Learning Jungle Valley Center - Valley Center, California

Janeth Ledezma Sanchez

After four months, I feel ready to give Learning Jungle Day Care here in Valley Center a thorough review for any parents considering it.

I enrolled my daughter, who was 2 years and 2 months old at the time, in July because I wanted her to have a structured learning routine. We chose Learning Jungle in Valley Center because it’s nearby, making it easy to reach her in an emergency. They also offer a well-organized schedule, which provides consistency and routine.

Security and Monitoring:

From the beginning, I appreciated the ability to drop in and check on my daughter and observe how the staff operates. Learning Jungle has an open-door policy, welcoming parents of registered students to visit and observe. The facility has secure, locked doors requiring a code provided only to parents/guardians, and someone is always stationed at the front desk. Child gates are in place to prevent children from exiting the building on their own, and the outdoor play area is fully fenced for added safety.

I also appreciate their use of an app that updates parents daily with photos and notes on what the children ate for breakfast, lunch, and snack times as well as how often they changed a wet or poopy diaper. They share pictures of each child throughout the day, including during breakfast, nap time, and play. Teachers usually upload these during nap time to remain focused on the children. For me, this app provides huge reassurance—I can see in my daughter’s expressions that she enjoys her time there, and in many photos, she’s fully engaged and stimulated, whether working on art projects or participating in circle time.

Safety and Hygiene:

The staff does a fantastic job of maintaining a safe, clean environment for the kids. Upon arrival, I notice the teachers label each child’s water bottle with their name and date, ensuring that we send a fresh one each day.
They clean and sanitize all areas daily, and Fridays seem to include a deeper clean, with blankets and sheets sent home for washing. While I haven’t personally observed it, staff have mentioned that children line up to wash their hands before lunch.

No outside food is allowed to prevent any allergic reactions from kids accidentally sharing food, and catered, warm meals are provided daily. The teachers also do an excellent job with diaper changes—my daughter has never come home with a diaper rash, and diaper changes are logged in the app as well.

The staff is vigilant. They immediately noticed when my daughter was developing pink eye and pulled her aside. Fortunately this was on a Friday and I was able to call her pediatrician for antibiotics ointment for her eye. That took care of the issue over the weekend. I was impressed that they had noticed those early symptoms and pulled her aside to prevent other kids from being infected.

Activities and Schedule:

They have a well rounded schedule that isn’t too rigid and allows them to learn, explore, and move. I appreciate the outdoor time as well and the many creative activities throughout the Outdoor discovery, Indoor Discovery centers. They will paint on branches, paint with chalk, create stamp art, explore concepts such as opposites with art (night versus day, happy vs sad etc), they will have water days in the summer.

Schedule looks like this:

Drop off time
Snack/breakfast time
Outdoor discovery
Mindful movement
Morning meeting
Indoor discovery centers
Lunch time
Nap time
PM snack
Story time
Outdoor discovery
Mindful movement
Pickup

As you can tell I am very happy with this center, and I do attribute this to the new Director, Mrs. Nalea, who is working really hard to change course for the center as well as the current teachers. Ms. Paige is so sweet and nurturing with all the kids. My daughter absolutely loves her. In the past under different staffing, it seemed that the county was consistently receiving complaints. This had me especially alert, and I am confident that the ladies in charge will keep the center going in the right direction…

Shyanne Ornelas

@AngelMorales - thank you for sharing your story of your child on spectrum. I had a similar experience. My boy diagnosed with level 2 autism non verbal was in a similar situation , he started attending around age 2 - they basically said he needed one on one attention.So we pulled him same day and 2 week notice was waived. It’s tough with having a child on spectrum. I really hope to see them accept your child back into program. Maybe learning jungle could use more training on children with special needs such as Autism. There’s not a whole lot of options in Valley Center, so I really hope learning jungle can find a way to meet the needs of all our children in Valley Center.

Angel morales

The learning jungle wrongfully suspended my son from the program yes my son is on the spectrum and he does have challenging behaviors at times and I’ve tried my best to make sure they know they could call me at any time my son was to much to handle instead they just told us that he wasn’t able to return the staff there chose to pull my kid out due to him having frustration because other kids were picking on him and he would defend himself but staff would never do anything for the kids throwing sand at him or biting or even hitting him. So I tired getting him into the learning jungle in Escondido and the management completely denied his application but my sons behaviors were well close to a year ago and my sons got some help and resources and is a completely different student now and they won’t give him a chance. Would not recommend this location to anyone for their kids they have a high turn over and if they get frustrated with the students they send them home and tell them that they are not able to return.

ryanfrisby

We brought my 2 year old son here and from the beginning, it was amazing how well they worked with him. It took him awhile to adjust as we only brought him 2 times a week. The first week, they provided him with his own teacher Ms. Kelly to give him the extra attention he needed throughout the long days. Once he was adjusted he loved going to school and always looked forward to the art project of the day. We could instantly tell the difference in his vocabulary, song memorization, social skills, and especially listening skills. Ms. Sandy and Peg were the teachers for the 2 year old class and he especially loves them, as do I. They have gone above and beyond and genuinely love our son. The administrators, Ms. Emily and her mother Ms. Judy, have been very patient and understanding with any paperwork and have always explained things very well, making sure we are always aware and comfortable. The price, not to mention, is unheard of and we appreciate the rate so much (when researching other schools, we saw more than double what High Sierra Academy charges). We wouldn't go anywhere else!!!!!!!

-The Frisbys

Noah Rodstrom

It was an okay preschool, better than most since they have autism awareness... 🙂

Anna Eliopoulos