes/support etc. People are generous with their feedback.
My personal feedback is that Child Unique wasn't very nurturing and did not have a good balance of social emotional learning, outside time and "work." Rising Star Montessori is very loved and we felt it has a better balance than Child Unique. For non-montessori we loved Little Seeds, it's been a community staple for a very very long time. I only have anecdotal feedback on Fuzzy Caterpillar that is similar to what the other post already shared.
There are pretty active parent groups on Facebook. The mom groups are titled something like "Alameda baby mommas YYYY (year of baby born)". There is also Alameda peeps and Alameda 94501 that have pretty active membership.
Though you didn't mention it specifically, we are 1,000% advocates for Rising Star Montessori on High St (right across from Lincoln Park). During my earlier journeys seeking a Montessori-esque preschool, I was looking heavily into one of the schools you named and I found that there can be a rigid adherence to a stoic Montessori implementation that just didn't suit us. What we love about the Montessori model is that it encourages independence, attention, respect, curiosity, and joy. We find all this at Rising Star. Our second child is two, started a few months ago, and seems to love it; our elder child is nearly four and about to enter her third year there (we are dismayed that she'll be moving out and on to kindergarten next year). It's always hard to know if you've made the right choice, but you'll know once you're there if it's a good fit, and if it isn't, you'll work to land where you best need to be.
As to Alameda groups, there is an Alameda Parent Swap group, as well as "Alameda Mama [year of child's birth]" groups for every year to present. The latter is a great resource when everyone is going through the same stages and questions together. For more general info about Alameda, "Alameda Peeps" has a review or insight on just about everything you wanted (and didn't want!) to know.
Best of luck to you and your littles.
We went to Fuzzy. It was a mixed experience for us, similar to above posters. I’d say it depends on your kid’s temperament and what you’re looking for. The younger kids building is lovely with lots of natural light. The play area outside is fabulous - the best we saw of different schools. Gardens, chicken coop, bunny. The prek (in a separate building) is more curriculum focused with less free play/outside time. A couple of the teachers could be pretty harsh at times, which bothered us, but most are warm and nurturing. We considered switching - looked at a number of other schools and decided that every place has its pros and cons and switching wasn’t worth it given our kid’s temperament. They loved the fun activities like water play, cool art projects and taking chicken eggs home. Good luck!
My son attended Kiddie Kampus and Fuzzy Caterpillar.
We did not like Fuzzy staff, they were very disorganized, program seemed very superficial.
Kiddie Kampus was amazing and can not recommend highly enough. Great community, great curriculum and the teachers really were fantastic education professionals.