Licensed Preschool in Van Nuys, CA

Preschool in Van Nuys

As of August 2026

Home-based care leads clearly in Van Nuys, where family child care homes outnumber centers 72 to 42 among the city's 114 licensed providers. Preschool coverage is especially strong, reaching 91 percent of providers. Combined licensed capacity totals 3,464 children. All providers are licensed through the California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD), and CloverMap brings Van Nuys' full roster together for parents to compare.

What to know about childcare in Van Nuys

Van Nuys' 114 licensed providers are majority home-based, with 72 family child care homes against 42 child care centers, about 63 percent of the roster. That mix means most Van Nuys searches will surface smaller, residence-based programs more often than large center facilities. Parents new to licensed child care often assume one format is inherently better, but the right fit usually comes down to a child's temperament and a family's daily logistics: center hours may align more predictably with a standard work schedule, while a family child care home can sometimes offer more flexible drop-off and pickup arrangements.

Licensed capacity across the 114 reporting providers totals 3,464 children, averaging about 30 per provider, a moderate figure consistent with a roster weighted toward smaller family child care homes. It's worth remembering that a licensed capacity figure describes how many children a provider is permitted to enroll, not how many openings exist on a given day. Actual availability shifts constantly as children age out or families relocate, so this citywide number is best used as a planning benchmark rather than a guarantee of a specific opening.

Preschool coverage is a clear strength in Van Nuys: 104 of 114 providers, or 91 percent, serve preschool-age children, among the highest rates in this batch. Infants and toddlers are each served by 75 providers, 66 percent, and 77 providers, or 68 percent, serve school-age children. For families mapping out care across several years, knowing which providers serve multiple age bands up front can simplify the search considerably, since a single provider that follows a child from infancy through the preschool years spares parents the work of re-searching and re-enrolling at each stage.

Every Van Nuys provider is licensed through the California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division. CCLD licensing applies uniform baseline staffing, group-size, and safety requirements to family child care homes and centers alike. A license is not a ranking or endorsement of one provider over another; it simply confirms the operator has met the state's threshold requirements to legally operate. Parents researching further should treat a CCLD license as a baseline credential, then judge day-to-day fit through a tour, a conversation with staff, and their own sense of the environment.

With preschool options this widespread and homes making up most of the roster, Van Nuys parents should find family child care homes readily available, while a center such as APPLE SCHOOL EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATIONAL CENTER represents the classroom-based alternative. CloverMap lets Van Nuys families filter by format, capacity, and age group. Starting a search by deciding on format, then filtering by the age group a child currently needs, tends to narrow the list to a manageable number faster than browsing every listing one by one.