About Cucu's PlayHouse
Cucu's PlayHouse is a Language Immersion School located in San Rafael, California that specializes in teaching Spanish through Music and Movement to children aged 3 months to 5 years old.
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Along with spoken language, music is one of the most valuable learning tools. Our program enhances children's development while they are having fun and nurtures their innate musicality. Singing, dancing, and playing interactive games stimulate the children's creativity and imagination, it encourages speech development as well as social and physical skills.
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Our goal is that your children don't feel like they are going to a class, but to a fun place where they will be experiencing music, playing with other children and bonding with their parents or caregivers.
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Our Team
Nilda is the Lead teacher of Cucu's PlayHouse. Her passion for music started at an early age. Growing up in a family of Cuban musicians, she was exposed to a rainbow of Latin rhythms and sounds. Her culture revolves around music and dance, and she loves to share it with others. She currently teaches our online classes.
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Her natural ability to engage with small children, allow her to capture their attention and provide a nourishing learning experience. She is extremely creative and is constantly developing new musical activities and games for the program.
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Lorena started teaching our in-person classes over a year ago and has been such a wonderful addition to Cucu's PlayHouse family!
She has years of experience in early childhood education and a very warm and welcoming personality that children absolutely love.
If you have attended our classes, you probably have been in touch with Yanitsel (Yani). She is our School Administrator and is always making sure you are up to date on our latest news, registered for your classes and well taken care of.
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You can reach her by our email, chat or social platforms at any time :)
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Our Classes
Our program has an emphasis on exposing the children to the Spanish language through music and play. Each Music and movement class is intentionally planned around specific words and phrases.
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A selection of Children Songs in Spanish guides the class from start to finish. Games and activities are related to the lyrics, in order to familiarize the children with the words and their meanings. Some of the songs encourage the children to dance.
Teaching Values
We strongly believe in the importance of teaching core values to our children from an early age. Our songs, stories and games introduce them to concepts like:
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Honesty - to always tell the truth
Empathy - to think about others feelings
Kindness- to be friendly, generous and considerate
Determination - to persevere towards a difficult goal in spite of obstacles
Independence - to be able to do things on their own
Confidence - to be sure of themselves and their abilities
Our Name "Cucu's PlayHouse"
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Our name was inspired by a traditional children's song of Spanish origin named "Cucú, cucú, cantaba la rana". We have seen many children fall in-love with this song over the years for its cheerful melody and easy to learn, repetitive lyrics. Its original version was written in 1657 by Luís de Belmonte. The song tells the story of a frog that sings under the water and meets several picturesque and interesting characters.
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The second part of the name, PlayHouse, was chosen because we would like the children to see and remember our space as one where they have fun, enjoy beautiful songs and stories and meet other children. Learning through music and play is our most powerful tool.
Our Toys
Both for our classes and Toy Store, we carry a hand picked selection of toy brands, chosen because of their sustainable practices, materials and design quality. We focus on toys that are designed with children development in mind.
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Materials: the vast majority of the toys we carry are made out of wood, silk, and other natural materials. Organic pigments, water-based dyes, and non-formaldehyde glue are other qualities we look for.
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Join us during an Open Play day to experience the toys as part of an unstructured play activity.
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