Creative Minds Child Development Center

Our daughter and son have attended Creative Minds Preschool. The teachers are warm and caring. They always give you an update at pick up and are great at helping with drop off in the morning. I am a teacher myself and I love the community feel at Creative Minds. My children feel comfortable and supported.

reply to Rick K.
amazing your capacity to lie and transform reality. you must be living in a separate universe.
1) we never EVER said that our son had a pre existing elbow dislocation condition.
the fact that the first time it happened to him was under YOUR watch,
makes YOU the pre existing condition.
we said that since that also happened to his older brother at the same
age, and that it was done a first time by his nanny at that time.
2) AT YOUR PLACE he was bitten TWICE on the chick. TWICE with marks that lasted for weeks. He never EVER did that @ home before he was under YOUR watch and. he has never done that (if he ever in fact did it !) since he left YOUR childcare.
the reality is that when he came in, he was in a class of 4 children with 2 care-​takers. at that time, you said yourself, that you were losing $ on that program. losing $. I let the reader appreciate the comment.
when you wanted us out, you increased the # of kids from 4 to 9 and 6 of them were in need of constant attention. attention that you did not and could not and DID NOT WANT to give to our son anymore.
so many time I dropped him and I had to request and to ask one of the person there to take care of him b/​c they had paid ZERO attention to me coming in, signing in and so on. too busy with the babies.
this will be my last reply here.
I am not wasting anymore of my time with you.
YOU ARE A MONSTER.

When my twins were going to start preschool we cast a WIDE net. We looked in San Jose, Milpitas, Campbell, Los Gatos and Cupertino before making our decision. We created a long list from the local Parents magazine. We spent hours on websites creating a spreadsheet to weigh philosophy, commute, cost, and other perks. We narrowed the list from 30 to 15 and started touring.
Creative Minds was one of the last places we toured but as soon as we did I knew I’d finally found our new preschool ‘home.’ I love the teaching philosophy — Reggio Emilia — which I always describe as being a close cousin to Montessori but instead of focusing on doing things individually it focuses on doing things together (building teamwork /​group skills). I love how it literally is creative. The kids came home messy nearly every day but they created amazing works of child-​art and they were always happy. I loved how the school took a lot of pictures and gave us a disk at the end of the year which chronicled all the kids adventures. I love how your child didn’t have to be fully potty trained.
There was only one drawback to the Reggio way of teaching and that is that since the teachers would often move with the direction of the class (going deeper into areas they liked) they would get to the end of the year and not get through the whole alphabet or other more structured topics. For that reason we did end up putting our kids in a different pre-​K (ATLC on Cambrianna). However, I would still do it the same way — giving them the first 2 years in this fun, creative, school.

We have been part of the Creative Minds family for almost 4 years now. My oldest son started going here when he was 2 and now my youngest son is here too. The staff is completely wonderful and loving with the children. They are always doing a lot of activities with the children… a lot of tactile activities, a lot of outside play, song and dance, reading. My two year old comes home singing songs he must have learned at school… I can tell he is having a fun time there! Parental involvement is also encouraged… parents come in to share fun things with the kids (music, etc). And of course as a parent you can drop in at any time.
The school is separated into different rooms based upon age (babies, toddlers, older toddlers, and preK) and the rooms are very nice… clean, colorful, a lot of fun toys and activities. I was a little nervous when I found out that the main teacher for the toddler room had left, but the new head teacher in the room, Teacher Teri is fantastic!!! She’s so positive and upbeat and even though my son has a hard time with me leaving him, as soon as we walk in he gives her a little smile. She successfully distracts him by playing with the babies (dolls), or the light table, etc… she knows what he likes to do and she (and the rest of the staff) genuinely loves my son which makes it much easier for me to leave him there.
My oldest son was so sad when he had to start going to another school (elementary) but we continue to connect with other former classmates. Richa and Jennifer have always been very flexible with scheduling, which has been really great since I’m going back to school and have a new schedule every quarter. Bottom line… this is the best place you could send your children to. You won’t be sorry… it’s such a happy place and a great extension of family.

