The Duck Pond

I stumbled upon this business in my search for a venue for my son’s birthday. After looking on the website, I saw I had to fill out a registration form. I refused to fill it out because I felt the questions were inappropriate and really unnecessary to ask for a place for my child to play. Like they were profiling? The questions that were asked that made me raise an eyebrow was 1) what do I classify myself as (Arab, Asian-​American, African-​American) — weird way to ask for my ethnicity. 2) marital status 3) income 4) if I receive government assistance. I mean — why is this important? If I’m paying to be there, does it really matter? This was such a huge turnoff. I realized that the play space was part of a church — but still I felt like the questions were insulting. So anyway, I gave it a try anyway with the intention of asking what was up with the line of questioning. But then the lady that worked there didn’t seem very approachable and so I decided to drop it and not make a fuss. Wasn’t worth it since I decided I wasn’t gonna come back anyway.
The other thing that bothered me was that we were asked to help put things away. I mean, I’ll help out, but it was just weird. I have never been asked to help clean up at any play spaces we have been to. Oh and unless you are there right at 10am, it’s not worth the $ 7 because they start cleaning up at 11:15 for circle time.
Otttttther than those two things, I must say the place is really nice. It’s huuuuge with many different rooms for the children to play in. Not all of them were open when we went there but the ones we did go to were a reading room with a tent and a cooking/​grocery/​pizza play space. They have an area designated for the smaller tots. The main room is huge with lots of obstacle courses, play houses, bikes, toys, etc. in the back, there are 2 roller coaster sets that my son loved.
Circle time was cute. Kids just sang to some music and danced. My son has a new favorite song! «slippery fish» Then, they had bubble time right before we left in the lobby.
So, if you don’t find the registration questions offensive like I do and don’t mind the the super short time, this is a decent place to bring your kid to.

I feel this is a nice place to have kids play indoors, however I feel there are too many rules for kids. They ask money for everything including snacks and playdough. Playtime at Calvary Church Los Gatos is bigger, cheaper, and has no rules for how the kids play. Much nicer. The only drawback to Playtime is its only 2X/​month.

Such a fun place to bring the kids. So many activities for the little ones. I wish they had something like this for adults!

I went there today for the first time. First of all, this place is extremely hard to find. There are no directions to get here and the GPS just doesn’t care. Thankfully, there are instructions on their voicemail telling people to take the Gateway church sign and that their name is on the door. However, that sign is not obvious. I had to circle the area a few times even going all the way up to Careingron College and then turning around. I appreciate what this NPO is trying to do. I really do but helpful and obvious signs would have made this harried mom’s life much easier.
By the time we found the place, it was 10:45 am and before we knew it, at 11:15 a, m, we were asked to start tidying up. (The place is open from 10 – 12 M-​F) Of course I don’t mind doing that but felt it was too soon and we barely got time to enjoy the different play things. My son did have a good time so for that alone, I have to say I liked his place. Also note that even though we were tidying up and the volunteers were putting things away, kids were still running around and playing so they weren’t asking us to stop playing — just getting the clean up started. Also it is good to know they spray all the playthings and surfaces.
I don’t want to sound ungrateful and thank you Duck Pond for existing but I really do wish directions to get here were clearer.

An indoor play space for children 5 and under. It’s open weekdays from 10 – 12. This would be the
perfect spot if you have a toddler or a new baby and a toddler. It was safe, enclosed, and had lots of options for little ones. My daughter just turned 3 and I think she was a bit old for a lot of the toys, but she still had a good time. I appreciate the area to enjoy snacks and the outdoor play space. The highlight was a guest musician, Mr. G, who provided an hour of fun songs, dancing, and guitar. Check their website for special events like that.

The duck pond is like a downgrade from the Gymboree. It’s a place where infants and toddlers all in a same room together. It’s not good when older kids tend to play a bit rough and more advanced. The moms (or caregivers) aren’t friendly. My toddler will probably be bored to come back here again. Their toys and activities aren’t exciting enough for kids (probably older than 2 years old). Lucky that I didn’t purchase their package for 35 visits. One time is enough.

This place was so great for my son! He absolutley had a blast and slept HARD afterwards. Totally worth every dollar.

