The Crayon Box Preschool

My son graduated from the Crayon Box Preschool last June and I have nothing but positive things to say about this preschool. We loved the Crayon Box Preschool!!! All the teachers my son had were wonderful. He loved going to school and thrived in that environment. I loved the fact that the Crayon Box was a Spanish-​Immersion preschool. My husband and I knew the importance of having our child learn a second language. Through the years in the Crayon Box, my son was able to learn Spanish and speaks it fluently. We wanted him to continue mastering the language and applied to Spanish Immersion Elementary Schools. My son was accepted in the Spanish-​Immersion program at Alvarado Elementary School. We have the Crayon Box Preschool to thank for the excellent educational and language foundation they provided my son.

Our grandson attends The Crayon Box and we have the highest regard for its staff and its entire organization. As grandparents we understand the difficulties facing parents as they try to manage the «schooling process» for their children. We all want the best education for our children and sometimes this can be a very challenging task for parents. The Crayon Box we believe is an excellent choice for our grandson. He really thrives in this environment and we thank the staff for this. Muchas gracias Crayon Box and vaya con Dios

My son has been attending The Crayon Box Preschool in San Francisco for a little over two years now and I cannot express how happy I am with this school. Where should I begin…
The staff and administration is knowledgable, friendly, and most importantly nurturing. My son loves his teachers and that makes me very happy. If he could write, he would be the first to write a review about his wonderful teachers at The Crayon Box.
I also love that I do not have to worry about sending breakfast, lunch and snacks. The Crayon Box provides a nutritious breakfast, lunch and snacks. As a working parent, any time you can save during the day is gold.
I was very happy to learn that they are opened from 8:00 to 6:00pm, which works perfectly with my working schedule. I had looked at other preschools and came across quite a few that would close early in the afternoon so when I learned about The Crayon Box’s 8−6pm hours of operation, I was delighted.
Lastly, there’s nothing more precious then hearing your four year old son singing his favorite lullaby in Spanish. What can I say, I love the school. My 2 year old daughter is already ready to start in a couple of weeks :)

It has been a couple years since my son attended the Crayon Box preschool, but I have wanted to write a review in quite a while but I decided to do write it now because I saw a lot of negative comments towards the school.
my son still remembers and talks about his friends and teachers at the crayon box, we have nothing but good things to say about the school. I should have written sooner. We still see friends and families that attended the Crayon Box the same year as my son and they all love it as well.
–the hours are great 8−6pm. Great for me a working parent.
–Full Spanish Immersion.
–Great neighborhood.
–Great Staff.
–the rate is one of the cheapest I have found even today, specially with all the programs being offered, dance, gymnastics, and yoga naming just a few.
–Lunch is also included; my son still remember the «sopita» soup. he loved it.
–Teachers are very loving and communicate any concerns they have with the parents.
–Lots of art work and hands on projects, kids can be kids.
–preparation for Kinder and Spanish Immersion schools at SFUSD.
my son learned Spanish and continues to speak it at home even though he did not attend an Immersion school because San Francisco is blessed with the Immersion schools and we live out of the city (Lucky San Francisco).
–Lots of outdoor space and time to play outdoors which my son needed.
–Christmas, harvest festival, Fiesta Latina and Graduation,
thank you teachers and staff for taking the time to do this for us parents it gives us such great joy to see 2 – 5 year olds perform or at least try to. :) they look so adorable.
enough said
we are happy and grateful we had the opportunity to be a part of such a great preschool, we felt right at home. the community is blessed to have such a great Spanish enriched program.
Thank you Crayon Box, keep up the great work.

Our experience with this school, a particular teacher, has left our child traumatized — and we do not know for how long.
In the few short months we attended this school — we had one caring teacher that our child flocked to but there was one teacher that we believe has left our child traumatized to date.
I had been debating for weeks whether or not I should write a review but after being away from the facility for a few weeks now and our child still says, «you are not going to send me to the crayon box anymore right?!» every time we pass by the school, mention the school, see anything that reminds our child of the school, we believe that what our child has experienced was true.
Our child had been telling us on and off that there is a teacher that says parents don’t come back if they don’t stop crying. Or, that if children don’t behave, this teacher said she has powers and said things that scared kids.
When I child starts a pre school, there are many new experiences that both parents and children have to be faced with.
If the child has never attended a school type environment, we understood there would be a period of adjustment.
If a child has only spent time with family members, we understood that said child would take time to get to know new caregivers.
If a child cries at drop off, we attributed this to the environment being new and that it will pass.
If a child continues to cry daily at drop off, we assumed, our child needed a bit more time to adjust.
We thought that our child just needed more time to adjust and that eventually school would be a positive and enjoyable experience.
But after weeks and weeks of trying every suggestion other parents had, trying the suggestion the school director had — our child feared attending school.
We have been out of this facility now for a bit of time and we still see anxiety in our child.
I feel the heavy burden and guilt that I put my child in the hands of people that I should be able to trust.
Be weary of this school — there is a teacher there that may be smiling to your face when you drop off your child, then whisper words to your kid that will eventually traumatize them.