Our daughter has been in the preschool at Creative Minds for over a year and has always been very happy there. Her teachers are really wonderful, caring and fun. They know each of the kids so well and are responsive to each child’s needs and interests. They’re very attentive to the social development of each child and put a lot of attention on nurturing empathy, friendship, and responsibility in the classroom. The director is very attentive to parent interests and concerns.
The program is fantastic, and such a rare find in the South Bay. The curriculum is focused on themes of interest to the kids, like transportation, countries, rainbows, and «all about me». Using a theme that the kids are excited about, they engage in all different kinds of activities: making art, exploring science concepts, reading books, construction, and pretend play. They have built marble runs to explore physics, created maps, developed their own country (including learning about things like flags, voting, and different cultures), and made art with every kind of material you can imagine. There is so much hands on learning going on every day. They cook together often and learn that meals are an important time for coming together and making friends. There is lots of outside time, where they can climb, run, make messy projects, garden, dig, or just enjoy some quiet time in the shade. They go on field trips and have visitors from the community (fire department, high school marching band, music/​soccer/​gymnastics teachers, parent volunteers). They are encouraged to develop independence and are supported in taking physical, social, and creative risks. I’m amazed at what my daughter is learning, and all through play, exploration and fun. She’s curious and excited about big ideas they learn about — whether it’s electricity or gravity or how plants grow — and at the same time has learned enough reading, writing, and counting to be more than ready for kindergarten. And, she’s always so engaged and happy when I come to pick her up.

I know people often only feel motivated to write reviews when they have something negative to say. This school is wonderful. The staff is extremely caring an passionate about what they do. My son is in the toddler class, and even though they are so young, the kids all seem very happy, independent, and compassionate. He’s always had really bad separation anxiety, but his teachers really help make the transition easier for him. And after 2 months, I feel like it’s getting easier and easier for me to leave him in the morning. When I come to pick him up he’s always in a wonderful mood! He’s also getting the hang of potty training really quickly with the help of his teachers. It’s obvious that they really take a personal interest in each child. They also really encourage parents to get involved in the classroom whenever possible, such as reading stories or doing projects so the kids feel a sense of community at school. I definitely recommend Creative Minds. If you’re curious, go check it out for yourself!

If I could write less than a star a would. I was impressed with this program initially, however, that changed after a month. My child’s preschool teacher told me that she thought he was autistic (in front of my child). Even though my child’s doc completely disagreed I had an evaluation done. This cost $ 2500. They said he was absolutely not autistic and we should consider a new preschool program for him. When I told the teacher that my child was fine she just rolled her eyes at me and walked away, We were done that day.

Now that I am no longer taking my son to this daycare I feel like I can give a complete review of my experiences here.
I did not have any problems with the teachers in the infant room/​toddler room. At times, it would get a little hectic in the toddler room especially during lunch time. My son went half time here so I would come right around lunch time and notice that food was everywhere and kids were eating out of tupperware from home instead of on plates — just very disorderly.
Toileting training was completely out of the question… they attempted with my son a few times but I felt like when I asked it was done as a «favor» for me so I just let it go. When a child goes to daycare most of the day or half of the day, it needs to be a priority for both the daycare and the parents. Especially, if the child is going through the potty training phase. It was not a priority here. They mostly only focused on diapering.
This daycare was flexible with me in terms of adjusting my son’s schedule/​hours when I needed some extra time, but only when he was in the infant room. Once he was in the toddler room I had to be sure I was on time, which is understandable.
The main reason why we decided to leave was because of the owner: Richa Kapur. We started at a very reasonable rate and as time progressed the price kept increasing. The first time she increased the price on us… she called my husband and said I noticed your son is coming in earlier and so she increased the price (he rarely comes in early, usually always late). Then, recently we had talks about transitioning him into the toddler room… my husband had a meeting with her and said that we were ready for him to start the toddler room. Usually kids start that room at the age of 2. At the time, my son would have been two in a month or so.
The price drops once they start the toddler room since the ratios are higher. Since my son was almost two but not quite, my husband asked her to honor the toddler room price. It only made sense to pay the toddler pricing if we were going to put him in that room. She said that’s fine after chatting with my husband, so we made the necessary arrangements for his transition (ex: I had to change my work schedule, our finances etc).
The next day she talked with my husband and went back on her word saying that she is not making enough money on us and that she can’t honor the toddler price for the next two months until he actually turns two. That is ridiculous, we were very upset that she decided to change the price once more us.
We decided to research heavily for a week or two for nearby daycares and with God’s help we found a fabulous daycare with higher quality care, more professional in handling all the administrative issues and also provides lunch and snack. It was very unfortunate that it had to end this way because we built a relationship with the teachers and so did our son. But sometimes people need to learn the hard way.

My kids just finished their first week at Creative Minds. They were treated with love, patience and kindness. The staff took extra time and care to make them feel welcome and comfortable. There are so many developmentally appropriately toys, games, puzzles, books, etc. It is a clean, bright, and fun environment for children to learn in.

Our 1-​year-​old son was at Creative Minds since October 2009. He really enjoys his time there, the facility is brand new, teachers are great and he is learning a great deal. We are very happy we found this place and we highly recommend it!