My review is an average between my score for open play (4 stars) and private party (1 star).
Open play here is really fun for younger kids, and I think the $ 7 is worth it to allow your little ones to play in a safe, clean and open environment. Kudos to Sarah and team for setting this place up for our community.
However, if you are looking to host a party here, I would not recommend it. It’s sad for me to say this because I do love the concept, but the lack of a true planner and an organized staff member to really help drive the party from planning to completion makes the ~$ 500+ fee extremely outrageous. (That is only the fee to use the space!)
If you have your party here, be prepared to set up your own party as they only lay out the toys. Then be prepared to clean up the entire party on your own and haul your own garbage out to the dumpster. And you also need to bring your own garbage bags. (I am not kidding.) The only thing they do is clear up the toys that they lay out. For $ 500+, you have to clean up and haul your own garbage.
Your rental time of 3 hours really is 30 minutes of set up (where you get no help setting up), 2 hours of play (at the 90 minute mark, you start getting announcements that it’s almost time to leave), and the last 30 minutes is for you to clean up and haul your garbage. I had a 3 hour rental, and at the 2:45 mark, the doors were locked and the Duck Pond staff was driving off already. I was only able to accomplish clean up in time because another friend gave me warning about all of this, and I lined up friends and family to help me clean up while my kids waited around. :-(
Communications is also pretty rough, and there was a mix up with my deposit where the Duck Pond almost took an extra $ 100 from me and didn’t acknowledge it. I had to look at my bank statements and clarify that all my checks were indeed cashed before it was acknowledge that I had paid an extra $ 100.
If you have more questions regarding having a party at the Duck Pond, feel free to PM me. Honestly, my son and all his friends had a fun time, but for the cost and the lack of help and having to do my own clean up, I would never recommend this place for a party for any of my close friends.

The price has gone up now to $ 7 — and if you bought a prepaid multi-​visit pack, you can’t use those visits for ‘special event’ days, which is very frustrating (I wouldn’t mind having to use two credits!). No snack is included any longer.
Definitely targeted for the 1 – 3 year olds, though with the addition of the play structure outside, a 4 year old might be amused for a bit longer.

Great place for children under 3 years of age. Although a bit on the pricey side, it’s worth it if you want your child to be in a clean, enclosed environment.
What’s not-​so-​great about this place are as follow:
— if you have a child under 18 months, they will occasionally be pushed or rough-​housed by older kids (my toddler got pushed by 3 – 5 yr. old kids on numerous occasions)
— staff don’t always implement or follow Duck Pond rules (i.e. some of the staff and/​or their children have been seen wearing shoes in the play area)
— there are some moms that come there to gossip and not pay much attention to their kids (in all fairness, their kids are generally older… but they’re also the same kids who either run into little kids or can appear aggressive when it comes to the way they interact with other kids)
It’s an overall «ok» place. I don’t foresee taking my daughter there more than twice a month.

We had the most amazing time having Thanksgiving dinner at the pond! Sarah made it easy and all the people had a great time! Would make any event fun at the pond… highly recommend it when looking for a party venue!

Open Mon 2 – 4, Tues-​Thurs 10 – 12
No shoes, socks required, bathrooms available
Pros:
–clean
–variety of play structures, toys, etc.
–great play space when it’s raining or 90 plus degrees
–dancing, singing, story time at the end
–say good bye with bubbles and a stamp on the hand
–there was a young lady sitting at the clay table the last time we went, smiling and interacting with the kids. She was very sweet and this was the first time anyone working/​volunteering there has spoken to my daughter. It was very nice having her there.
Cons:
–very limited hours, better to get there when it opens
–you really have to watch your child the entire time due to bullies*
–not a lot of smiles to be had from the employees and volunteers
–some people have listed the bible references as a con. Yes there are a few signs but anything that can be removed appears to be placed in a locked room with windows. The space is probably used by the youth group. I am an atheist and I don’t think they are advertising. Anyone who is surprised by the few references to Christianity clearly missed the sign in front of the building that says «church».
*I have been here several times and I will be going back, but after consistently seeing the same kids bullying others and behaving badly I know which boys to watch out for and guard my child from. One is older and should know better. They have been present each time we have been there.
Some of what they’ve done to us personally (over multiple visits) are things such as taking toys, running over feet with a stroller (repeatedly), jumping on the ‘roller coaster’ ride as my daughter is getting on for the turn she waited for, shoving, running through little toddlers. I have never seen anyone speaking to these kids and I’ve never heard them apologize to anyone.
One day another young bully walked up to a boy and shoved him to the ground during circle time. I guess he wasn’t finished because next he put his hand on the boy’s face and shoved him hard so his head flew back to the floor. Mom of the victim took him out of the room crying, while the room stayed silent as no one corrected him.
Be ready for stuff like this if you come here. 3 stars because even though it sucks to be around people who act this way/​allow it there aren’t many other choices for indoor play spaces.