Ok so here we go. My daughter has been going to Crayon Box for 2 ½ yrs. I have gotten so much attitude from the office! They pretty much hate you and try to figure out a way to get you out if you are a children’s council family. I kinda wish that they would have just never accepted children’s council funding. I’m sure they feel the same as they are discontinuing their participation in the program at the end of this month. They would constantly try to charge me the wrong amount and then blame me for not figuring out how much I owe. I was approved for 4 days but in 2 ½ years they apparently never had an opening (really?) Why do pre-​schoolers need to wear uniforms? And apparently we never get the uniform right as we are constantly being reprimanded for the every little detail wrong. So then they decided that the kids have to wear the T-​shirts that you have to buy from them with the Crayon Box design. We are a low income family and this is an extra expense for us. And how about the education? Well the assessments are ridiculous: cut straight lines, trace this, etc. At first I thought my priorities were askew as I never thought about cutting straight lines as a priority or tracing something someone else drew. My daughter’s artwork is brilliant at home. Her use of colors, shapes, patterns, details and imagination are awesome. I’ve never heard them mention this. Actually many of her great qualities are not valued or encouraged. And the parent community is not very cohesive. I don’t really feel like I know any of the other families other those who I have specifically reached out to on my own. There really is no community here. Today however was the last straw. We have 6 school days to go until graduation otherwise I would be looking for another school. I have been riding my bicycle to work for the past few months and riding my daughter to school. The other day I ended up without a bike helmet for her because of a mix up. I mentioned that maybe I should leave an extra helmet in her cubby so that doesn’t happen again. I was told that was against the rules. REALLY?! It’s against the rules to leave a bicycle safety helmet in a child’s cubby (which takes up no more space than if it was not there)?! And the attitude I got about it was incredible!!! By the way many kids have extra stuffed animals in their cubbies but for a child’s safety no room for a helmet. I was told that it was unsafe as the other kids were trying it on (unsafe to put on a safety helmet?!), that there was not enough space, and finally that it was against their childcare license. I am in the process of investigating this final one! Also both the director and a teacher referred to «my husband» and when I corrected them I got total judgment. I am a lesbian and my daughter’s papa is a trans man and in 2 ½ years they have never known us well enough to know this let alone have any respect for us. If you value respect for diversity this is not the school for you. And probably should not have been for us either.
So the low down:
~Super attitude from staff and director
~Getting blamed for their mistakes
~Assessments are a joke
~Rules are way too rigid and arbitrary
~Lack of community
~Lack of respect for diversity (or even acknowledgement)

My youngest daughter is currently attending The Crayon Box Preschool and my eldest daughter graduated from there a couple of years ago. Our experience at The Crayon Box has been wonderful! The teachers are kind and caring. Both my daughters LOVED their teachers. My daughter wakes up and can’t wait to go to school every morning, which makes my husband and me very happy!
AND did I mention they get to learn Spanish too??? Yea, it’s that great!

One word… HORRIBLE!!! Horrible teachers, horrible excuses, horrible environment, horrible food, horrible curriculum, horrible attitude! This has been an awful experience. If you value your child in any way DO NOT send your precious little one to such an awful place. There is little to no supervision and everyone in that school is extremely rude! The place is filthy and tiny. Just awful!

i am updating my commment because this was my son first school and i was glad they spoke spanish. The first couple weeks pass and i wasnt receiving any updates from the teachers as they said they would i talk to my sons teacher and they were confused why i was not receiving any emails so they sent me to the form office. the lady Ana excuse was that sometime the parents dont write clearly/​/​really? then the front lady Ingrid was so rude throughout almost the whole time my son was there. She would gives us rude faces and to come to find out we werent the only parents. we are with this program and we needed some information to get my son back in because we took him out for the summer at the end they didnt save his spot so we had to switch him schools. I think it work out for the best!!! My son is in a great school now! where i see him progressing everyday! he even gets homework and the teacher is constantly emailing us on updates and field trips and what there learning! the best thing i think i got from this school was that they didnt save my son spot! i would definatley not reccommend this school! the only pro it has that they speak spanish to thier kids. they also say they have a menu for breakfast but the times we gone its been the same thing for breakfast all the time.

