Animal Crackers & Little Biscuits Early Learning Home

Veronica and Animal Crackers are incredible. Our daughter went there from the moment I returned to work after maternity leave until she started First Grade and loved every minute of it. When our daughter was an infant, Veronica wore her in a sling most of the day and I was able to keep track of our daughter's feeding and napping schedule through an app that Veronica updated throughout the day. Veronica does a great job with the kids and strikes the right balance between teaching the kids and letting them have fun. The kids see her almost like a best friend and are thrilled every time they see her. When our daughter was going to graduate from her preschool, Veronica arranged a day to celebrate with a trip to the pool for her and the other kids who would be going to Kindergarten.

When Covid started, Veronica was extraordinarily careful. She built an entire outside play and teaching area with fun things for the kids to do. Our daughter started Kindergarten in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, and Veronica pivoted from running a preschool to being a surrogate Kindergarten teacher. She took our daughter and a few other kids in her class as a “pod” and they did remote school over Zoom from Veronica's outdoor classroom. Our daughter loved it, and it was so much better for both us and her than having her at home all day. Our daughter is still very close with the kids from her pod and they play together all the time.

Our whole family highly recommends Veronica and Animal Crackers. If you’re looking for an in-home daycare or preschool, you absolutely need to contact Veronica and visit Animal Crackers.

I’m writing with a rave review of Animal Crackers & Little Biscuits. My daughter attended for a year and a half, while ages 3 and 4. We left only because of COVID-19, and my daughter is not of kindergarten age, and so will not be eligible for her the new kindergarten cohort.

Veronica is an amazing day care provider, and will be a fantastic kindergarten teacher.

So many things impress me about Veronica: the routines she established with the kids, all of the learning she gave to them (everything from Space Wednesdays to lessons about the hippocampus and the Greek myths), the story telling and story reading, the celebrations of diversity, and the stimulating environment. Veronica creates a rich, rich space of interesting things to do, think about, play with, and learn. This reaches everything from images on the walls, games, experiences—and the food! It also includes an amazing yard space of a play house, race track, bakery, boat swing, monkey bars, sand box, water table, and many stunningly beautiful murals on the playground walls!

I also want to share that what first impressed me about Veronica was her ability to connect with the children. The was the clincher for me. She literally gets in and plays with them. She is always observant, and she guides with respect to where the play is going and how it is affecting each child. She also leads children in their communication with each other, teaching them the kinds of skills that allow them to navigate difficult moments and cultivate long-lasting friendships. This is the most important thing to me—that my daughter feels part of a community when she is away from her immediate family—and that she learns how to be with others. There’s no "time outs" only "time in" and rich discussion and connection, even when those are tough situations.

I wanted to share one example of a situation that revealed to me how much my daughter has been learning from her time at Animal Crackers & Little Biscuits. It happened one day in March during one of the Zoom calls that Veronica started after the shelter in place orders began. My daughter was snacking while two of the other kids spoke to Veronica. My daughter didn’t respond right away, but rather she finished her snack and then she reminded the other children: "Remember Veronica says to finish chewing and then you can speak." It warmed my heart to hear her say that, as it tells me she cares about others, minds her manners, and that she was fully absorbing the daily mealtime interactions.

My daughter had so much joy with Veronica, and is very sad for all of us that everything changed so abruptly with COVID-19. We look forward to the moment when they get to hug in person again. I think we will all be drenched with tears of grief and joy.