Magic Palette

Our Teachers

Jan Holliday, proprietor of the Magic Palette is originally from Northern Ireland. She has lived in San Francisco since 1988.

Jan studied in England, where she majored in Art at Liverpool Art College and in Graphic Design at the Norwich School of Art. She continued to pursue her passion for art and education at City College of San Francisco where she studied Early Childhood Development.

Jan has more than 20 years of experience teaching children from toddlers to high school, including children with learning disabilities and challenges. Prior to establishing the Magic Palette, Jan taught at several local schools: Synergy and St, Phillips Academy in San Francisco and, most recently, Silverspot Nursery School in Brisbane.

Testimonials

Jessica

Magic Palette is the sweetest introduction to care away from home that we could hope for. Our son began daycare at 2 and 1/2 and had anxiety about being away from his Mommies. He chose Jan’s care out of all the ones we visited. The second we walked into Magic Palette he began to play. At the other schools he would walk to the door and immediately exclaim, “Go home!”

Jan is kind, patient, and respectful with her students. She allows students to transition and learn the routines at their own pace . She provides a variety of learning experiences, all hands-on and child centered. As two educator Mommies, we have been thrilled with our time at Magic Palette and look forward to continuing to see our son‘s growth with Jan.

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Cassandra

I can not recommend Teacher Jan enough! She is the perfect blend of compassionate caretaker and provider of healthy structure. My daughter has completely thrived since we started at Magic Palette. She is so happy and polite and is developing an amazing clever vocabulary. Jan has even taught me some helpful tips in dealing with my little girl which have seriously helped me and given me more confidence in my parenting. 10/10 highly recommended!

Philosophy

The Magic Palette is a child-centered daycare environment located in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood. The main focus at the Magic Palette is that your child feels safe and comfortable, and will grow and thrive in our care.

Magic Palette believes that young children learn through play-based, child-centered activities. Through the use of puzzles, blocks, water play, music, art and drama. The Magic Palette fosters developmentally appropriate exploration in familiar surroundings

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Location

Located 2 miles from the 101 and 280 freeways, Magic Palette is located in a bright, warm single-family home in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. We are only a few blocks from the Bernal Heights Park

Children will spend about half of their time outdoors in my private yard. We love getting out into nature and will collect caterpillars and watch them turn into butterflies. We also have fruit trees, grow tomato plants, and sunflowers from seeds in the garden. Hunt for bugs and feed the Blue Jays. During the warmer days, we have fun with water play in the water table and water toys. As well as the sand box and play house.

Our space allows children to follow their interest and learn through play!

About our program

The Magic Palette has been in the neighborhood for over ten years. We believe that young children learn through play. At Magic Palette the children measure out the ingredients and make the play dough at the start of each month. We have baking projects where we bake banana bread from scratch for one of the snacks.

They learn through the use of puzzles, blocks, water play, music, movement, and drama, where they act out their own stories. The Magic Palette fosters developmentally appropriate exploration in a safe environment.

The Magic Palette works together with families to support positive interaction between family life and early education experiences. The Magic Palette respects each child as an individual and value each family’s culture, beliefs and diversity.

Admissions

Join the Magic Palette community in four easy steps:

1. Explore our website

We’ve provided information about our philosophies and offerings to help you decide if our program may be right for your family.

2. Tour our program

Come see what makes Magic Palette unique. When you schedule a tour at Magic Palette your child most attend as well.

3. Submit an Enrollment Application

If you would like to enroll, please submit an application. Please note that we require tours for all prospective families. Please do not submit an application if you have not visited the program.

4. Enroll

After reviewing your application, we’ll send an enrollment invitation. Upon accepting your invitation you’ll pay your enrollment fee, fill out enrollment documents and review our Parent Handbook.