The hours are from 8:00am to 6:00pm, extremely inconvenient for working parents. God forbid you are late for pick-​up because they will threaten to cut off service (I was late 3 minutes due to traffic as I commute from work in Oakland!).
Love the teachers but not very flexible for working parents.

My kid attended this school for 2 years and I cannot say enough good things about it. I have waited to write a review until she was done to make sure my opinion did not change.
We transferred into this school from a Waldorf program in S. SF that just did not feel right for us and it was the best decision we made. I cannot thank teacher Maria and teacher Anna for their love and support of my child that has helped her thrive and grow. At her prior school, she was not taught letters or numbers, which I did not think was a big deal, but after seeing her be excited about spelling and asking a ton of questions about math, I realized she liked learning and this was because of the environment at this school. I have so much art work and projects that she brings home that we have run out of wall space. I was also thrilled when she started signing songs in Spanish and telling me the days of the week, animals in another language. Thanks to this she was tested by the SFUSD as a bilingual child for her kindergarten entrance exam.
I liked that for the price she can attend between 8 – 6 which is great for working parents not to mention the meals they gave her were healthy ones my kid actually liked to eat. I had no issues with communication from the teachers who actually gave me a form with her progress in different areas during one of our meetings. I like the patient way they worked with kids to settle their differences with compassion and understanding and each time I entered the classroom they had control of the kids in a relaxed manner. I was surprised at the level of care they showed when she fell from the slide and the injury report they sent home was pretty thorough indicating the time it happened, what they did and what they suggested for at home care (mind you it was only a scrape). I also liked the uniforms which made getting ready for school so easy and it kept her nice clothes free of stains, plus the fact that it consisted of a khaki bottom with a navy top was very easy to shop for and avoided a lot of emphasis on who is wearing what, and competition, etc. I also loved the community of parents and feel very lucky to have found this school.
Highly recommend it!

Great little school. My son really thrived here and some good friends. Great parent community: parents overall were very involved in the school and always willing to pitch in on fundraising and other projects. I didn’t like the wood chips on the playground and the school needed some sprucing up but as far as my son’s experience there, it’s a total thumbs up!

Our son started there this year and he is growing more every day, The teachers genuinely care for the children and support their emotional and cognitive growth.
All 3 teachers take the time to answer my questions as well as tell me about their day. Having the dance classes weekly is great and my son’s comprehension of Spanish has dramatically increased.
We are very happy there and look forward to the day when we can enroll our daughter.

Our daughter has been there since she was 2. It is really an amazing place. The teachers are so kind and just love the kids. They are also firm and run a tight ship. Over the last year the parents have gotten more involved and are making it even better. I am going to miss them so much when our daughter graduates. Part of what makes her such a great kid is what she has learned at the Crayon Box. We feel really blessed to be there

Our daughter has been going to the Crayon Box since she was 2 and a half. We LOVE it there! We toured a few preschools in the city, even some of the well thought of and hard to get into ones. We liked the vibe here. Great teachers, very caring and good with the kids. One big plus, potty training not required! That’s hard to find. Our daughter was in day care before this and once she was in a mix of kids, her verbal and motor skills just blossomed. Love the Spanish immersion as well. They sing, they dance (dance teacher comes once a week). She brings her interest in arts and crafts home with her. Our daughter will be going to kindergarten in the Fall. I must say, we are excited for the future, but will certainly miss the great teachers at the Crayon Box!

My son has been attending the Daly City location since it opened in the Fall of 2008 and he absolutely loves it! All the teachers are very attentive and nurturing!

Our son has been there since Jan 2007 and it has been wonderful to watch him blossom and grow at this school.
The teachers genuinely care for him and make him feel loved, and his spanish language skills have surpassed his English. We have been very happy with the school.
Here’s the web site if you want more info.