Preston Creek Montessori vs. Creative Minds Montessori: An Honest Comparison for Plano and Frisco Parents (2026)

Two Montessori schools, Plano and Frisco

Preston Creek Montessori sits at 5040 Commonsgate Boulevard, Plano, TX 75024, which its website describes as "just off of Preston Road" south of Spring Creek Parkway, in "a safe, quiet setting" with covered drop-off and a playground "away from major roads." Creative Minds Montessori is at 5115 Warren Parkway, behind Dua Trattoria at Legacy Drive and Warren Parkway, in West Frisco 75034. Depending on traffic they are about fifteen minutes apart down Legacy or Preston, which for many families is the first fact that matters: a family in Willow Bend or the Plano side of Legacy West will find Preston Creek on the way, and a family in Phillips Creek Ranch or Starwood will find us on the way.

Both call themselves Montessori, and both mean it. Preston Creek describes "Montessori Certified teachers," a founder who has "been in the childcare business over 30 years," and the method in Dr. Montessori's own terms: children "teach themselves through tireless manipulation of materials and absorb information constantly." We describe the same practices on our Curriculum page. So this is not a Montessori-versus-something-else comparison. It is a comparison of two schools that share a method and differ in hours, food, what is bundled in, what the parent can see and read before enrolling, and what the two state records and two sets of reviews say.

At a glance

Sources: each school's website and Texas HHS record, September 22, 2026; Google ratings and review counts as stated on each school's site or listing. Details change — confirm on your tour.

What kind of school each one is

Preston Creek Montessori: a founder-run Plano school with a cook, a uniform and long hours

Preston Creek's story is on its About page and it is the kind of story that matters in this business. The school was "established in 2009" by its founder and Executive Director, who the site says has "been in the childcare business over 30 years," and the state issued the Full Permit that November. The Center Director is described as having "25 years of experience in childcare," and the site makes a claim we take seriously because it is checkable: many teachers have "been with Ms. Pam... for 15+ years." The state's turnover counts, which we set out below, are consistent with a settled staff in the last two years. The About page says the administrators are "in charge of keeping the children safe" and involved in "daily activity," which is a good sign in an owner-run school; the state record lists the founder as the director of record.

The programme runs from six weeks to six years in six classes: Infants (6 weeks to 17 months), Toddlers (18 to 24 months), Two's, Three's, Primary (3 to 4.6 years) and what the school calls Lower Elementary (4.7 to 6 years), which on its own age range is a kindergarten year rather than an elementary programme in the usual Montessori sense; ask on the tour what a five-year-old's day looks like there. The philosophy page frames the goal as "complete development of the child's character emotionally, intellectually, physically, socially and morally," and the site quotes Dr. Montessori on children who "teach themselves through tireless manipulation of materials." Teachers are "Montessori Certified," "All staff members are CPR and First Aid certified," and "Background checks and FBI fingerprinting checks are made prior to employment."

What is bundled in is generous. Spanish "begins in the toddler's class and continues with the primary classes," teaching "colors, counting, days of the week, and months of the year," and there is weekly music for all ages: "Music is known to be the universal language." Three extra-curricular programmes run from age two, Tots (movement and music), Tot Kwon Do and Tippi Toes Ballet, with no prices on the site. The summer programme is two-tiered: ages two to six get the Montessori curriculum plus train rides, bounce houses, a petting zoo, pony rides, arts and crafts and snow cones; ages six to twelve get field trips to parks, movies, the library, roller skating, the swimming pool, the zoo and bowling, which makes Preston Creek a useful summer answer for a family with a Plano ISD older sibling. An after-school programme is in the navigation but has no page.

