The Creative Learning Loft

The creative learning loft is the place to send your kids to experience art and science classes! And they pick up students after school from 8 different schools in Redwood City! Each week the CLL staff arranges projects and activities around a theme. The amazing staff helps the students with basic skills as well as letting the students expand their imaginations. When I go to pick up my son he never wants to leave and always makes excuses to take his time just to stay a bit longer. His backpack is always full of the best crafts and never stops talking about the science he learned. Along side of art and science lessons CLL also expands to a younger range of children on Tuesday and Friday for a cub club where parents can take their toddlers and socialize around activities! CLL is also a great place to hold a birthday party especially during the winter time where it is too cold to have a party outside. Who wouldn’t want to rent a space filled with art supplies, a tree house, and then be able to leave and not have the mess at your house? Overall I would say CLL is an amazing place with affordable rates, a great staff, and adds so much to our community.

CLL cares about our local community, and they host a block party a few times a year for Redwood City families. This year they did an «Amazing Race» theme, where the kids get to look for clues, learn from the process, and team up with mom or dad! What a great experience for participating in this event.
My 8 year old daughter still loves coming here after school, and she wants to work here! Now both my kids gets picked up from their school, and they come here for some fun and more learning time.

Ironically, The Creative Learning Loft does not encourage imaginative play. Your child MUST be wiling to participate in whatever activity the staff has planned for that day, whether they are interested or not! Not to mention that CLL has no outdoor space for your child to just run & play after a long day at school. If Darlene, the owner, can’t get your child engaged, (which is the point isn’t it?), she’ll call you and ask you to come pick him/​her up. And god forbid your child has a melt down, because he’s tired from being at a language immersion school all day, well that’s just unacceptable! Children aren’t allowed to express their independence at CLL without being reprimanded. Darlene, who claims to have 27 years of child care experience, apparently doesn’t have enough experience or patience to redirect negative behavior. Not only is CLL obviously just a means to an end for Darlene, she does NOT care about each individual child! In our experience, she didn’t bother to call us when our son was having a bad day, didn’t ask if there was any reason why he was struggling & what she could do to help, but she had NO problem telling my husband in front of our son, that he was not was not welcome to come back, EVER! For someone who claims to be a professional who, «cares about all of the families at CLL», she certainly didn’t care about our child or our family! Not only did she insult my son in front of every other parent & child at CLL, she unprofessionally, gave us no notice & admittedly stated that she had no protocol for dealing with terminating child care services. I wrote this review to warn other children & families about Darlene’s lack of care & professionalism, but mostly to stand up for my child who she treated so poorly!

My kids have been going to the Loft for two years and we love it. Darlene and the staff are caring and engaged and come up with fun activities for our kids. Their prices are very reasonable and they provide transportation from school as well. What a great service they provide.

I just started working after being a stay at home mom for a few years. My daughter started Kindergarten in August and I was really new to the whole after school situation for parents who work.
My friend told me about CLL (The Creative Learning Loft) and that they were starting after school pick up this year from Orion and Clifford Elementary.
The entire CLL staff is amazing! They care for my daughter, they care about us as a family, and they have a great service that they are offering the community by having a wonderful facility like this.
After my daughter arrives at CLL from school, she puts her items in a cubby hole and they have instructor lead activities for the kids. My daughter is never bored and she never wants to come home with me when I pick her up because she loves it there so much. Everyday she brings several clever, beautiful pieces of art home and raves about her day.
I highly recommend this place. They are affordable! You wouldn’t believe how affordable they are. They are also conveniently located between a gymnastics studio and a karate/​Tae Kwon Do studio so if you sign your kid up at the other facilities, the staff will walk them over and walk them back after their class is over– how great is that!!!

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! They are super flexible and helpful. I love that they offer drop in childcare because I work from home but often have a meeting or just a need to run errands and they make it possible. My daughter loves it here and begs to go. Jenna (one of the staff) is great with kids and when ever I pick up, there are all sorts of arts and crafts which have been done. They have a play stage for the more «dramatic» kids (I have one of those) and also have art tables, dress up and computers. Their fees are reasonable and they regularly go above and beyond. This is one local business I hope to see thrive.

I think this is a great place. It is definitely well suited for older children (2 ½ — 3+) as it has lots of arts & crafts, a stage, a train with tracks and a theater with puppets. There are 2 toy bins and some toys on a table as well. There are also 2 computers and a leap pad for them to play with. The owner is a great lady, very kind and you can tell that she loves kids. The aides are really professional and hepful as well. They work hard to keep the kids organized and engaged and know hot to redirect them and encourage sharing. I am not sure it’s totally suited for under this age. They do have some toy bins and an outdoor play structure with a slide (it’s a plastic slide basically which a staircase leading up to it and a tunnel underneath). It’s small, but my daughter really loved it. The space is big but my daughter is very active and loves to climb. While she was busy and engaged for the whole time, I would have liked to see maybe a ball pit or a bigger out door space to play on or even maybe some more toys or a kitchen in plain view for her to run around and play with. Or, maybe some more mats to tumble around on. It has a nice feeling like you are in someone’s home and Darlene really does make you feel welcome. I think we would go back.

The Creative Learning Lofts is an amazing place. The staff are friendly, the kids are bubbly and the parents, well sometimes the parents want to stay more than the kids do. I often bring my younger family members here when the movies are only showing violent films or I want to waste an hour or 2 before dinner without destroying my house in the process.
I know that when I come to the loft my family will enjoy themselves, with the projects and activities that are directed at experiencing the things our public school systems have removed.
Art… music… social interaction. It has always been a positive environment for them. The games and activities are set in a learning environment however the kids don’t realize it. They go on having a great time taking away knowledge, memories and sometimes masterpieces of art (even if a little wet still)!
My only complaint is that I’m not allowed to play with the claymation– station… kids only
I encourage people to call in, ask about the benefits of dropping your children off for a few hours. Realize you can have children AND a life.
It’s a wonderful change to come pick them up, and instead of them asking «where were you, why did it take so long, why didn’t you take me too»
Instead it’s now «ALREADY?!! OH but I did this and that and this and I’m doing this now and… and… just 5 more minutes.»
It’s a real treat to have such a wonderful oasis in these rough seas. Too many people have given up, left the children to their own Gameboys and I fear for that generation.

My child and I have a great time here. The place is huge, clean, and well laid out. CLL provides story time, art and science classes, and host creatively themed parties on the weekends.
My child and I here been coming here since they opened in Fall 2009. After having a REALLY bad experience with a nearby creative arts school, it was a relief to find CLL. Darlene, Ashley M. and Ashley T. are very professional and caring. They really care, and are open to hearing suggestions or listening to parents’ concerns.
With the continuing budget cuts to public schools’ arts and science programs, it is wonderful to find an affordable place that teaches and entertains using your child’s imagination and creativity.

The best part about CLL is that parents can stay and play with their child, or drop off their child (ages 5 yrs. +) for up to 4 hours at a nominal hourly fee of $ 10/​hr. They also host regular date nights at the same low rate.

My daughter had a great time there. She is 4 yo and did not want to leave :)