This is a very delayed review, so I’m not sure if anything has changed since. We had been on a couple weekdays prior and my son had a good time. The location seems spacious and had a good amount of things for kids to do. We decided to have son’s bday party here a couple years ago. At the time, the lure was along the lines «have your party here and we will clean up for you.» That’s not the exact quote, but it was something along those lines. When I originally was asking about the location, was told there is a refrigerator where the cake or other foods can be stored. When I got there and wanted to put the cake in the fridge, she very reluctantly allowed me to do so. I feel that if you do not go for the bigger package maybe they are not as friendly? I’m not sure. The party was basically family and a few close friends. We were not following the «timeline» strictly and I got multiple reminders to start cleaning up and to hurry up and cut the cake. After the cake was cut and everyone was done, we were told that we had to throw the trash out in the big dumpster out in the back. I was shocked by this as I thought the whole point was that they were going to clean up. We didn’t have what I would consider a big mess and things were thrown in the garbage. Just a few larger containers that needed to be tossed. Luckily it was mostly family, so my brother helped us clean up by making a couple trips to the dumpster. I just felt like $ 300 was a lot of money to pay for 2 hours (reality 1.5 hours) to use the space and toys and have to clean up as well. Also felt like not all the toys were put out that they normally have during a regular weekday. We did get out of the place within our time frame. I asked her if she had another party to set up for and she said no. That kind of annoyed me a bit — for the amount of money, you would think you can be lenient with 5 – 10 minutes. That experience just prevented me from ever going back to this location.

I just read some reviews and got same experience on my 1^st day when i enter the front desk the lady is indifferent I was asking if I can get a bit of information since it was my first day, but she just told me try to come in early next time.?how I wish she can approach me in a better way.

I’m disappointed to say that the Duck Pond is not for us. We had gone once for an outdoor weekend event when my daughter was 1 ½ or so and she had a blast. I was impressed with the quantity and variety of toys offered there, but I didn’t have another opportunity to take her again until now, since it’s mainly open during weekdays, and she’s now 3. Although they accept children up to 5 years old, I do not feel that there is enough to engage kids 3 and above (even 2 ½+ is a bit questionable). Here is our Thursday experience for Feb 2015:
— Cost is $ 7 now, previously $ 5. This was stated on their website so it wasn’t a surprise.
— Circle time started at 11:30am, NOT 11:45am as their website and signage states. This is important to note because clean-​up time in reality is earlier than I had expected, which led to some frustration (see below). I do not recall being told at check-​in about the circle time schedule and was going by what I had seen online, so I don’t know if this is a one-​time thing or not. We did not stay for circle time so my rating excludes it.
— Not all parents keep a close watch of their children, if important to you. This was frustrating for us as my daughter is not pushy and a few times, another kid would barge in and take it over when she was trying to figure out a new toy.
— I noticed that cleanup by volunteers (ones with a blue waist apron) actually started at 11am. This probably irked me the most in that it seems that everywhere my daughter turned, something was pulled away from her. The initial toys that were put away were mostly duplicates, but every few minutes later, a few more toys were taken away, and then the play dough accessories and play room with food toys was packed-​up/​closed (I forget exactly what time the room was closed). I thought that circle time was at 11:45 so I was very frustrated that my daughter wasn’t getting a longer open-​play time. Additionally, it seemed that most of the things left out were for the younger kids (things my daughter was engaged in at 2 ½ and under). I prefer the more common clean-​up time method of an open announcement that clean-​up is starting, rather than this slow disappearance of toys when kids (and parents!) don’t get why certain toys are taken away but others are left out longer. I felt like the volunteers were trying to make their jobs easier by starting clean-​up early, rather than giving the kids access to all toys for the full open play time.
— Play structures in the open play area, like a toy kitchen or play house, were empty and had no accessories to go with them, and the food room accessories were supposed to remain in the room (per signage). These are great toys to provide the kids, but for the older kids, they need more than a bare structure to engage them. There’s only so much pretending to do with opening and closing doors, windows or pushing buttons on a microwave…
— ride-​on toys: many smaller ride-​on toys for the 1 to 1 ½ age range and perhaps 2 to 4 for taller kids. Includes two roller coasters.
— A small container of play dough and a craft are provided for each child. This gives a nice break time from the other activities. There are separate tables for playing with play dough and for the craft.
— There are little kid tables for snacking and there are clean-​up supplies provided near those tables.
— Themed play rooms: only two of the special rooms were open, the food room and «water» room which turned out to have books (I didn’t happen to see anyone go in there). Four or five other rooms were closed off from use during open play; I recall a vet/​animal room, music room and one with some sport balls. It would have been nice for those rooms to be open, too, as other than my daughter, there were a couple other older kids.
— There’s a small jump house and a closet with dress-​up items (we didn’t explore the latter)
— the kid to toy ratio seemed ok during our visit, not too crowded.
— I saw volunteers regularly cleaning/​wiping the play dough table. Once the «food» play room was closed, a volunteer was inside cleaning the toys. While I appreciate that they clean the toys, and understand that it’s a time-​consuming process, it shouldn’t come at the expense of a paying customer’s play time.
Summary: they provide a wide variety and quantity of toys in the open play area, and the «food» play room is pretty well stocked with pretend food/​shopping carts, etc., but my experience this time is that it’s heavily geared towards younger kids (1 to 2 year olds). With a 3 year old, I would prefer to use my money at a different, more age-​appropriate venue. Again, circle time is not evaluated in this review, but I think the free library story times do a great job already and didn’t come here for that.

