Mariposa Kids

Where do I even start? So fun! Star Wars. Harry Potter. A dirt pit that never ends. Light sabers. Field trips. Hawks eating pigeons.

We have our 5 year old at the after school program and we love the staff and their genuine love and attention they give to our son. He's been coming for almost a year and we truly love Mariposa Kids. What I especially love the most is how they responded to the covid-19 crisis with the virtual activities. Everyone is always so helpful and willing to lend a hand at all times. We couldn't ask for a better partnership and look forward to seeing them in person again. Thank you Mariposa Kids!

Mariposa Kids provided a caring, fun and enriching environment for my kids. They learned so much, felt at home and had a blast.

Really disappointed by my experience at what could be a great neighborhood spot. They have restorative justice all over their website but it is clearly performative as they fired a teacher after one mistake the first week (best explanation they could give as to why they didn't even want to try was liability), and on top of that I also didn't see or hear anything about restorative justice with the kids either. The head of this org also ignored my email voicing my concerns (because ideally this wouldn't be a yelp review it would be a dialogue), but here we are.

So, on a related note (because no restorative justice or talking things out was applied to my knowledge in this kid-related scenario either), there were issues with my daughter that she's still recovering from emotionally. The counselors themselves were really nice but my daughter was the only 4 year old and only girl under 7, and spent the first two weeks hanging with older girls who eventually grew tired of spending so much time with her (totally natural given the age gap! If mixing ages more thought should be put into having even distributions of age though.). They started telling her not to play with them anymore and told her to leave them during lunch, okay again totally normal and they shouldn't be forced to play with her. But my husband walked in to pick my daughter up early the last day and said he saw her eating lunch alone just watching a big group of girls eating nearby. He said it was so heartbreaking he just tried to get her out of there ASAP and didn't ask any questions. My daughter later told us what happened. I totally understand that counselors are not as trained as teachers, but i wish she at least had an adult sitting with her instead. At the very least counselors should be trained to look out for these dynamics and sit and support the kids when they are alone, or maybe have kids all eat with each other during lunch (I don't believe kids should be forced to play with each other, but having to eat alone at 4 years old is pretty sad). And why am I being ignored when I respectfully bring up all these valid concerns? I wouldn't have jumped to review if I felt like I had been heard and it might be addressed.

Also board and owner appear to be mostly or all white and it's just sort of obnoxious to use words like restorative justice without actually applying it (again, to my knowledge, maybe I'm missing something but I didn't get a response so...). These words are easy to throw around but meaningless if not actually applied when things get difficult. One thing they mentioned was "restorative justice circles" with the kids. When did this even happen? No one will tell me. In general, these sorts of changes to our thinking and actions are not supposed to be easy and if you can't do it, don't be performative about it because frankly it's misleading and co-opting. Just doesn't sit right with my husband and I at all.

I really wanted this to be a long term resource because counselors were super nice, we love skateboarding, and activities were great. Sadly it won't be.

I love this place. We've sent our son there twice, once for school aftercare and once for a spring break camp. Each time he's had a fantastic time. I almost don't want to write this review because Mariposa Kids always has space. I don't want to lose our fav fallback care option to the crowds of Mission/Bernal parents who seem to have filled up so many other spots.

But I don't think I will! Here's why.

(1) Mariposa Kids not about split-second schedules. Last time my son was there, the band of kids spent most of a day playing a single game of Monopoly off and on. Another time, the whole gang meandered over to the aquarium on the F train, even though it took them 90 minutes. Because hey, the F is fun and they don't have anywhere they need to be. I love all the flexibility. But it's not for parents who want an action-packed day and need to know what their kids will be doing each hour.

(2) The facility needs some renovation. I'm cool with that. For me, camp is about teachers and kids having fun together -- which Mariposa Kids clearly does well. At one pickup, the whole room was consumed by a frenzied game with paper airplanes. It's a comfy kind of shabby, where no one needs to feel bad about spilling paint on the floor.

(3) If you don't live in Bernal or Potrero, the clubhouse will feel remote. There are a few bus lines that run directly to downtown, but if you don't have a car or bike and need to get there from, say, the Inner Mission...it's going to take you 20 min to walk from BART.

I like the improvisational play, the coziness, and the family-style warmth. There are kids who have been going there for years, and it shows. But I know it's not for everyone.

My 3rd grader has been at Mariposa Kids since Kindergarten. We moved him from another after school program a few weeks in and he was blown away by the quality of the activities at Mariposa. We were super impressed at the digital programming they initiated when we went into shelter-in-place last spring. Now that the kids are back in person, it is everyone in our family's favorite three hours of the day! The staff are super invested in the kids and it shows in how they engage and the activities they program. My kiddo is especially excited about the awesome new skateboard ramps they've built together (my partner and I are too - we love the encouragement of so much outside time during the pandemic!). I've started to float ideas for different summer camps, but my son only has eyes for Mariposa Kids. Well done, team!

Let me start by saying my 8 year old son generally HATES summer camp. He's been to some amazing ones (IMO), but, it's always a struggle to get him to go. He went to his first Mariposa Kids summer camp about two weeks ago and from the first day there he loved it. The staff is welcoming and warm, and really engaging with the kids. My son is generally very shy and not super easy to transition into new situations, but there he just thrived. It isn't as super structured as a lot of the camps out there, but that's perfect for us. The kids get a lot of free time and participate in arts/crafts projects throughout the day. They also get a lot of outdoor time, which is super important for my active son.

At the beginning of summer we had signed him up for a different camp, and it ended up not being a good fit for him. We were able to get a spot at Mariposa Kids that day and when he learned that he would be going back for another week he let out a "yes!!", complete with fist pump. We will definitely be coming back next summer!

Fun-filled afterschool and summer camp programs - we've been big fans for more than five years! Now with a fourth and first grader, I know it takes a lot of different types of activities to keep them coming back, and Mariposa runs them outside and inside, not just building the community and relationships my kids have come to rely on, but listening to the kids and building out awesome activities. Staff are great, varied backgrounds and lots of empathy for a child's experience. They are also known for the flexibility, open til 6p and open to drop in days, etc, so important empathy for a parent's experience too! Definitely recommend checking them out...

Caring, responsible and fun staff, very clear and well implemented covid protocols. My son spends 3 hours a day there playing and sweating outside - from skateboarding to basketball to dodgeball - and I'm very grateful he has the space during covid to play with friends like this, and get the exercise he needs.

My son loves Mariposa Kids! Wonderful place with wonderful people that clearly love kids. We started coming here after our normal aftercare closed because of covid and it's been truly a blessing. My son loves skateboarding so he's very happy that they allow kids to do tricks during outside time. There's also lots of arts and crafts and other games. We love Mariposa Kids!