Parent-and-Tot, Preschool and Early-Years Programs in Richmond

The short answer

Richmond's City-run early-years programs come in two tracks, and picking the right track first saves you the most time. Licensed preschools run on a school-year schedule, September through June, with fixed classes, fixed age rules, and monthly fees. Shorter seasonal programs — the parent-and-child classes most people mean by "parent-and-tot" — are listed season by season in the City's Activity Search, where you filter by your child's age and your preferred community centre. This guide covers the preschools in detail, because their ages and fees are published for the full 2026/27 year, and shows you exactly how to find the current seasonal listings, because those change every season.

The preschools: what is actually on offer

The City of Richmond publishes its preschool programs on its Preschools and Out of School Care page, with separate detail pages per site. Six sites have full published detail for 2026/27: West Richmond, Rompers, Cambie, City Centre, Hamilton, and South Arm. Steveston and Terra Nova publish their detail on their own pages.

West Richmond Preschool, at West Richmond Community Centre, 9180 No. 1 Road, takes children aged 2 to 5. It is a cooperative-style program: parents and staff work together as part of the preschool team. The program is Reggio-inspired and play-based, built around children learning through interaction, experimentation, and choice in a flexible classroom. The term runs September through June, except on statutory holidays, public school breaks in winter and spring, and school Professional Development Days. Public registration for 2026/27 opened online on Thursday, April 2, 2026, and registration is now ongoing. A non-refundable $50 fee per class secures a space, and the year's fees are divided into 10 equal payments, due one month in advance from August 1 to May 1, payable by cash, debit, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or cheque. For more information, email Keira.Simmons@richmond.ca.

Rompers Preschool is for children with birth years 2022 and 2023, and children must turn 3 by December 31, 2026. Registration for the 2026/27 school year opened online on Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 7:00am. Classes run 9:00am to 1:00pm as a four-hour program. The Bumblebees class takes a maximum of 10 children with one educator, and the Fireflies class takes a maximum of 20 children with two educators. Fees are $616.60 per month for Monday to Friday, $361.50 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and $255.15 per month for Tuesday and Thursday. Rompers is approved for the provincial Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, which reduces monthly fees by up to $95 per month depending on the days of service offered each month; a monthly fee schedule with the applied rates is provided upon registration. Rompers also offers licensed preschool camps during spring break and summer break, separate from the school-year classes. For inquiries, contact Anna Thymis, Preschool Coordinator, at Anna.Thymis@richmond.ca or 604-238-8497, and see thompsonearlylearning.com for more detail.

Cambie Preschool runs shorter morning and afternoon classes. Kinderfun runs 2.5 hours and costs $237.00 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, either 9:00 to 11:30am or 12:30 to 3:00pm, and $168.35 per month for Tuesday and Thursday on the same hours. Little Explorers runs three hours in the morning, with a large outdoor and sensory-learning component, at $202.00 per month for Monday and Wednesday from 9:00am to noon and $213.20 per month for Tuesday and Thursday. The Junior Kindergarten extension is only for children already enrolled in Kinderfun or Little Explorers morning classes who are going to Kindergarten in September 2027; it extends the day to 1:00pm, with lunch and pre-Kindergarten work after lunch, at $150.00 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:30am to 1:00pm and $106.60 per month for Tuesday and Thursday. Cambie has applied for the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, and if approved, monthly fees may be reduced by $95 per month. The preschool contact is Anne-Marie Olmstead-Wilcox at 604-238-8385 or Anne-Marie.Olmstead-Wilcox@richmond.ca.

City Centre Preschool (Circle of Friends), at City Centre Community Centre, runs at two sites. City Centre classes cost $322.50 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (9:00am to 12:30pm) and $196.70 per month for Tuesday and Thursday (1:15 to 4:15pm). Lang Centre classes cost $276.45 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and $229.45 per month for Tuesday and Thursday. Time for Twos, for children born in 2024, costs $289.10 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and $205.70 per month for Tuesday and Thursday. Registration opened Wednesday, April 8, 2026. The program participates in the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, and fees are set to change — confirm the applied rate at registration.

