• Owner: Roxana Ferreira
• Phone: (510) 524-1396
• Email: roxanaferreirar@sbcglobal.net
• Neighborhood: Albany/N. Berkeley
• Zip: 94706
• License #: 013418060
• Capacity: 14
• Website:
• Bilingual: Spanish
• Ages:

My daughter went to Wawasi five days a week during the half-year that I was on sabbatical in Berkeley. It's a very warm, loving, supportive place, and my daughter loved it. Roxana organizes a diverse set of activities that are lots of fun and educational. She provides fantastic, nutritional (organic, vegetarian) meals. My daughter didn't speak a word of Spanish when she started, and now she peppers her chit-chat with Spanish phrases, and has really come to appreciate different languages and cultures, in part through her experience at Wawasi. I highly recommend Wawasi! A Grateful Parent

I HIGHLY recommend Wawasi Daycare in Albany. Run by Roxana Ferreira, Wawasi is a home based daycare that my child attended for the last two years. Roxana and her very capable staff have created a clean, well organized, stimulating environment for children where they spend their days exploring everything from art, yoga, cooking and the outdoors to world culture, music and language. I found the concept of parting with my young child (she started around 18 mos.) really difficult until I met Roxana. She made the transition smooth and comfortable for both me and my daughter. I'd be happy to answer anyone's questions regarding this wonderful program. You'd be lucky to have your children in Roxana's care.
Aleishall

I highly recommend sending your child to Wawasi Daycare. Roxana, the owner, is a very warm, dynamic woman with many years of experience as a preschool teacher. I send my two daughters, 2 and 4, and could not be happier. It is a very rich, magical environment for the little ones: their day includes yoga, music, art, fresh home-cooking with organic ingredients, storytime, circle time, show and tell, and bilingual Spanish. Roxana loves the kids and really knows how to work with each child at their own level.

The kids have two gardens to play in, including a huge back garden with a big play structure. The kids also go on treasure hunts around the neighborhood.

I have always felt very fortunate that my girls have their first experience outside of the home in the rich environment that Wawasi provides. I appreciate the strong community of parents, too. She loves to throw parties for the families and this past June she out-did herself with a recital.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions. I'm happy to go into more detail. She is wonderful! Tamara

If you looking for a great care for your child, check a licensed daycare run by Roxana, a Montessori teacher. Her Wawasi daycare has a loving environment for kids. The children are play games, make art, eat homemade delicious (organic) meals and have indoors-and outdoors activities. Roxana speaks Spanish with the kids all the time. Roxana brings other teachers to play music, make art and yoga with children. For my daughter who has been almost five years with Roxana, Wawasi is a second home. Please call Roxana at 510 524 1396 or email her at roxanaferreirar@sbcglobal.net.
kamvera

I would like to recommend a lovely family day care home in Albany, near North Berkeley. Roxana Ferreira, the main teacher, is Peruvian and speaks Spanish with the kids a lot of the time. She prepares wonderful meals for them, has great activities such as art projects, going to the library, or playing in her large backyard with lots of play structures. She also brings in other teachers, including a great music teacher on Friday mornings. We first discovered her when she taught at my older son's Montessori Preschool, so she brings that experience to her work. Now my daughter is in the same preschool but still goes to Roxana's one day per week because we don't want to miss out on the love and community she finds there.
Contact: Roxana, 524-1396/roxanaferreirar@sbcglobal.net

We're new to Berkeley (4 months now) and we were so grateful to have found Wawasi daycare and preschool before we moved. I really couldn't do better than to reiterate the glowing reviews below and to say how wonderful Wawasi has been for our daughter. Although it is technically a daycare it really is run more as a preschool and most of the kids are preschool age (though they do take some younger ones as well). Roxana is a gem with a strong Montessori background. She strikes a great balance between fun, learning and discipline. I just wanted to add something from 2009 so BPN readers would know that Wawasi continues to thrive. Contact: Roxana Ferriera, 510 524 1396

