TOPS - The Orinda Preschool

TOPS - The Orinda Preschool offers a play-based preschool experience that has been in place since 1938. The program uses classrooms and an outdoor classroom that are set up with children’s safety as a priority and are intended to be stimulating and challenging for children. The outdoor classroom is a shared community space that is regarded by the program as central to children’s learning and is used to support exploration of their abilities.

• Ages: 2–5 years old
• Schedule: Tours are typically scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 10am.

TOPS - The Orinda Preschool has been providing play-based education for preschoolers since 1938 and was first established that year as a private school for supervised play. It became a licensed program in 1943 with about thirty children in attendance and has continued offering play-based preschool education to the community for over 80 years. The program currently offers three preschool age programs (2s/3s, 3s/4s, and PreK) with a total enrollment of 76 students.

TOPS states that it is committed to providing high quality early childhood education programs that recognize and support ongoing changes at the public school level while upholding a play-based learning philosophy. This philosophy emphasizes social competence and emotional well-being as a foundation for cognitive development. The program describes its play-based learning experience as rich with history and progressive opportunities and notes that creating a healthy and safe environment for learning is important at TOPS.

Last updated March 20, 2026.