Hamilton Preschool (Rainbows and Unicorns) is for children with birth years 2022 and 2023. Classes cost $364.15 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (8:30am to 12:30pm), $168.35 per month for Tuesday and Thursday (8:30 to 11:00am), and $262.75 per month for Tuesday and Thursday (8:30am to 12:30pm). Registration opened Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

South Arm Preschool (Child's World) is for children with birth years 2022 and 2023. Classes run 9:00am to 1:00pm and cost $425.28 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and $283.52 per month for Tuesday and Thursday. The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative maximum deduction is $4.75 per day, multiplied by the days enrolled. Registration opened Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

Steveston Preschool is also listed on the City page, for children aged 3 to 4 (birth years 2022 and 2023) and an unlicensed Time for Twos class for children born in 2024, but its fees are published on the Steveston Community Society's own site rather than the City page — check there before you register.

West Richmond's class fees, for reference alongside the $50 deposit: the 2-year-old program costs $211.30 per month; the 3/4-year-old programs cost $202.00 per month for Tuesday and Thursday (three hours), $303.00 per month for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and $269.35 per month for Tuesday and Thursday (four hours).

The City also links Terra Nova Nature School from its preschool page, with contact at natureschool@richmond.ca. Check that program's own page for its ages and fees rather than assuming they match the sites above.

Finding the seasonal parent-and-child programs

If a school-year preschool is more commitment than you want, or your child is younger than the preschool age rules, the seasonal listings are the right place to look. The City's Activity Search lets you search for tailored programs, save your personal searches, and download a printable PDF of results. General browsing needs no account, but registering online requires a MyRichmond account, so set one up before the registration date for the season you want.

Filter by your child's age and by location: Richmond's community centres each run their own seasonal mix, so a class that exists at one centre may not exist at another. Because these listings are rebuilt every season, this guide does not quote seasonal class names, ages, or fees — a detail copied from a past season is exactly how families show up for a class that no longer runs. Check the current season's guide and the listing itself for the age range, schedule, and fee before you register.

How registration works

Richmond offers three registration routes. Online, through your MyRichmond account, is the main route for most families. By phone, the Registration Call Centre at 604-276-4300 operates Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm, excluding statutory holidays. In person, you can register at any community facility, including Nature Park and Arts, Culture and Heritage facilities.

Seasonal registration has published opening dates, and they are worth marking. For Winter 2027, online registration opens Tuesday, November 17 at 9:00pm for all programs (8:00pm for aquatics). In-person registration opens Wednesday, November 18 when facilities open, and phone registration opens Wednesday, November 18 at 8:30am. The City recently added a virtual waiting room to the registration system for busy periods: during high traffic you may be placed automatically in a short queue, often just a few minutes, before entering the system. The City's own advice is that there is no need to log on early, and smaller programs and low-traffic times continue without a queue.

Preschool registration works differently from seasonal registration: it opens once for the school year — April 1, 2026 for Rompers and April 2, 2026 for West Richmond — and then stays open while spaces remain. If you missed the April opening, check whether spaces are still available rather than assuming the year is closed.

Choosing between the options

Start with your child's age and your schedule. A child aged 2 to 5 who is ready for a regular class without a parent present fits the West Richmond model, including its cooperative parent involvement. A child turning 3 by December 31, 2026 fits Rompers, with its four-hour, 9:00am to 1:00pm day. A family wanting a shorter day can look at Cambie's 2.5-hour Kinderfun or three-hour Little Explorers classes, and a child heading to Kindergarten in September 2027 who is already in a Cambie morning class can add the Junior Kindergarten extension. A family wanting a single season, a parent-attended class, or a younger child's first group experience should search the current seasonal listings instead of trying to fit a school-year program.

Cost follows the schedule, not just the site: Rompers' Monday-to-Friday fee of $616.60 per month is nearly double its Tuesday/Thursday fee of $255.15 per month, and the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative reduction of up to $95 per month applies per the days of service each month. Compare the monthly fee for the exact days you would attend, and confirm the applied rate at registration, before deciding a program is out of reach.

What to check before you register

Confirm four things on the listing itself: the age rule, the exact days and hours, the monthly fee after any fee-reduction initiative, and the payment schedule. For West Richmond, that means the $50 non-refundable fee per class and the 10-payment schedule from August 1 to May 1. For any seasonal program, it means the current season's listing, not a previous season's guide. If anything on the listing is unclear, contact the program coordinator directly — the preschool pages publish coordinator names, emails, and phone numbers for exactly that reason — rather than guessing at registration time.

Sources: City of Richmond — Preschool programs.

Related guides: how to become an early childhood educator in British Columbia, how to open a daycare centre in British Columbia, how to start a home daycare in BC.