I took my 20 month old here for the first time today and I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it. First of all, I didn’t realize it is part of a church (I think it’s their Sunday school room or a place where kids play during services) so there are church-​y things all over (i.e. words about the Bible and «God’s love» written in various places, etc.) There also seemed to be some church activity happening because people who weren’t involved with children at the Duck Pond kept walking through to set things up in other rooms off the main play area. I thought it was kind of weird that those people kept coming through with shoes on and everything… I thought this was a no shoes place?
Secondly, they started cleaning up the toys around 11:00, not 11:30, to prepare for circle time. The area where my son was most entertained that had a bunch of ride on cars was the first to get picked up. Circle time was in another room so I’m not sure why the toys had to be cleaned up. Then when it was a few minutes to circle time beginning, one of the women told another one that they needed to take the train my son was holding away. Just seems a little strange to be so rigid about circle time.
My son did enjoy playing with the toys, most of which I recognized from Target/​Wal-​Mart and a lot of which he owns, but I’m just not sure if the $ 7 admission is worth it. It wasn’t particularly crowded on the day I went and the woman at the front desk was very nice, but this place just didn’t do much for me. I almost feel like a playdate would have been just as fun.
I did notice signs about a new play room coming in 2015 so I might be back to check that out. For now, however, I think there are so many options for me and my little guy that it would be awhile before we returned. The staff was very nice, but it just wasn’t for us.

I am devastated at how the founder/​owner Sarah Jimenez treated me. In September I filled out the form to book my son’s 1^st birthday at the Duck Pond on January 24^th. After a week of not hearing anything, I wrote an email to follow up. This is the email I received from Sarah, «Thank you, we haven’t opened up our 2015 calendar yet. I should have it open late October or November. I will be in touch when I can schedule you.» I waited patiently and never heard from Sarah. Finally I wrote in mid November and was told that the birthday parties are «first come, first serve» and the only date available was January 3^rd. I forwarded the email exchange from September and was told that another family was now interested in the 3^rd and Sarah has nothing to offer me. I feel betrayed and sad with the way I was ignored and then treated when I finally did get a response. Beware of trying to plan an event at this venue or dealing with Sarah!!!

PROS: Cheap admission price. Easy parking.
CONS: Lame and crowded. The place is only open 2 hours a day. The toys are scattered randomly in the room. Most of the toys are old and dirty, and half of the toys do not work (needs new batteries!). 30 minutes prior to closing, the staff makes everyone clean up the room :/​The front desk cashier was rude. She took a toy right out of my 11-​month-​old daughter’s hand, which made my baby go hysterical. Awful first time experience. Definitely not coming back.

