Tiny Treks – South Bay

I love the Tiny Treks program. We first tried Tiny Treks in the Peninsula when my son was around 2 years old. We loved the outdoor setting and exploring new parks. Now that we’ve moved to the South Bay we’ve continued to participate in Tiny Treks mainly in the summer but are looking forward to join again in the Fall. My kids love the program which incorporates nature, being outside, crafts and story time. The teachers are all very down to earth and good with kids. The program is very organized and professional. I just wish they offered more class options in the South Bay now that we are here. We are looking forward to doing more Tiny Treks in the future!

I decided to try Tiny Treks based on the recommendation of a friend plus the great reviews here. I have done a lot with my son — museums, happy hollow, gilroy gardens, gymboree, gymnastics and music together are some examples. I was really disappointed in Tiny Treks. I think it’s kind of expensive…$ 85 per child per three week session. I was excited to explore new things.
The places themselves were pretty cool but I don’t think TT can take much credit for that. In their defense the first day rained… it should have been rescheduled but wasn’t. It was a big mess. There was a cute little craft project… there was some reading time during snack time but none of the kids paid attention. We didn’t all fit on the blanket that was brought so mostly we just tried to stay dry. The final two treks were okay but I already had both locations saved on Unilocal as places to go. Nothing really happened on the treks in the way in instruction… at Emma Preusch (sp?) park she brought chicken feed and she led us around… at Sandbourn she brought water bottles to spray spider’s webs. My son is much too little to understand these things so we were about ¼ mile behind the group because he was spraying everything he saw. He just turned 2… even when his bottle was empty he still stopped to spray every tree he saw. Maybe the older kids got more out of it. There isn’t too much actual group interaction. At snack time some books are read but there isn’t too much socialization. I could (and do) do this myself with him for free.
Maybe this just wasn’t the best session… maybe I’m just not on the treks bandwagon but the first week i was disappointed, the second week i was indifferent and I really had to drag myself to even get to the third one. Since all the activities that we did were free I really don’t see the point. IMO any of the organized activities listed above had more educational value than TT… I get my son outdoors a lot so I don’t need to pay someone this much money to give me a list of places to see and then meet me there.
I don’t mean for this review to be scathing… if you aren’t into planning and researching outdoor activities for your kids this might be the way to go. If the only way you will actually do exploration is if it’s scheduled and paid for then you might like this. If you want to introduce your toddler to group activities without working on socialization this might be the group to join. I am just a go-​getter and can handle this all myself.
**PS. TT discourages bringing your own snacks so everyone has the same food. I agree with this… they did say that if your child has allergies to bring their own food. My child has one allergy (tahini) and it didn’t ever dawn on me that the snack they might take would be hummus. It is my fault, but it’s so obscure and has never come up so I was a little surprised. My bad I know but i was thinking peanuts… gluten…dairy kind of allergies. Now I know for next time… if your kid is allergic to anything random bring your own food for sure :)

I’ve attended Tiny Treks for two different locations, and the teachers are always top-​notch. We are at an amazing preschool during the year, and one of the South Bay teachers has a son who went to Mountain School as well, so she really understands how important it is to get our kids outside. They are able to engage toddlers and big kids just the same. Once you get your kids outside, it’s amazing what may come over there. It was so much fun during our summer session, and we would definitely do it year round if I didn’t work full time. A great supplement to another more traditional preschool!

Tiny Treks is one of my favorite children’s programs, and I’ve had some pretty special times with my kids while on Tiny Treks adventures. I can’t say enough good things about the program, I did the school-​year program with my son and am doing it again this year with my daughter (age 3.5 years). We’ve also done the summer programs. We have discovered some pretty amazing locations to explore nature, places right in our backyard that we never realized were there until we went with Tiny Treks. I highly recommend Tiny Treks to anyone looking to instill a love of the outdoors in their children. We’ve had fun catching tadpoles, splashing in streams, hiking through redwood forests and appreciating all that mother nature has to offer. Our weekly Tiny Treks adventures are precious memories and fun times I’ve been lucky enough to share with my children, who seem to be growing up so fast!

When we first moved to CA we didn’t know the area at all. My son was two, and we sign up for a Tiny Treks class. We LOVED it! It was the highlight of the week. Each week we would meet the group at a different park and hike, do a project, sing songs and discover nature together. The spots that Tiny Treks has chosen are BEAUTIFUL and the kids are thrilled to see what new things they will encounter. We signed up again when my son was three, and then we did it again when my daughter was old enough. The teachers are carefully chosen — terrific with the age ranges and ready to meet the kids at their level. I love that they also offered a ‘family class’ which meant that the class was made of of a mix of the children’s ages. I always recommend this program because it’s so important to let the kids be outside, which isn’t always easy these days, and Tiny Treks understand this.

Fantastic program! My children and I loved visiting so many fun places with our new friends every week.