Upper East Side Best Preschool Education

Make your little one’s first school experience count! Receive a well-rounded education that will prepare your child for Kindergarten and life.

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Tribeca Location

Upper East Side

Instill an early love of learning through our elite Preschool & Pre-K programs

Playgarden Prep ensures that little ones get a head start in life through a comprehensive curriculum, developed over 15 years by New York City’s most passionate early childhood educators, specialists, and psychologists. Students aged 18 months to 5 years old consistently achieve preparation skills for kindergarten which can place them up to two years ahead of national standards, all while they learn to socialize in a classroom setting, hit developmentally appropriate milestones, and acquire valuable life skills.

Locations and Programs

We have Manhattan locations in the UPPER EAST SIDE and TRIBECA with a variety of programs, including:

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ADMISSIONS

Our Curriculum

Preschool and Pre-K are essential for developing pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills, as well as for cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development. At Playgarden, we introduce the following skills and more:

Language & Vocabulary

Early Reading/Literacy Skills

Early Writing Skills

Gross & Fine Motor Skills

Early Math Concepts

Science & Problem-Solving

Listening & Speaking Skills

Cognitive Thinking & Memory Skills

Social-Emotional Skills

Social Studies

Music & Creative Arts

Independence

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SPECIALIZED SPEECH & LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Playgarden Prep, together with Support By Design, is offering a specialized preschool program for children 2 and 3 years of age with speech or language delays and communication challenges. Our curriculum focuses on learning through play and focused stimulation, as well as creating foundations of early literacy and learning from peer modeling. Emphasis is placed on pragmatic skills and social relationships, while ensuring language and communication growth to promote school readiness. The specialized classroom follows Playgarden Prep’s robust preschool curriculum, in tandem with the other Playgarden Prep’s classrooms. Support By Design will adapt the curriculum as needed with a team of specialists to nurture the whole child approach.

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ARENALES BILINGUAL DAY SCHOOL - Playgarden NYC

ENGLISH-SPANISH IMMERSION BILINGUAL SCHOOL

Playgarden has partnered up with Arenales Red Educativa to provide learning in English and Spanish for bilingual students.

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The Application Process

We do not conduct interviews of children or parents in the admission process. We created our program to be the first educational experience for toddlers with a curriculum that incorporates different learning styles. We believe every little one that joins Playgarden Prep will be a successful student and will graduate to be ready to be admitted in the Kindergarten program of choice.

Applications are accepted throughout the year on a rolling basis and they are started by filling out an application form on this website. Families may apply for September or January start dates.

In order to accommodate demand in excess of our capacity we have a priority enrollment system in place: returning students, legacies, existing Playgarden members and new families. Families may also request to be added to the Waitlist.

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ADMISSIONS

Meet Your Teachers

Our teachers are knowledgeable, experienced educators who love teaching little ones. Find out more about each Playgarden Prep teacher!

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VIEW THE 2025 - 2026 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR

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Exmissions

Playgarden Prep is well known by continuing schools and supports parents in the next steps in their child’s education. We offer informational sessions to learn about future schools and we happily offer guidance with application processes and interviews. We can also provide letters of recommendation upon request. Our graduates have gone on to the following schools:

Avenues

Bank Street

Blue School

Grace Church School

Brunswick School

City and Country School

Covenant of the Sacred

Heart

Greenwich Academy

Little Red

UNIS

Friends Seminary