Start with the need, not the name. If you want a second language all day, go to Tsumiki (Japanese) or Lifetime Montessori (Spanish). If your baby is under a year, Learning Jungle Adams, Green Beans, Red Brick and San Diego Cooperative Preschool all list infant care. Each entry links to the centre’s DaycareOn listing, where you can save it to your tracker.

San Diego Cooperative Preschool calls itself the city’s only parent and guardian co-op, and it has run since 1963 as a nonprofit. Families volunteer in their child’s classroom each month, do one school job a year, and give four hours to an annual work party.

It takes children from six months, and each of its five classrooms has an indoor and an outdoor space. Full-day hours run 7:30 am to 5:30 pm, so the co-op work is a real commitment on top of a work week. Ask how the volunteer schedule works for your job before you tour.

Green Beans describes itself as a nature-based, play-first centre with chemical-free spaces. Its site lists organic meals and snacks and daily time in the garden and outdoors.

This is the Hillcrest campus, close to Scripps Mercy. It has a separate infant room from about six weeks, and the site names YMCA, Child Development Associates and military child care programs among the fee assistance it works with.

The early childhood program is mixed-age and play-based, with indoor and outdoor free play, storytime, watercolor painting, and a warm organic snack. The school says these early years are not a time to be rushed.

Nursery classes hold at most twelve children and run mornings, with an option to stay through nap and extended care to 5:30 pm for working parents. Classes fill fast, and the school suggests applying about nine months ahead.

Tsumiki, part of the Japanese Academy of San Diego in Clairemont, runs a full-day Japanese immersion program for children two to five. It welcomes families of any background and any Japanese level, with support for children at different language levels.

Lunch is part of the language day: hot lunches are made from scratch in its kitchen four days a week, with dishes such as rice, miso soup and grilled fish. Full days run 7:30 am to 5:30 pm.

Lifetime Montessori teaches ages three to six in an English and Spanish bilingual immersion program, with two teachers in each primary classroom. The school says children should speak both languages fluently by the end of kindergarten.

It takes children from 18 months and continues through sixth grade, and its Montessori approach follows AMI principles. It serves families across Santaluz, 4S Ranch, Carmel Valley and Rancho Peñasquitos. Tuition on its site is yearly, with full-day and half-day options.

Learning Jungle Adams, formerly Little Sprouts, takes children from six weeks to six years in infant, toddler, preschool and pre-K rooms, so a family can stay put as a baby grows. It sits in Kensington, close to the I-15, and serves Kensington, North Park and Normal Heights.

The approach is play-based and Reggio-inspired. Hours are 7:30 am to 6:00 pm, one of the later closing times on this list.

Aspen Leaf accepts MCCYN and Child Care Aware military subsidies at all of its locations, and its site walks military families through the cost worksheet and the monthly benefit form. It also accepts other subsidies.

This is the North Park school. It runs infant, toddler and preschool rooms, and a Forest School transitional kindergarten of about ten children that goes on nature outings three to five times a week. Aspen Leaf says its tuition is higher than many centres because its classes are smaller, so ask for a quote.

The Early Childhood Center sits on San Diego Jewish Academy’s Carmel Valley campus and takes children from 14 months to five years. Its curriculum is rooted in Jewish values, and it closes at 5:00 pm on Fridays for Shabbat.

It offers part-time and full-time options, with core hours of 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. Early start from 7:30 am and after-school care to 5:30 pm are available, which helps if your workday is longer than the school day.

Red Brick has four outdoor areas, including one just for infants, and its site says children spend about an hour and a half outside each day. It has run since 1962 and describes a Christian, play-based program for ages six weeks to five years.

School starts at 9:00 am, with early care from 7:30 am if arranged with the office. Extended care runs to 5:00 pm. The infant rooms hold up to twelve children with three teachers and a roving assistant.

Rock Academy’s preschool takes children from infancy through junior kindergarten, and its Christian curriculum includes Bible stories, worship songs and chapel. The site says the day is not divided into Bible time and secular time.

The program is play-based and aligned with California’s infant, toddler and preschool learning foundations.

Pick three from this list and three near home, then:

• Open each listing and save it to your DaycareOn tracker.
• Ask each centre which room your child would join on your start date, and whether a space opens then.
• Get the monthly tuition in writing for your schedule. Several sites publish tuition, and some centres charge more for infants and toddlers.
• If you are a military family, ask each centre whether it accepts MCCYN or Child Care Aware military fee assistance before you tour.