If you live in North Berkeley or Albany and love to have a warm and creative caregiver for your little one, you may want to check Roxana Ferreira. Shes a Montessori teacher who works part time in a school and has her own licensed daycare called Wawasi in her home. My son, whos now very well adjusted in preschool still loves to visit Wawasi that seems to us like a big family. The children, babies and older kids are most of the time together and enjoy games, craft, homemade delicious (organic) meals and snack, indoors-and outdoors activities, little field trips, and if they stay in the afternoon nap quietly after lunch. The children are also exposed to Spanish thanks to Roxana and her assistants who by the way are performing artists from Peru. We also really appreciated that our son was not only taken care from women but also a wonderful, very caring man. If you want to know more about Wawasi and Roxana Ferreira, please call 510 524 1396 or email her at roxanaferreirar@sbcglobal.net
Simone

My almost 5 year old daughter attended Wawasi daycare in Albany from 2 to 3.5 yrs old and still talks about how much she loved it. It is a wonderfully nurturing place that was a great transition from being home with me to now a more school based nursery school. Roxana Ferriero is the owner and lead day care provider and under her care my daughter was played with, loved and taught to do many things for the first time. She learned some of her first words in spanish and was helped along to go the bathroom at Wawasi. I really liked how homey the environment was and play based all the activities are. Roxana always puts the children first and showers them with love. Not to mention the wonderfully home cooked meals she prepares every day. I feel strongly that this first place of social interaction was a great building block for my daughter's social ness and happiness today.
Emily

I am writing to recommend Roxana Ferreira, owner of Wawasi Day Care in Albany. She has created a warm, loving environment where the kids are happy and carefree. She is lively and fun. Roxana cooks all the kids food and they eat things they won't touch at home. Our daughter has thrived in her care. She has a unique ability to make each child feel they are her favorite. We are so happy that our daughter had the best care and we felt safe leaving her every day. Please email me with any questions.
Marni

Re: Bilingual preschools
Wawasi home based preschool has been a second home to my two daughters. Roxana Ferreira's loving, nurturing care and guidance, warm community feel, nutritious mostly organic breakfast and lunch, sweet safe atmosphere, playful educational learning environment... I completely and wholeheartedly recommend this school. My kids miss her when they're away from school. She has openings now. Call her at 510-524-1396 or email her at roxanaferreirar@sbcglobal.net

We give Wawasi, a daycare run by Roxana Ferreira, our highest recommendation. We've had our kids there for 2 years. This is a daycare that is a preschool, with circle time, music class, and organic homemade food that the kids love. My boys eat things there that they won't at home, including many vegetables and fruits. Roxana fosters community by throwing holiday parties for the families and kids. My oldest is speaking Spanish as well as English, and loves it. The kids play in the beautiful yard with swings, slides, cars, apple trees, and a garden, go on weekly field trips to the library and picnics in the park on nice days. The kids learn through having fun there. When I go to pick them up, instead of just wanting to leave, they want to show me the art project they did, the apple they picked, or the toy they're playing with. We feel so blessed that our family has Roxana and her family in our lives.

If you are looking for daycare in the North Berkeley/Albany area I strongly recommend you to call Roxana Ferreira and arrange a visit to her home-based daycare, Wawasi Children's Center. Our daughter and son have thrived under her care for the past 2 years. She is a natural caregiver who makes a tough job look easy. Roxana and her loving assistants are nurturing, incredibly musical and remarkably patient with all types of children. They incorporate art, music, nature, Spanish and trips to the library into a loosely structured, play-based environment. Lastly, Roxana is skilled in the kitchen and provides delicious and nutritious meals for the kids. Wawasi is truly our home-away-from home. Roxana can be reached at roxanaferreirar@sbcglobal.net or by phone at 510-524-1396. Feel free to contact me as well.
Serene

Our daughter was under the care of Roxana and her incredible team (her mother and several staff, all originating from Peru) for the last 1.5 years and we could not have been luckier. The Wawasi environment is filled with fun, music, art, dancing and Montessori learning in English and Spanish. Wawasi also provides ORGANIC AND HEALTHY food all day! We never had to pack a meal and our child ate things there she would never eat at home. Roxana has a sizable back yard with play structures and fruit trees. My only complaint is that our daughter had so much fun it was hard to get her to leave at the end of the day. Hours: Monday - Friday from 8am - 5pm. Phenomenol location for easy on/off access to the Marin ramp. She takes kids of all ages. I'm surprised that she has any openings right now, if you are looking for a fantastic, warm and loving daycare, please contact her to see if she still has any availability. If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them.
Jean S.

