parent & student testimonials

This is a great nursery and daycare. We have two boys who went to Green Bean starting at 4 months old and they are now 2 and 4. We had great experience with the administration, and the teachers are AMAZING! They cared so much for our kids. We got daily pictures of all the fun activities our boys got to do. Also, our boys made great friends at Green Bean that we still hang out with. Green Bean has done a great job during this quarantine to make sure everyone is safe. Unfortunately we moved out of the neighborhood.

My husband and I were reluctant to enroll our infant in daycare during the COVID pandemic, but I can't adequately express how happy I am to have chosen Green Bean. My baby's teachers really love her; she lights up and waves when she sees them in the morning. She naps and eats for her teachers way better than she does at home (sigh). The lunches are healthy and sound better than what I eat at home. The teachers are creative and keep the infants busy with a ton of sensory projects-- water days in the summer, painting, using projectors, playing on scooters in their "studio." We love checking their photos all day to see what they're up to. I know my daughter has fun and gets tons of love at school, so we all look forward to Mondays. And the COVID safety protocols are seemingly working, because she hasn't had so much as a sniffle.

We were at green bean for over 2.5 years before we moved to a different city and we miss it all the time. The teachers felt like family to us and made our girls feel so loved and cared for. We were so lucky to have found this wonderful school. They engage the kids in creative and unique activities and the teachers themselves seem to truly enjoy what they do. The physical space is great too, especially the indoor studio for bad weather days. Still trying to find our green bean in our new city but it's hard to live up to.

We were new to Chicago this past school year and the Green Bean was one of the best choices we made in our transition. The Green Bean family provided a welcoming and loving new home for our preschooler, trimming the vastness of the big city down to a safe, sweet, organized environment. At the Green Bean, every teacher and administrator takes great care and delight in each child’s individual growth. They create a space that holds each child in the strength of their own potential. They are organized, smart, wildly creative, and working to raise social and environmental consciousness through their curriculum and their own examples every day. They also attract a community full of families who are also creative and conscious. Our daughter grew so much this year, and the confidence she gained is invaluable. We will always be grateful for the experience Green Bean gave our family in our first year here in Chicago.

Hello. My name is Hazel and I am 11-years-old. I went to the Green Bean from the age of 2 to when I was ready for kindergarten. Green Bean was great. The GB helped make me into the person I am today. They helped encourage me to be more artistic, to think differently and they introduced me to friends who are still my closest friends today. The GB is a loving school that makes learning fun. Without the GB I wouldn’t be as courageous, adventurous or as happy as I am today.

Our daughter has been in the younger toddler and older toddler classrooms at Green Bean. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this place. Within the first week, the teachers and directors got to know our family well and created a warm, loving environment for our daughter to thrive. The management puts a lot of emphasis on staff training, and the teachers go out of their way to answer parent questions and give feedback. This is the first daycare I’ve worked with where all of the teachers are fully engaged and love their work. Many of the teachers plan after-hours activities and field trips for families. Blog photos give parents a glimpse of daily activities. The facility is also top-quality, with tons of artwork, natural light, a brilliant garden/sandbox/play area and a large indoor exercise room. I have spoken with several parents in the infant program that are also having a great experience. The school is also very flexible with part-time jobs, which is very rare in the city. If you are searching for a daycare for your little one, I highly recommend this option.

Hi my name is Jacqueline I am 10 years old. I went to the Green Bean when I was 10 months old until PreK. I learned so many new things there and made some great friends that are still my friend close friend today. The teachers were amazing and so nice to me. I had a fun and an amazing time there. My favorite things that I remember about Green Bean are dance class, yoga, and snack time. When visit green bean now I think about all the fun memories and people I met. I tried out for the talent show at Alcott elementary school because of dance class at the Green Bean.