The kitchen is the thing Preston Creek does that most Frisco-area preschools do not. An "Onsite cook prepares all meals," and the day includes "Hot breakfast, lunch, and two snacks," with "kosher and vegetarian choices," "Vegetarian and Halal options," "organic, rBGH free milk, fresh fruits, and vegetables," and a "peanut and nut free" building. There is a uniform, bought through Academic Outfitters, which the school says fosters "school spirit" and "unity." Security is described as a "Security code access" door with "Face-to-face recognition" and daily check-in and check-out; cameras are not mentioned. Communication is old-fashioned in a way some parents prefer: "Daily personalized written information logs" for infant and toddler classes and monthly lesson plans posted on each room's Parent Information Board. Two things the website does not say: what anything costs, and, at the time we read it, what year it is; the Parent Information page still reads "enrolling for 2022!"

Creative Minds Montessori: one school, one philosophy, ten-plus years of the same faces

Creative Minds is a single independent school in the Legacy and Warren corridor that serves children from six weeks through kindergarten entry and then hands them on to Frisco ISD or a private elementary. Everything about it is built around the Montessori method. Walk in mid-morning and the first thing you notice is the quiet hum of concentration: one child building the pink tower, another tracing sandpaper letters, a third carrying a tray of golden beads to a mat. The guide is not at the front of the room; she is kneeling next to one child, presenting one lesson, and the rest of the room is working on things they chose. Rooms are mixed-age on purpose, so a three-year-old watches a five-year-old read and a five-year-old learns patience by helping a three-year-old pour.

Layered over that structure is what the school calls the Waldorf touch: a weekly music class, process art with natural materials, rhythm and storytelling, and a deliberate reverence for beauty and nature in the rooms. Montessori builds the disciplined, capable mind; the artistic thread keeps the imagination glowing. Our Curriculum page lays out the five Montessori areas and what each looks like at each age.

The people are the second thing. Both infant teachers have been with the school since it opened its doors more than ten years ago, which in an industry where caregivers often change every few months means the same two warm faces greet families at drop-off year after year. Ratios meet or exceed Texas Health and Human Services licensing for every age, with the youngest rooms kept smallest, and because the school is small, the Director personally approves every move from one room to the next.

The third thing is a set of daily-life choices that are easy to verify. Food is treated as curriculum: organic milk and organic vegetables, no added raw sugar, minimal salt and fat, a vegetarian option every day, fresh fruit and milk with every lunch, and a nut-free building. Children under two have no screen time at all, and older children never more than one supplemental, education-aligned hour, never at meals or rest. Every classroom has a camera, and parents can log in and watch any time during the day. Our Our School page covers the rest.

Curriculum and daily life, compared

Because both schools are Montessori, the table below has fewer sharp contrasts than a Montessori-versus-franchise comparison would. The differences are in the edges: how the day is organised, what is bundled in, and how each school handles food, screens, rest and discipline.

A few honest notes. Preston Creek's bundle is larger than ours: Spanish from two, a cook, a twelve-hour day, a summer camp that takes a twelve-year-old to the zoo. Its single-age classes are a real difference from our mixed-age rooms, and neither is wrong; a classic Montessori three-to-six room mixes ages so the older children teach, while a Two's room and a Three's room give a parent a clearer sense of where their child sits. On our side, the differences are specific rather than broad: we publish our discipline limits, our screen rule and our menu, we let you watch the room from anywhere for a stated fee, and our fees are on the website.

Food, hours, and the shape of a day

Hours. Preston Creek wins this one clearly: 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM on both its website and the state record is half an hour earlier and an hour later than Creative Minds' 7:00 to 5:30. Creative Minds caps care at ten hours and asks for a 9:00 arrival so children get the uninterrupted work period that Montessori depends on. That is a constraint we chose; it is still a constraint, and for a two-Tollway-commute family it may settle the question.

Food. This is a real point of comparison, because both schools care about it and made different choices. Preston Creek has an on-site cook serving a hot breakfast, lunch and two snacks, with kosher, halal and vegetarian options, organic rBGH-free milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, and a nut-free building; the menu is linked from its Parent Information page. Creative Minds does not cook on site; lunch is catered by KidzCaters on a four-week rotation, and the choices are in the sourcing: organic milk and organic vegetables, no added raw sugar, minimal salt and fat, a vegetarian option every day, fresh fruit and milk with every lunch, and a nut-free building. A cook on site with kosher and halal choices is a genuine advantage for many families, and we say so. Our menu is on our Nutrition page; ask Preston Creek for next week's and compare. One of the 2026 reviews we read raises portions and food being withheld; the state's twelve inspections have not cited the school on food, so treat that as one parent's claim to test with your own eyes at lunchtime.

