Now enrolling · Atherton, CA
Happy Feet began in 2014 when Mara Whitfield, a former kindergarten teacher with a Montessori credential and a stubborn belief that six is the magic number, turned her live oak–shaded home on Stockbridge Avenue into a daycare for her neighbors' children.
Eleven years later, the waiting list still runs about nine months long. We keep our group small on purpose — six children, two teachers, no turnover — because the research is unambiguous: stable attachments in the first five years change the architecture of a child's brain. We are not a chain. We are not a franchise. We are a family, and yours is welcome in it.
License #410-521-0923
Every program is full-day, year-round, and built around the developmental window it serves. Tuition is monthly and includes all meals, supplies, and enrichment. Sibling discount: 12% off the younger child.
The shape of the day barely changes — children this age thrive on predictability — but the content shifts with the season, the weather, and whatever the children have been curious about that week.
We do not chase trends or stack credentials. What we do is pay attention — to your child, to the research, and to the small daily moments that compound into a person. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Both lead teachers have been here since 2016. Your child forms one attachment, not six.
Breakfast, lunch, and two snacks — prepared on-site, mostly organic, vegetarian-friendly. Menus go home every Friday.
Live oaks, a vegetable bed the children dig in, a mud kitchen, and a hammock. Risky play is allowed. Skinned knees are normal.
A short note — what they ate, how they slept, what made them laugh — every evening. No app, no notifications. Just paper.