My wife and I had a very difficult time trying to decide where our little baby girl should go when we had to go back to work. We selected Green Bean because it felt like home. I would honestly love to hang out in an environment like this place all day. Its cozy and warm. Everyone has a smile on their face and it just feels relaxed. Ella loves going, and while I will admit it has been tough for the first few months with her getting sick constantly, we both expected that to happen everywhere. We get a daily blog of what her day is like, and each evening when I pick her up the ladies in her nursery room always keep us up to date on everything that happened.

Our son spent over 2 years at the Green Bean from 5 months old to just over 3 and our daughter is there now, starting at 3 months. The staff and teachers at GB have loved and nurtured our children with the same tenderness, compassion and consistency that we strive for at home. There have been so many times over the past couple of years that my wife and I have said to each other, “We made a really great decision to send our kids to the Green Bean.” The sense of security and comfort that our children feel when they walk into GB is unmatched by any place outside of our home. Our son was always excited to be there in the morning and sometimes he just didn’t want to leave. Our daughter claps when she gets to the baby room in the morning. The teachers and staff are simply amazing. They’re knowledgeable, creative and patient. In fact, we’ve become better parents as a result of borrowing what they do at GB. Through our children’s friends we’ve also met some truly amazing people. We look forward to birthday parties and other social events at GB not only because our kids will have fun, but because we will enjoy the company of the adults as well.

If you trust the Green Bean with your children, you be thrilled with your decision, we certainly are.

The Green Bean is not on our way to anything. We live in Ravenswood, and work on the east side of Lincoln Park. In fact, getting our kids to and from there adds a good half hour onto our commute. Every morning as I sit in traffic on Ashland I ask myself if it’s worth it. Especially when I drive by a brand new daycare that just opened literally a block from our house. And every morning when I leave my three month old and three year old in the loving hands of the teachers at Green Bean and walk out of the door stress free I am sure it is more than worth it! When I pick them up and see their smiling faces, when I get my daily email complete with pictures telling me about the creative and fun things they did all day- I know we are here to stay. There are no words for how incredibly stressful it was for me to think of leaving my two boys with anyone, since I had been lucky enough to stay home with my older son for his first three years. Now I was supposed to leave a three month old with strangers??

When I think about what it is that drew us to Green Bean I could list a million great things: I love the fact that both boys can be in the same place, that they have a huge awesome playground, that we can still use cloth diapers, the food they feed them is so healthy, the Reggio Emilia philosophy is great- but what it comes down to is kindness and respect for children. It is about employing teachers who truly want to be there, who truly love kids and babies, and who have smiles on their faces every day. There is such a calm about the school, I am surprised every time I leave that there is no chaos or overwhelming feeling like we felt every other place we visited. We have been there just about a month, and I honestly feel like my kids are loved when I am not there. What more can any parent possibly want?

I wish I could articulate how thankful I am that we found this little oasis of peace, and kindness, and love in what otherwise seems the institutionalized, sterile world of daycare. Thank you, Green Bean, for taking such good care of our boys.

Another Green Bean parent and I were talking last night about our sadness that Green Bean doesn’t go up to high school level. My son spent almost two years there before he entered CPS pre-K and during that time he really came out of his shell, made friends, developed trusting relationships with his teachers. Through Green Bean’s re-enforcement, learned table manners, got potty trained, can count and spell his name–and entered pre-school ready and EXCITED about school because of his years at GB. I never, ever had a single complaint or doubt about the teachers, staff, facilities–anything. We feel fortunate that we have gotten to be part of the Green Bean family for so long and look forward to sending our younger son there in the fall.

My son has been enrolled in the two half day a week preschool program and we couldn’t be happier! It was our first drop off program and the entire staff was so understanding with the transition. The Reggio Emilia play based learning approach they use at Green Bean is amazing. My son comes home from school in the best mood and talks about his teacher all the time. She is wonderful- caring, yet firm. I completely trust the entire staff with my little guy, which is a rare quality, I’ve found, when it comes to childcare. I also very much appreciate the daily blog and photos each teacher posts, I use them to talk to my son about what he did at school that day.