Flexibility and transportation. Neither school offers transportation on its state record. Preston Creek lists part-time care and a summer programme to age twelve; Creative Minds lists part-time care and field trips with parent volunteers, and offers ways to protect a spot during extended breaks plus two $50-per-year vacation credits. One reviewer says Preston Creek charges for the week it closes between Christmas and New Year's; most Frisco and Plano schools do, including us, so ask both schools for the closure calendar and the policy in writing.

Safety, security, and seeing your child's day

Both schools describe security practices. The difference is whether a parent can see inside the room from outside it.

What the state's five-year records show, side by side

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission publishes every licensed center's five-year compliance history in its public Child Care Search. We pulled both schools' full histories on September 22, 2026 and put them in one table. Read ours as critically as theirs; the links go to the primary source.

What Preston Creek's three deficiencies were, in full, because three is a small number and each one matters. Every one of the school's six annual inspections in the window, evaluating between 581 and 658 standards each time, found nothing wrong, which is a record very few schools we have compared can match. The three findings all came from complaint investigations, and all three are rated High. On May 8, 2025, an investigation found two: "A caregiver did not use good judgement by pulling a child away from a biter," cited under the standard requiring caregivers to "Demonstrate Competency, Good Judgment, Self-control," and "The operation became aware of a parent concern of harm to their child on 05/05/2025 and did not report this to licensing." Both were "found to be compliant at inspection" on July 2, 2025. On June 9, 2026, another investigation found that "a caregiver grabbed a child by the chin to direct their face towards them," cited under Prohibited Punishments, "Grabbing and Pulling"; the standard was verified compliant at the annual inspection on July 22, 2026. Two other complaint investigations, in December 2024 and February 2026, and one self-report in June 2026, found the standards evaluated compliant.

Read together, the record says two things at once, and a parent should hold both. Preston Creek's building, records, ratios, fire logs, playground, food and sleep practices have passed every annual inspection for five years without a single citation, which is remarkable. And the three things the state did find, in 2025 and 2026, are all about a caregiver's hands on a child or the office's handling of a parent's concern: a child pulled away from a biter, a child's chin grabbed, a parent's report of harm not passed to the state. None produced an injury or a penalty, all were corrected, and the state's own turnover count (six departures in 2025, nine in 2024) says the staff is settled. What to ask on the tour is therefore specific: what changed in the room after June 2026, what the school's written discipline guidance says about touching a child, and what happens in the first 24 hours after a parent reports a concern.

Our own record is the one we want you to read hardest. Twenty-six deficiencies across 3,942 standards is more than Preston Creek's, and most of them are paperwork we should have had in order and many of which we reported ourselves. Each finding was verified corrected by the state. The three self-reported incidents on our record are incidents we reported to the state ourselves, because we would rather have a mark on the page than a secret in the building. Zero injuries in five years and 5 and 7 staff departures in the last two years are the numbers we are proudest of. The details are on our state page linked above, and we would rather you read them there than take our summary.

Cost and fees: what each school publishes

Neither school prints monthly tuition on its website, which is normal in Plano and Frisco and frustrating for a shopping parent. Here is exactly what each does say, so you know what to ask.

Preston Creek Montessori publishes no rates and no fees. Enrollment is by visiting the school to fill out an application, under what the site calls an "open door policy." The uniform is bought separately from Academic Outfitters. Spanish and weekly music are described as part of the programme; the three extra-curricular programmes (Tots, Tot Kwon Do, Tippi Toes Ballet) have no prices on the site and in the Plano market are usually billed separately, so ask. Two reviewers raise money from opposite directions: one, a year ago, calls a "$350 fee per year for supplies" ludicrous and objects to being charged for the Christmas-week closure; another, a month ago, writes that "the fees are more affordable than most." Both can be true. Get the supply fee, the deposit, the notice period and the closure calendar in writing before you sign, at Preston Creek and everywhere else.