My 4 1/2 yr old daughter has been attending Roxanna Ferreiras preschool in Albany for a year now. I cannot recommend this preschool highly enough. The Pervian woman Roxanna who runs it (along with her mother and Peruvian assistants) are all wonderful, loving caretakers and teachers. My daughter has a great time doing art projects, singing songs, learning Spanish (as they speak to the children in Spanish as well as English) through fun songs and games and playing in the large back yard and on the playstucture there. Roxanna and her mother have both taught at a local Montessori school for many years so they are both schooled in this method as well. My daugther was very used to being with me when she first attended, so was a bit clingy, but there was always some loving adult to hand her right too so i always walked away feeling totally confindent that she would get the attention she needed until she could adjust. Which she has done beautifully. She loves the other wonderful kids and enjoys eating the nutritous, organic, breakfast and lunch and snacks all provided as part of the fee. Roxanna always has lots of parties to celebrate birthdays and holidays of every kind. The hours there are 8am - 5pm. I plan to have my daughter remain there until she starts kindergarten. The school takes children through age 5 yrs. Roxannas phone number is: 510 524-1396 or email her at: roxanaferreira@sbcglobal.net
Naomi

Looking for a daycare in Albany? This daycare has fantastic caregivers who bring warm and loving environment. The daycare offers the good quality Spanish and art program. At the end of each week my three years daughter brings home drawings, painting, and mixed media projects. A month ago, the teachers prepared a lovely show with children. The children sang songs and danced with two musicians: the drummer and the guitarist. We had a great time, and great opportunity to see how much fun our children had. I know that this daycare will soon have an opening. Hurry up! If you need more information email Roxana at roxanaferreirar@sbcglobal.net
Anna

Roxanna is a wonderful, liscenced (up to six children) daycare provider who works out of her home. She speaks Spanish and English, and does lots of wonderful activities with the children--artwork, walking to the Albany library, going to parks, playing, cooking, etc. She is an excellent childcare provider and has lots of experience taking care of children in her home and also at a pre-school where she works part-time (Garden Day Montessor). I cannot recommend her enough. She is warm, loving and very creative. She is looking for 3-4 additional kids on a regular basis. She also provides a delicious, warm lunch for the kids!
Contact: Roxanna Ferreira, 510-524-1396

I would like to recommend a family day care in North Berkeley that has current openings.
The care is available from 8-5 Monday to Friday for children age 2 and up. Roxana, the main care provider is VERY loving and warm. She has experience teaching in a pre-school and provides wonderful, healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks which she prepares for the kids.
Activities include arts and crafts, walks to the library and local playgrounds, lots of reading, and there is a great big backyard with lots of toys. Roxana also speaks some Spanish with the children, and focuses on learning through play.
My son is in a Montessori school where she has taught, and he attended her program over the summer and we and he loved it.
Contact: Roxana Ferreira, 524-1396

Roxana's family daycare is called Wawawazi, from a Quechua word for baby. Roxana is a warm, fun, enthusiastic wonderful childcare provider with a homecare license and experience as a pre-school teacher. My now Kindergarten son still asks to go visit her every week! She takes children from age 2 to 6. Her home is comfortable with a large back yard with fruit trees and playhouses. She offes yummy home-cooked nutritious meals and lots of love and fun. She has openings now. Contact: Roxana Ferreira, roxanaferreirar at sbcglobal.net 510-526-1396

Roxana just got her license, but is not new to caring for children. She has been a substitute teacher at my daughter's preschool, and has cared for her a couple of days/week over summer break. She is the mother of two (ages 2 and 6?) and speaks English and Spanish.

Roxana takes children ages 2 and up. She prepares good food for the children and interviews each parent about what food they want for their children and what TV/videos, if any, are ok for them to watch, i.e. a parent might say PBS material only, or no video. (I think she said 30 minute max video time a day regardless of parent criteria.)

My daughter loves to go to Roxana's house, which has a large back yard with lots of interesting play areas. They also visit local parks and other places of interest, and do art and food projects and play games.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions about my experience as a parent. Mary

Contact: Roxana Ferriera, 524-1396