I’ve taken my two year old here a few times and I really love the idea of the duckpond. But its success has made things not so enjoyable.
The variety of toys is great. They have a bounce house, and a slide where the kids can ride a car down it. A decent section of toys/​structures like play kitchens and rocking horses etc. The location has a parking lot right outside and it’s easy to get your child in and out.
It’s a great place for parents and mommy and me groups to get together and socialize.
What I love the best about this place is they occasionally have themed days where they’ll have pony rides and puppet shows. My daughter is in love with puppet shows.
It’s also pretty cheap, only 5 bucks. And they give out play dough and crafts you and your kid can make.
But there are way too many kids running around, it makes it hard for a child to really relax and have fun. Everywhere you turn there is another kid trying to play with the toy your child is playing with. The cool little bounce house usually has 4 other kids of different ages in it. My daughter is a little timid at first and she loves bounce houses, but she’ll want out when another kid knocks her over.
Some moms are wonderful about keeping an eye on their kid. They’ll direct them away if they do something unpolite. But there are a few times when a parent will encourage a kid after they just took a toy from my daughter, or pushed her out of the way. I usually bite my cheek, but it’s frustrating to say the least.
The hours are somewhat weird. It’s only open for 2 hours a day from 10 to 12. if you hit traffic or run a little late then it quickly becomes not worth it.
The open play stops at 11:30 for clean up and circle time. Parents are expected to help clear the floor for circle time, which I have always found somewhat odd.
They close for a week at a time at somewhat random intervals. Though they are great at updating their website.
The biggest thing for me is the location. It’s in south san jose and pretty far from where I live. (it’s not their fault) Somedays traffic is horrible and makes getting here a pain.
The bottom line is that I like the duckpond, but i only love the duckpond when it’s not so crowded.

We heard of The Duck Pond just in time to check it out for Open Play and a show by Happy Birds. We went mainly to be able to see the show, and thought that the Open Play sounded like it had a lot of potential. As we were arriving, I thought to myself that it might become somewhere I could take my almost-​3yo and 6mo old baby regularly over the winter, so I was excited.
But from the very second we stepped through the doors into the play area, I was absolutely overhwelmed. It was crowded, toys just scattered across the open floor, leaving my almost-​3yo boy dashing from one thing to the next as fast as his active, short-​attention-​span self does in such a setting. This isn’t a problem at a playground — I can hang back and just make sure he’s safe. But at the Duck Pond, you are expected to stay within arm’s reach the entire time. When it’s crowded, as it was, it’s impossible to stay close enough to your knee-​high runner who can squeeze between adults lightning fast, while you have to weave in and out of milling parents and very young toddlers. In my very honest opinion, this place would be *awesome* for mild, easy-​going 12 – 18 month olds, if that’s the only crowd attending– NOT older toddlers who are more accustomed to running, jumping, climbing, etc. There’s just not enough interest in any one toy available to stay put for more than a few seconds, so you have the older toddler trying to shove past younger toddlers, and you spend your entire visit just trying to catch up to him and apologize to the mamas of the babies he steals toys from before you can reach him again. Well, you might also spend a fair amount of time holding back your screeching toddler who doesn’t understand waiting turns when every child in the room is vying for the same ride-​on toys, and trying futilely to get him interested in something vastly less interesting. All in all, I was ready to leave 15 minutes into playing, I was so exhausted trying to keep him out of trouble. This place just isn’t meant for bigger kids, no matter what the website says. Even if you had the whole room to yourself, they’d lose interest pretty fast. I could easily imagine myself being the mom with the younger baby/​toddler, being overwhelmed by the lightning-​fast olders getting in my who have nothing to hold their interest. The age range just doesn’t work for this venue — it simply ends up way too chaotic.
Anyway, the Happy Birds show thankfully made the trip worth it, but we won’t be going back to play. There was potential, but it would take a lot of purposeful fencing off of certain playstyle areas — like a fence around the base of the «roller coaster» cars so you don’t have to wait 5 minutes for the other ride-​on toys to be pushed out of the way before you go down. Or maybe setting up different play areas intentionally to better encourage imaginative play, with walls partitioning them off so there is less distraction/​running. Little bits of playdoh are provided with entry — cool! But there needs to be a lot more playdoh toys provided to go along with it to share amongst the crowd, or it’s not enough to do anything interesting with on its own. I would have also very much appreciated the staff making a concerted effort to quiet the crowd for the Happy Bird show — we could hardly hear despite the microphone, because nobody ever stood up to gather everyone’s attention and have everyone get quiet at once. It was the loudest crowd I’ve heard in a very long time, and I have kids in elementary, so I know loud crowds.

