Funtime Daycare

We love Fun Time Daycare so much! Our first started there when she was 12 months old, and stayed until she started preschool. Our 2nd started at 11 months and is about to leave for preschool, too. Both girls were immediately loved and cared for like family Gisell and all of her staff. Our girls were consistently excited to go to daycare every day. Some hilights for us were that our girls were able to learn both Spanish and English, the weekly live music by Rosita, and that Fun Time provides breakfast, lunch and snacks (eases the morning routine a lot!) - especially since I can't seem to get my kids to eat vegetables, but they can! Gisell is a gem and really sees each child and their strenghts and personalities and encourages them in so many ways. We would recommend Fun Time to anyone, and we will miss this beautiful community. 

I can't recommend Fun Time enough. What an amazing and beautiful community. Our daughter started when she was 6 months old. 

She was immediately loved and nurtured by Gisell and her team. It can be overwhelming leaving your baby in the care of someone else and Gisell put me and my partner at ease with frequent updates and debriefs. Most of all, we felt reassured by how happy our daughter is with her caregivers and friends - we could see her blossoming. 

One highlight for my daughter was weekly live music. The kids play instruments and sing along. It's a real joy to see videos and photos, and now our daughter tells us about music days.

Now that our daughter is moving on to preschool, we are weepy over leaving such a wonderful place, but mostly, we're grateful for the beautiful environment she had to grow and develop. 

As first time parents, we were nervous about finding the right spot for our daughter. Fun Time Daycare was the first daycare we visited and we were really impressed with Gisell's experience, demeanor, and what a great space they have for the children! We visited a few other daycares to fully do our due diligence, but nothing compared. The space is amazing with a ton of toys and fun decorations, and their activities like music on Thursdays.

We were very nervous our first few weeks but Gisell sent regular updates and pictures of our daughter, and soon she was crying at pickup because she wanted to stay so badly. Our daughter thrived there under Gisell and her amazing team which really helped ease the guilt of not having her with us during the day. In addition to daycare, Fun Time also provides babysitting services which was amazing for continuity of care. Gisell came over many nights to watch our daughter and they had a ton of fun together while my husband and I went out stress free.

We made the difficult decision to move recently and were distraught about leaving Fun Time. We love that Gisell still checks in regularly - it's clear how much she loves our daughter. We were looking for a daycare, but we found a family.

We can't recommend FunTime enough. Gisell, Liz, and the entire caregiving team are wonderful, loving, and really know their stuff. All food is provided (a huge plus for us!), they make regular outings to the park right around the corner, have a newly renovated backyard playspace, and kids frequently bring home fun arts and crafts projects. They even have a live musician visit once each week!

We sent our then one and half year old son in tentative times a few months after the arrival of COVID, but he took right to it, and almost immediately found a segunda mamá in Liz. He's just departed at three and a half to attend preschool, but his six month old sister is now a FunTime kid, and we're very grateful to be able to continue to be a part of this community.

I cannot recommend Fun Time enough, truly. We brought our son there over a year ago, and it will absolutely crush us to leave when he starts preschool. Gisell and her team are wonderful caretakers, and the kids have so much fun every day. They make fresh meals daily for the kids, they have someone come weekly to play guitar and sing to the kids, and they've completely renovated the yard with new toys, turf, swings and slides, and so much more. At Halloween they do a costume parade through the neighborhood with treats for everyone, photo sessions at Christmas - they're so much fun and truly amazing. We love it here and highly recommend!

My wife and I have never felt better about leaving one of our children in someone else's care than when our youngest was attending Fun Time Daycare. Giselle and her team bring such love and joy to their work; these are people for whom working with small children is truly a calling. On his last day there my wife and I cried (this is not typical behavior for us). Yes, the children have fun, and they are well and responsibly cared for. But what sets this place apart is really the intangible sense that Giselle and her team love our child and their heart and soul is 100% in this. 

I cannot recommend Fun Time enough. I visited at least twenty daycares when I was pregnant, and, toward the end of the process, really just felt like maybe daycare wasn't the right option for our family. Gisell was the last person I met with, and I instantly loved her and her space. The whole place is a baby-palooza! My son has been going to her since he was six months old and he pumps his legs with excitement when he sees that we are pulling up to Fun Time in the morning. Gisell, Karen, and Sarah love my baby like he is their own, and that, to me, is the most important thing about a caregiver. They send pictures and videos every week, and they give me tips on activities, music, and new foods that he has become obsessed with. I feel very lucky that I stumbled across this place. 

Some crucial points: 

My son has a cow's milk protein allergy and they are really diligent about this dietary restriction. 

They love on my son behind my back (other moms have told me (I see them doing the same with the other babies when those parents aren't around)). 

My son reaches for them when I am holding him (slightly tough on the ego but makes me feel really good about where he is spending his days).

