If you are looking into preschools, we would highly recommend Les Petits Canards. We were seeking a French-immersion program from the start. But more importantly, we found a fantastic place for our kids to thrive. Our two children attended and grew so happily and confidently at LPC. Fabienne and her team are warm and engaging and the kids love them so much. We had individualized guidance from potty training to kindergarten applications. And we found that kids leave LPC very well-prepared for kindergarten. It was priceless to have Fabienne and the LPC family help us through the challenges of parenting young kids during the pandemic. It’s an incredibly friendly and supportive community. We loved how each day included an outdoor adventure. This might be to GGP or one of the many nearby playgrounds, but picnics and outings to the boulangerie, museums, or beach are woven into the routine too. Every few weeks, there was a different theme, which oftentimes stemmed from the interests of the kids in the class. There were games, stories and art projects for each theme, and we also got treated to a little song performance from time to time. It's creative and thoughtful, so that the play is magical and fun but supports the curriculum. The kids truly have a grand time, and it’s such a natural way to learn concepts, counting, letters and French, of course!

When our daughter was a toddler, I was doing early research on French immersion preschools and found Les Petits Canards. I fell in love first with the website, with pictures of little kids in rainboots trooping around outside and then with the school. Our two children have attended LPC, and we couldn't be happier. Fabienne and her team do a wonderful job of working with each child's needs, LPC's play-based curriculum is thoughtful and very effective, and the school's learning experiences are enviable...even for adults. If I were 4 again, I would want to have a Tree Frog Treks visitor with plenty of snakes and other reptiles, a trip to the top of the Salesforce Tower, or a clown with epic face painting for a special birthday. We also wanted true French immersion, and LPC has delivered. Our daughter is now a thriving first-grader at French American. We have Fabienne, Lorraine, and the rest of the team to thank for that. So grateful for what LPC has added to our family life.

This is an absolute amazing preschool. We started here a few years ago with my one son and are now back with our next child. The teachers are so dedicated, creative and caring. Every day is a new adventure for the children. They discover different gems in SF. The French community is one of a kind. The children become fluent while making special friendships in a multi-cultural environment. We couldn’t be happier!

Can't say enough nice things about LPC! Fabienne and her team have created a wonderful community and I love sending our 3.5 year old off to school knowing she will have a day full of French immersion, good food, creative crafts, and outdoor play. My husband is French but my French language skills are limited, so I really appreciate how much LPC has helped my daughter connect with the French side of her heritage. She now comes home correcting my pronunciation and teaching me new nursery rhymes and songs. As COVID protocols have evolved, we've loved how LPC embraces urban adventures by taking the kids on long walks and bus rides to explore new playgrounds, parks, and boulangeries. The kids get an incredible mix of outdoor play, free play, storytime, yoga, dance parties, baking, and arts and crafts that are often seasonally themed. We love getting photo/video updates of the kids having fun together and especially enjoy seeing the custom treats Lorraine helps the kids bake and decorate (the chocolate and rice pudding paella as part of their week studying Spain was particularly impressive!). My daughter has also really developed her handwriting, math, and color/shape recognition skills through all the games they play. My daughter absolutely loves Fabienne and her team, and we are so grateful to be part of such a caring community!

5 stars is not enough! Our four year old daughter has been at Les Petits Canards under the tutelage of Fabienne and her team for one year now and she is thriving! She is fully conversational in French and adores going to school. In fact, most days she begs me to stay a little longer. There is no comparable preschool program in the bay area. Fabienne's school is french and outdoor immersion. Even this last year, which was exceptionally difficult for all of us due to COVID, Fabienne created a magical world of unicorns, sea creatures, little french "goûters" (post nap snacks), and outings whenever possible. The kids learn not just to speak French (thereby stimulating their brains in the most challenging way), but also have the opportunity to navigate outdoor adventures (taking the bus to go to a bakery, the beach, museums!), and even bake together for every child's birthday! I wish I could be a student at LPC. We have one more year to go and are savoring every moment!

If you're interested in a preschool that combines French-immersion with nature school, I wholeheartedly recommend Les Petits Canards (http://lespetitscanards.com), which is right by the Golden Gate park and has immediate availability. It's currently Monday to Thursday 8:30 to 5 pm. My daughter attended from January to July 2021 (sadly we left SF, so couldn't attend longer), but I'm totally blown away by how quickly she started speaking to me in French (within two or three months) and how far along she got in that precious time. We visited family in Montreal this summer and she could maintain entire conversations en français! The daycare is run by Fabienne Saurel (fabsaurel@hotmail.com), who is a wonderful teacher and caregiver. Her COVID precautions were/are excellent. The kids wear masks indoors, where there are also several air filters and ventilation. They often eat lunch picnic-style in the GG park and go on all sorts of adventures. Every month, there's a theme and the kids learn all about things such as butterflies, unicorns, the oceans. Fabienne invited a ceramicist to help the kids make and paint butterflies as well as housing some caterpillars that the kids got to watch transform and grow wings. She had a clown/face painter come in for the unicorn theme and give the kids beautiful unicorn faces. The kids also made us parents the most touching presents for mothers' and fathers' day. My daughter loved the food that Lorraine (one of the caregivers) makes fresh everyday. It's French, so there's no compromising on the quality of food. They would even have special holiday themed foods, like Chinese New year dinner, galette des rois, and other foods tailored to the holidays. The kids also got to help make the cake whenever there was a birthday, which was obviously the best! On their last day of school before summer holidays, they got to go out for dinner at the local diner, which was a special treat. We joined at the height of COVID, so the usual curriculum was modified and there weren't any trips on the bus, but as the spring and vaccination rates went up, the kids got to resume their field trips. Fabienne takes them on the MUNI, which they love, to the Boulangerie in Hayes Valley, to Ocean Beach, to the Academy of Sciences, to different new parks around the city and to visit all sorts of cool locations, which compliment the theme of the month. (Please note some pics have photoshopped sunglasses to protect the children's identity.)