Ratings, services and a phone number for every preschool or day care in Maryland.
What a featured listing costs · from $29 a month
Howard County Conservancy started in 1990 as a private, nonprofit land trust and now pairs land preservation with education on 232 acres at Mt. Pleasant, a 325 year…
PADONIA bills itself as Maryland's largest swim club, and membership is required. Alongside the pool it runs a preschool for infants through pre-K, summer camps for ages 5…
Themba Creative Learning Center on Cipriano Road in Lanham serves Prince George's County families with care for ages 6 weeks to 12 years, in separate infant, toddler, two's,…
JCC of Greater Baltimore in Owings Mills is a community center whose Stoler Early Learning Center offers infant and toddler care, full-day preschool and extended care options at…
At 900 Wind River Lane in Gaithersburg, The Goddard School of Gaithersburg - Kentlands is an independently owned private preschool open Monday to Friday, 7:00 am to 6:00…
Toddler University Daycare/ Preschool LLC has operated in Owings Mills since 1987, near Reisterstown, and is licensed by the state as a Child Development Center, credentialed at level…
Every listing begins as a public Google Maps record for a preschool, day care or child care center in Maryland.
Schools with at least one review and a record updated in the past year stay. Duplicates are merged.
Ages, Pre-K, subsidies, meals and hours come from the school's own words, not from guesses.
When a school does not say, its page shows no information yet, never a yes or a no we made up.
Every program here started as a Google Maps record filed somewhere in Maryland under Preschool, Day care center, Child care agency, Montessori school or Family day care service. We kept the ones that are open, have at least one parent review and were updated in the past year, merged duplicates, and removed the few that turned out to be something else, such as a pet boarding kennel or an adult day program.
Then we read each school's own website for the things parents ask about first: the ages it takes, whether it runs a Pre-K class, whether it accepts child care subsidies, whether it lists tuition or keeps a waitlist, meals, early drop-off and late pickup, summer camp and any accreditation. A program is marked yes only when the school says so in its own words. Many schools say little online, so a blank on a listing means the school has not told us yet, and a call will answer it.
Owners can claim a listing to correct details or add photos. A person checks every claim. Published by Little Compass Guides.
Start with your child's age, because it rules out more programs than anything else. Some Maryland day care centers take babies and keep them through pre-K. Others start at two or three and run half-day preschool classes. Each listing here shows whether a program takes infants and toddlers and whether it runs a pre-K class, so you can cut the list down before you make a single call.
The Office of Child Care at the Maryland State Department of Education licenses and inspects child care centers and registers family child care homes. Some religious nursery schools operate under a letter of compliance instead. You can look up any provider, with its license status, verified complaints and inspection results, on Check Child Care Maryland at checkccmd.org. Programs can also join Maryland EXCELS, the state's quality rating system, where a 1 means a program has met initial quality requirements and a 5 is the highest rating. Taking part is voluntary for most programs, so treat a rating as one clue among several.
If your family needs help with the cost, the Child Care Scholarship Program helps eligible families who work, study or train, at programs that take part in Maryland EXCELS. New applications have been under a freeze with a waitlist since May 2025, so check the current status at marylandchild.org. Look for "Accepts child care subsidies" on a listing, and confirm it on the phone before you enroll. If your child will be 3 or 4 on September 1, look at Maryland Pre-K, which is at no charge for families at or below 300% of the federal poverty level.
Most schools say little about tuition online, so ask for the weekly or monthly rate and what it includes. Ask whether there is a waitlist and how long it usually runs. Ask about hours, and whether early drop-off or late pickup costs extra. Ask whether meals and snacks are provided or packed from home, and what the day looks like: play-based, Montessori, Reggio Emilia or a set curriculum. If summer matters, ask whether the school runs a summer camp for current families.
Tour two or three schools in the same week so the comparison is fresh. Watch how teachers talk to the children, how clean the rooms are and whether what you see matches what you were told on the phone. A short list built from this directory, a phone call and one visit each will tell you more than any rating on its own.
Each program comes from a public Google Maps record in Maryland. We keep the open ones with at least one review, then read each program's own website. A program is marked yes only when the school says so itself.
No. This directory does not check licenses. In Maryland, the Office of Child Care at the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) licenses and inspects child care centers and registers family child care homes. Look any provider up on Check Child Care Maryland at checkccmd.org, MSDE's lookup tool, to see its license status, verified complaints and inspection results. MSDE says that if a provider does not appear there, it is possible that it is not licensed.
Some nursery schools run by tax-exempt religious organizations operate under a letter of compliance from the Office of Child Care instead of a center license, under separate state rules. Check Child Care Maryland lists them as LOC facilities, so you can look them up the same way as licensed centers.
Maryland EXCELS is the state's quality rating and improvement system for licensed child care and early education programs. Ratings run from 1, which means a program has met initial quality requirements, to 5, the highest. Taking part is voluntary and free, except that programs accepting Child Care Scholarship payments must take part. Search rated programs at marylandexcels.org.
Look for "Accepts child care subsidies" on a listing, or open the statewide subsidies page. The Child Care Scholarship Program, run by MSDE, helps eligible families who work, study or train pay for care, and the program you choose must take part in Maryland EXCELS. New applications have been under an enrollment freeze with a waitlist since May 1, 2025, though families receiving Temporary Cash Assistance or SSI and families experiencing homelessness are not subject to it. Confirm with the center before you enroll.
Maryland Pre-K is a state-funded program for children who are 3 or 4 years old by September 1. Under the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, families at or below 300% of the federal poverty level may qualify for full-day Pre-K at no charge, and other families may pay a sliding-scale share. Classes run in public schools and in private centers, family child care homes and faith-based programs. Contact your local elementary school or a community Pre-K program to enroll.
The program has not said on its own website whether it offers that service. It is not a no. Call to ask.
No. A basic listing is free and stays free. Programs can pay for a featured position or a premium listing, and those are marked wherever they appear.