Bigelow Cooperative Daycare

Our son is in his second year at Bigelow and we couldn’t be happier. He has learned and developed so much under the care of the amazing, wonderful, kind, experienced teachers. I truly believe he’s smarter, better behaved, and more socially and emotionally skilled because of Bigelow. Plus he loves going there and talks about it all the time. When I pick him up at day’s end, I practically have to bribe him to get him to go home. He makes me drive past the building several times each weekend.
Bigelow is full of fantastic kids and wonderful families. I feel so lucky to be part of the community.

My daughter joined Bigelow this past fall and we couldn’t be more delighted. We were at a different daycare in the somerville area previously, and always left feeling like it just wasn’t excellent. On the contrary, I am constantly surprised and impressed by how awesome Bigelow is, for many reasons …
We love the teachers. They are passionate, loving, intelligent, gentle, and care deeply about their kids. Every week they explore different topics, like emotions, potty usage, siblings and more. Everyday they take the kids outside, sing songs, do art or cooking projects, and facilitate play with a huge selection of toys. The teachers are wonderful at bringing shy kids out and helping resolve issues when they arise. Likewise, we have been delighted that they even send us an email almost everyday during nap time telling us what each of the kids have been up to and some of the charming or hilarious things they say. The teachers are superstars.
Likewise, we love the community. We were a little nervous about whether a coop community would be over the top, or kind of crazy, but instead we have just discovered an incredible community or balanced, loving, sensible, fun and highly invested parents. It is amazing to see parents who are architects and designers that actually designed our new school space, others who work at VCs and help run our board, ones work in yoga and come in to hands on teach the kids, and many, many others bring their unique skills to play at the school.
Finally, we love the school. The space is beautiful, the students are wonderful (though really, what little kids aren’t :)), and the staff is incredible. It has been a hugely rewarding experience for my daughter, my husband and I, and I strongly, without reservation, recommend Bigelow to any other parent looking for an awesome daycare!

Coming to Bigelow, you not only have access to a great caring, warm and stimulating environment for you kids, but you gain a whole new family. It does not matter where you are coming from, what language you speak, you will always find tremendous support for your kids and you family, in addition to having a voice for all the decisions taken during the year.
I thought it could not get better than that and yet with the planned move to Somerville in a much better and larger space (designed specifically for Bigelow) things will get even better. Too bad our kids are heading to school next year.

There are a few things that really stand out for me about Bigelow: The kids all eat a hot lunch together cooked by parents (we each have to prepare lunch about once every three weeks). Every week the fantastic musician Wayne Potash comes in a plays for the kids, getting them really excited and singing and dancing around the room… a favorite activity for everyone. The teachers lie on the floor with the kids holding their hands and comforting until they fall asleep at naptime. They get to play at the fantastic Cambridge Common playground, which is right across the street.
We chose Bigelow because we wanted a small cooperative preschool, Bigelow had a great reputation and it was the school that had a spot available for us! But in the two years since our son started there, we have been extremely happy. Our son takes a while warming up to new places and people and he really loves the setting, the teachers, the toys, activities, other kids. It is a warm community that works together to provide a great, safe, comforting educational experience for our kids right in Harvard Square! And now that we’re getting a bigger, better space, also conveniently located in Somerville, I think Bigelow is only going to get better.

We love this school. Both of our children have attended and we can’t say enough about the loving atmosphere and the amazing families that we have met. We can leave our children there with no concern about their well being and safety. In fact, our second child, who is there now barely gives us a second look when we drop her off in the morning.