Saddleback Children's Center

Saddleback Children's Center offers an outdoor playground with learning centers that extend to the outdoor environment. Children dig in the sand and garden areas, take off their shoes for heightened sensory experiences, and engage in water play freely. They also challenge gross motor skills and intentionally explore art, music, and dramatic play in these outdoor learning spaces.

• Ages: 2–5 years old
• Schedule: June 9–August 1 Summer Full Day Program; June 17–July 24 Summer Preschool; July 4 Independence Day, no school

Saddleback Children's Center is a Christian preschool and ministry of Community Lutheran Church and is a non-profit institution operated by Community Lutheran Church. It has been part of the Rancho Santa Margarita community since 1983 and was originally established by Community Lutheran Church in 1983 in El Toro. The church and school moved to Rancho Santa Margarita in 1988, and the school opened in its new facility on February 14, 1989, and has been serving families in the Rancho Santa Margarita area since then. The governing board is made up of church members and Saddleback Children's Center parents and meets bi-monthly. The program admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin and does not discriminate on that basis.

Teachers at Saddleback Children's Center are certified from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The program became a demonstration site for the Outdoor Classroom Project in 2019. It is licensed through the Department of Social Services, facility license # 300606937. Saddleback Children's Center has been accredited since 1992 through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and receives re-accreditation every five years, with a five-year reaccreditation renewed in October 2024.

The stated mission of Saddleback Children's Center is to promote the development of the whole child throughout their preschool education physically, socially, emotionally, creatively, intellectually and spiritually. The mission also states that the program will provide a warm, safe, nurturing environment in a developmentally appropriate program and will respect and seek to meet the needs of each child by engaging them in positive experiences that will help children learn, grow and have fun. The mission further states that it is the hope that each child will leave Saddleback Children's Center saying and believing, "I am a good person, I am a great thinker and I love to learn."

Last updated July 4, 2026.