Toddlers
2 – 3
Sprouts.
Where school starts. Soft transitions, lots of lap time, sensory work, songs, garden walks. We partner with you on potty training. The day is gentle and predictable.
For fifteen years we've looked after Saratoga's youngest in a deliberately small, sun-soaked preschool. Mixed-age classrooms. Slow mornings. Real conversation. Children, ages two through Kindergarten, who learn the way they actually learn.
Butterflies Academy is a non-profit, year-round preschool in the heart of Saratoga. We're licensed by California Community Care Licensing (#434414738), small by design, and built around the idea that children flourish when they have time, beautiful materials, and adults who actually listen.
Our curriculum is play-based and emergent — drawn from Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, Montessori and Reggio Emilia. We meet and exceed California's Early Childhood Curriculum Framework. We keep classrooms mixed-age. We keep ratios at 1:6. We do not rush. We do not perform.
What you'll see here is, mostly, what childhood looked like before phones — with a little more knowledge of how brains develop, and a lot more grace and courtesy.
We organise our days around three loosely-bounded age groups — toddlers, preschoolers, pre-kindergarten — but the rooms blend at story time, snack, and outdoor play. Older friends mentor. Younger friends stretch. Everyone learns from everyone.
Where school starts. Soft transitions, lots of lap time, sensory work, songs, garden walks. We partner with you on potty training. The day is gentle and predictable.
The wonder years. Choice work in open studios, dramatic play, real tools, longer outdoor stretches, and the beginning of project work that lasts a week.
The Kindergarten readiness year. Letters, numbers, social-emotional fluency, science and the joyful confidence of being the oldest in the room. Mentorship is real here.
Children thrive on rhythm. Here's the shape of an ordinary Tuesday — flexible enough to follow your child's curiosity, structured enough that they always know what's next.
Warm welcome, hand-washing, free-choice work in the studio.
Songs, weather, the day's plan in pictures, sharing time.
Open studios — math, language, art, sensory and practical life.
Climbing, balance, water play, neighbourhood walks, garden tending.
Children pour, serve, clear, converse. Lunch is curriculum too.
Story, soft music, nap or quiet bookwork for older friends.
Long-form study — experiments, building, dramatic play.
Yoga, music, group reading, soft pickup until 5:30 PM.
A small album. Real children, real hands, real mud. We share daily on Instagram and post quietly on Facebook. Once you enrol, photos arrive on your phone every afternoon.
We publish our rates openly because every family deserves to plan with confidence. Sibling and corporate discounts available — just ask. We accept CalWorks, GoKids and Choices for Children.
We accept check, cash, and Zelle to Info@ButterfliesAcademy.com. Tuition for children aged four and up assumes full potty-training.
"Our daughter has not stopped narrating her days since she started here. It is the most articulate stretch of her short life — and it is because of how this place listens to her."
Tours run weekday mornings and afternoons. Pick a window — we'll text confirmation within an hour. Bring your child, bring your questions.
A quiet, sun-lit space. Children working at their own pace. Teachers who speak softly. A garden. A small library. Lunch being prepared. A morning circle. Possibly your child's next chapter.
Studios, garden, kitchen, bathroom — the rhythm of an ordinary day.
The questions only a teacher can answer, asked in person.
Sent to your phone. No printer, no scanning, ever.
Our average teacher-to-child ratio is 1:6. Mixed-age classrooms run 12–15 children with two qualified teachers. Smaller than most. Always.
Montessori-inspired. We blend Montessori practical-life work with Reggio Emilia, High Scope and Project-Based Learning — what we call "Educated Entertainment".
Yes — we are approved for CalWorks, GoKids, and Choices for Children. We help you with the paperwork.
Snacks are. Lunch is family-style — children bring a packed lunch and we eat together with our teachers.
Our 4+ rates assume potty-trained children. For 2–3 year-olds, we partner with you on potty training and provide a fully equipped bathroom.
Today: a class WhatsApp group with daily photos and short videos. Coming soon: a dedicated Butterflies app with per-child daily reports.