Sandbox Preschool & Learning Center

I just had to put my two cents in. My daughter and I adore Sandbox School! It was a really hard adjustment for me when we moved to the area, a few years ago. And, I remember this school being the first thing I felt really good about.
All the teachers know my daughter’s name. They keep things fun. My daughter is high energy and she always wants to know more. They can keep her engaged. She comes home bubbling with what she learned and did that day.
In short, I can not say enough good things about this place. To be honest, sometimes when I’m dropping her off I wish I was 5 and could go with her instead of off to work!

I don’t have anything but the highest opinion of sandbox. I had sent my daughter there and I feel fortunate to have found such a wonderful child care facility. My daughter now has two sons and no one compares to sandbox. After seriously negative experiences with other places, she has always returned to sandbox. It has been difficult to find any other daycare when virtually every other facility falls short when comparing it to sandbox. There is nothing ghetto about it. I don’t think L.K. knows the true meaning of ghetto. A building does not make a daycare. There will always be a cough or sneeze around from children to adults, and in my experience sandbox has done it’s best to prevent any self– absorbed parents from dumping their sick kids at the door. My daughter currently placed her sons in a modern looking facility for the summer and she won’t be back. It’s difficult to compare other child cares to sandbox because they pale in comparison to the superior sandbox experience!!!

I’m not sure if this other person has had any prior experience with children’s daycare centers, but childcare centers have a tendency to look «used» after children have been there. Sandbox in Palos Hills is a fantastic place for kids. The staff is consistent – there are always familiar and comforting faces for your children to become accustomed to. The facility is large – and while, yes, there are toys and equipment that are donated, they are safe and enjoyed by the kids rigorously, and there is ample room for the children to utilize those toys. There are two outdoor play areas – one for older children and one for younger ones. I usually don’t write reviews like this, but I felt it was necessary to dispel any misapprehensions that this other reviewer may have perpetrated. I sent my daughter to Sandbox nine years ago. She loved her time there. She spent about five days a week there from the age of three to about five. We felt very lucky to find a place like this where she was taken care of and comforted so well while I was at work. This was the third childcare center that we had been to. The first two daycares were newer facilities, though their staff appeared to be frustrated and intolerant with many of the children, making it uncomfortable for me to drop off my child in that environment. Today, I have a son who is six years old and he has been attending Sandbox since he was eighteen months old. While both of my children have very different temperaments and attitudes about their independence, both of my children love their teachers, teachers’ aides, and classmates. There is nothing «ghetto» about Sandbox in Palos Hills. Using donated toys and recycling playground equipment is fine with me. This implies that they use their tuition funding to pay their teachers. I prefer that the people who care for my children be well compensated for their time. Additionally, Sandbox has all kinds of fantastic programs – puppet shows, animal shows, picnics, field trips (age appropriate), etc. This is not as common as one would hope in this business! Sandbox in Palos Hills is one of the few places that actually takes the time to schedule these events on a regular basis. I definitely recommend this center to everyone. This is a fantastic way to start a child’s education. They will have a positive outlook on school if they start here.

I was shocked to see a bad review of Sandbox. I have four children. My youngest two are current students and my oldest are now thriving in grade school (thanks in large part to the excellent preparation they received at Sandbox– both academically and emotionally).
Sandbox has a very caring and dedicated staff. There are teachers who have been there since long before my oldest started there and they are still there to take care of my youngest. That continuity makes my husband and I feel very comfortable with this school. My children are always warmly welcomed every morning and the teachers do a great job of helping my youngest one say goodbye to me. I always feel secure leaving my children there. When I pick them up, the kids are always playing happily and I receive a report of how their day went.
I think the facilities are wonderful. Other centers I have visited have a small and cramped feeling. Sandbox is very spacious. The children are divided into age groups that are in separate classrooms, allowing the younger ones to nap while the older ones play or do classwork. I also like how it is far removed from the busy street– located behind a larger school district building. There is a fenced in play yard for the smaller children and a larger public park adjacent to the property for the older children.
In addition to Sandbox’s wonderful academic program, there are other extra-​curricular programs that operate at the school regularly– like dance and tumbling. It certainly makes my life easier to not have to drive around to extra places for my children to be a part of these activities.
As for L.K.‘s bad review– in the 9+ years our children have gone to Sandbox, I have never seen a teacher-​student ratio like she described. In the summer they do set up small wading pools and sprinklers in a field next to the parking lot. The dumpster is in the parking lot– the children play in the grassy field. The inside of the school is clean and definitely not crowded. I’m not sure what L.K. means by «ghetto» so I don’t know how to address that concern.
Whenever someone asks for a school recommendation I always recommend Sandbox. We have had a great experience over the past 9+ years and will continue to do so until our youngest graduates from the program.

OMG in a word?
Deplorable
Swimming pool next to a dumpster outside?
20 kids to 1 teacher on a slip and slide where no one was watching them? Hello, I saw a kid wander off and no one noticed until I said something!
Dirty, crowded, just plain ghetto inside
Some kid had that bad cough that every mother hides their kid from
Just sickening .They may wash their hands from start to finish but to me, it doesn’t matter. I would never bring my child to a place like this and if they were all like this, I would have private nannying until kindergarden.
Ugh. So sad. I heard great things about this place and it was ghetto!