History

The first Tudorka Tots site opened in 2005 in our family’s home on Mountain Blvd. When my daughter Athena was born, I decided to stay home and get licensed as a small family daycare. We started our adventure with four babies!

The need for infant and toddler care in the Bay Area was growing, and after awhile some of our first babies were getting ready to welcome new siblings. These expecting families wanted to keep their older children with us and bring their new littles ones to Tudorka Tots, too.

We decided to contact the City of Oakland and expand into a full-scale childcare center offering both infant and toddler care and a preschool program. Our family moved out of the home and we did a major remodeling of the Mountain Blvd. site so it meets all the zoning requirements of a childcare center.

Since then, we have continued growing and adding to the Tudorka Tots family. We opened our site at the East Hills Community Church in 2010 and at Mills Cove Church in 2014. Our Mills site offers the same quality program while specifically serving low-income families.

The Owner: Renata Zimany

I grow up in Hungary and come to US in 1997. Our cultural background has motivated me to develop a diverse program at Tudorka Tots. Many of our teachers speak multiple languages. We created a school where children experience positive interactions with adults, where they are stimulated to learn and grow. We feel the first five years are very important for children.

We enjoy cooking, baking and feeding people, which is why we provide home cooked meals at school every day. I love organizing parties and events and making sure our schools have lots of different fun events throughout the year for families to get together and socialize. I also love exercising, traveling and going for nature walks and hike.

What does Tudorka Tots mean?

There are two reasons we chose the word “tudor.” One is because it refers to an English Tudor House which represents a cozy home where children can spend the day. The second reason is because “Doc” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is referred to as “Tudor” in Hungarian.

In Hungarian, we add “ka” to the ending of words as a way to denote smallness, familiarity and affection. Because Doc is the most intellectual of the dwarfs, when we say “Tudorka,” it is a way of saying “smart child” in Hungarian.

Doc is also our inspiration for adopting an owl with glasses as our school mascot!