A Play-Based Preschool in San Francisco’s Sunnyside Neighborhood
Wind in the Willows
Early Learning Center
Choosing a preschool is one of the biggest decisions you will make as a parent. You want a place where your child is known, not just watched. A place where learning happens through paint-covered hands, sand castles, and songs sung together — not worksheets and screens.
That is what we have built at Wind in the Willows. Our San Francisco preschool on Monterey Boulevard has been part of the Sunnyside neighborhood since 1973, As a community non-profit, we have kept tuition accessible and class sizes small for over 50 years, and the families who walk through our door tend to stay.
A Play-Based Preschool That Puts Children First
Young children do not learn by sitting still. They learn by doing — building with blocks, mixing colors, climbing, pretending, asking “why?” for the hundredth time. Our play-based curriculum is built around that truth.
Every day at Wind in the Willows includes time for creative expression, outdoor exploration, music and movement, pre-reading and pre-math, and the kind of unstructured play where real friendships form. We follow a consistent daily routine that gives children both freedom and the comfort of knowing what comes next.
With a 1:6 teacher-to-student ratio, our educators know your child — their strengths, their quirks, what lights them up. That is not a talking point. It is how we teach.