From the moment I came in the door they weren’t friendly and just cared about getting money. Didn’t tell me anything more than «take your shoes off before entering» this was the first place I ever took My daughter and it makes me never want to take her anywhere like this again.
It was just T E R R I B L E ! ! The parents don’t watch their children, my daughter was barley learning how to walk. There was multiple occasions where there kids where bullying her. One little boy definitely had «pooped «and his mom never changed him! It was disturbing & gross in my eyes you clearly smell your child? Even made a joke about it to the other moms?
My daughter loved seeing the children but at one point the «poopy» child was jumping on my daughter. I picked her up and walked her to the «baby area» which was a disaster. She couldn’t do anything because this little girl kept throwing a fit and take whatever my daughter had. Alyssa not knowing what was going on thought it was funny but I was getting pissed.
I just expected better, and I was very let down on the customer service and lack of supervision. I DEFINITELY WONT BE COMING BACK HERE EVER ! ! !

I wouldn’t recommend taking a baby younger than 1 — 1.5 year old. Most of the kids are toddlers and run/​play freely. Great place for kids to mingle and play with one another.
Staff was a bit indifferent and I felt the girl at the front desk to be a bit rude. Would be nice if they provided a list of resources and schedule. You basically walk into a room of complete chaos.
Not sure I would return anytime soon.

Pros: My 1−½ year old had a great time! I felt safe letting him run loose, while I sat and chatted and checked in on him every once in a while (while keeping an eye on him the whole time of course!); the place was really clean and well organized. This allowed me to relax a little and chat with my own friends, which is a limited luxury these days ;)
Cons: I arrived at 10AM when it was pleasantly crowded – by 11AM it was really crowded, and my friends and I noticed a sudden increase of «older» kids who are a little more active than the babies and young toddlers. Spring break perhaps? In my experience, the workers are nice but not necessarily friendly and warm – kind of felt like they were just putting in their volunteer time with a forced smile.
Overall it was a good experience and I’ll probably go back again :)

They are now open on Wednesdays as well in addition to Tue and Thurs. Very clean and spacious with toys for kids with a wide age range. Jumpers for the little little ones, cool obstacle mats for the crawling ones, activity centers for those just learning to stand, bounce house, slides, tricycles, craft table and play dough equipment for the toddlers. Snacks are allowed on the non carpeted area too.
Most of the toys out are the same each time but there is some variation once in a while. The best part is the pay per visit system. ($ 5). So you can just check it out, if this place is not for your little one, never come back again. No commitment, no registration fee.
Do note that the circle time (bubbles, songs, stretching, story) is at the last 15 mins so if that is what you are looking for you might not want to be there too early.

This place is organized, structured, safe, clean and fun! I bring my 2 year old son here to play. His favorite toys are the cars/​trucks, the roller coaster, and ice cream toys.
Check-​in is organized — you can pay the $ 5 (debit/​credit also accepted) at the desk or prepay online for multiple visits. Shoes are left outside the playroom near the check-​in. Since it is indoor, I don’t have to worry about my son running off. The volunteers are welcoming and friendly. You see the volunteers cleaning. My kid hasn’t gotten sick yet. Gymboree we got sick 2x after going. The play time ends with cleanup, bubble time then circle time. Circle time usually includes a song, stretch, and a story. Snack time and crafts are a nice plus. I’m looking forward to their Harvest Party coming up. There’s even homemade play dough to take home, and we bought the play doh tools once he became interested.
Overall, I’m quite impressed with this place and have been coming weekly since we first visited. I like the flexibility of the drop in and $ 5 is reasonable considering what is offered and the chance to socialize. You can also be a volunteer to earn free visits. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, and Nannies can appreciate a place like this and of course the kids. I wish there was one closer to us in North San Jose.