Fun Time Day Care has cared for our daughter since she was 4 months old, and I can’t imagine getting better care for her than the caregivers at Fun Time (Gisell, Karen, and Sarah) provide. By the end of the first week, our baby was smiling when I dropped her off! Our daughter (now 18 months old) loves being there and smiles when I bring her on Monday morning. We absolutely love being part of the Fun Time family and the fun parties they host!

Gisell sends pictures of music circle time, playground activities, library time, eating time, nap time, and outside yard time. It’s so great to see our child having fun while we can’t be with her.

Our daughter is still learning new words but already knows all kinds of words in Spanish, especially zapato, agua, and cinco (for high five!).

Just by sheer luck and coincidence our neighbors’ son went to Fun Time when he was a baby and had the same amazingly wonderful experience with them.

I would definitely recommend them to new parents who want to find loving caregivers for their new baby. They love what they do and it really shows.

Our active, outgoing toddler recently transitioned to a Mandarin preschool after 2 years and 2 months with Gisel and the amazing staff at Fun Time Daycare. He transitioned really well to his new environment, but we are forever grateful and miss our cozy monkey jungle where our little one learned to drink from a bottle, crawl, walk, talk, sing Soy Una Pizza in spanish.

As a new mama i was so very nervous and scared about putting my newborn into care, he started at 3 months old, but the warm loving and attentive care he received was amazing. He understood and spoke a lot of Spanish by the time he left. Wonderful live music every Thursday was such a gift for our naturally music-loving child (as most kids are!), home-cooked meals, creative arts projects (Karen) and community-building potlucks are other aspects of what made Fun Time such a special place for us. We thank Gisel, Raquel, Karen, July, Celia...so many wonderful staff for their dedication and care to our tiny ones. It's also close to BART station which for me working in SF, was very key! :) and for our son, he loved the outdoor play space and seeing and hearing BART trains go by every day...! 

FunTime Daycare is a joyful and caring environment for little ones. As first time parents, we were nervous to drop our little one off at 6 months, especially since she was not consistently taking the bottle and her nap times were somewhat variable. The first day, Gisell sent us a photo of our little one fast asleep and she drank all of her milk! Our little one absolutely loved all of the time outdoors and her favorite activity was music time, she learned to clap and say, "bravo!" after each song. Some of her first words were Spanish and she still practices counting in Spanish. At the end of the day Maiko would look forward to daycare and talk about her teachers and friends. Our whole family loved the festive potlucks Gisell organizes twice a year (summer and winter), we appreciated the opportunity to get to know the staff and other families better. Our little one was at daycare for some long days and it was so reassuring to receive the photos from Gisell and see her enjoy her day. Our daughter is now in a program for 2+ year olds in Berkeley and the adjustment has been smooth so far. 

Funtime daycare has so many amazing and wonderful features. I visited nearly all of the local daycares where Spanish is spoken, and this was the only place where I immediately felt comfortable and at home. Giselle puts so much heart and detail into everything... I so appreciated that as well as her creativity, kindness and energy. Celia is absolutely wonderful, solid, experienced, loving. 

The monkeys hanging from the ceiling create a really fun kid friendly space. They are constantly singing and playing music with the kids, and Rosie, a professional musician comes Thursdays. I have no doubt that it was this musical environment that contributed to my son's love of music now.   They take kids down the block for story time at the library, on walks to the park. They have them painting, reading, playing, doing projects. Their garden is beautiful and my son will always love BART because of getting to see the trains zoom by.

Then, if all that weren't enough, they organize regular celebrations that are full of delicious food, music, and so many thoughtful  details...pictures of the kids, decorations, special t-shirts, activities. It's clear they love what they do. We feel so lucky we got to be part of their community, and our son was able to participate in this amazing place with such strong, joyful, matter of fact women. 

Fun Time Daycare is truly a home away from home. Giselle and her staff are so loving and caring and they create such a warm loving environment.  

My son was there from 4 mo. to 2 years old and if felt great to leave him in the hands of Giselle and her staff because I knew he was eating well, singing songs and playing outside.

The transition into preschool was difficult because he was so coddled by the loving staff.  If you are looking for a daycare that feels like a home then this is where you want to be.

Even now that we are no longer there Giselle is still reaching out to see how my son is adjusting at his new school !!!

FunTime Daycare is the best place you could send you little ones. Both of our children have grown up there and we are forever grateful for the love they have shown our children. They have treated them like their own. 

  There are so many things about FunTime that make it special. The women who work there speak Spansih to our children all day long. There is a jungle of monkeys hanging from the ceiling to greet each family each morning as we arrive. The kids go on walking field trips to the library- which is right around the corner. They have a musician come to play songs with the kids each week. The outside play area is large and lovely and the children have such a great time there. 

  But the thing that is truly special about FunTime is the staff. Gisell, who runs the place, is an extraordinary woman. Her jubilant spirit lights up the whole place. She only hires good hearted loving women to come care for our babies. It is obvious that they love what they do. If you send your littles ones to FunTime, I know you will treasure this place as much as we do!