Creative Minds Montessori bills monthly by age. Published fees: a one-time $150 registration fee per child, a $150 supply fee twice a year (March 1 and September 1, so $300 a year, which is less than the figure the reviewer quotes for Preston Creek but is still real money), and a $25-per-child monthly camera fee. Published credits: a 10% sibling discount on the older sibling, $150 off tuition for each referred family who stays 90 days, and a current new-family welcome of $100 off tuition for the first ten months. Meals, snacks, the music class and all materials are included. Monthly rates by age come from the Director, and we will give you a written all-in number on the tour. Details are on our Admissions page.

Two practical tips. First, ask both schools for a written, all-in annual number for your child's age, including every fee, the uniform, and what the welcome credit becomes when it ends, so the two can be compared like for like. Second, ask what happens to your spot and your money during a two-week vacation, a maternity leave, or a job change; the answers differ more between schools than the headline rate does. Our guide to what childcare really costs covers FSAs and the child-care tax credit, which apply at both schools.

What parents say

Preston Creek Montessori

Start with the number: Preston Creek Montessori holds a 4.7-star rating across 84 Google reviews as of September 22, 2026, and that should frame everything below. A school that has been open since 2009 with the state record above has many families with good things to say, and its own site quotes parents on the founder's long-serving teachers, the dance, computer and karate enrichment, and financial accommodation when a family needed it. Read the five-star reviews too; at 4.7 they are the great majority.

The critical reviews are a minority. Of the 84, we read five, collected from Google on September 22, 2026 and posted between roughly 2022 and August 2026, from families who enrolled for anywhere from a few months to three years. Read together they are not a scattering of unrelated complaints; they describe a few concerns in different years and different families' words, with no sign the reviewers knew of each other. These are the threads:

• How adults handle a child at a hard moment. This is the most persistent thread and the one that lines up with the state record. A reviewer this spring writes of "frequent yelling," "very little patience," fear used as discipline ("children being threatened that they would be taken to certain classrooms"), staff arguing "in front of the children, with raised voices," and "inappropriate physical contact by staff toward some minors"; she also says babies were "left crying for extended periods" and that "the image presented during tours does not always reflect the reality." A year ago, a parent whose daughter attended for about three years says that after a move to her last class the child "would come home sad all the time," was put in time-out without calls home, and "was constantly put down for what she was doing wrong but never cheered on for doing good"; she says her daughter is "a completely diff kid" at a new school. Two years ago, the parents of an active two-year-old say that after three months they were called to a conference because the teacher "couldn't 'handle'" him, with reasons like "not pushing his chair after eating" and "asking for seconds at lunch," and were made to feel "he was no longer welcomed at this school." We cannot verify any of this. What we can say is that the state's own record has, in May 2025 and June 2026, findings that a caregiver "did not use good judgement by pulling a child away from a biter" and that "a caregiver grabbed a child by the chin," both corrected, and no finding of yelling, fear-based discipline or babies left crying.
• What happens after an injury or a complaint. Four years ago a parent wrote that her daughter "was given a arm sprain there" and that the school "won't accept responsibility when something goes wrong." A month ago, another parent wrote that her son "was once hurt here and I never got the video footage or clarification of how it happened. He was bleeding," that he had come home more than once "wearing the same diaper he had on in the morning," and that she had found him "just sitting watching baby shark with the other lil ones." The state record's May 2025 finding that a parent's concern of harm was not reported to licensing belongs to this thread. The state's injury counts, zero serious and zero from standard violations over five years, cut the other way.
• Money and communication. The $350 supply fee, the Christmas-week charge, a conference that felt like a dismissal, and a school one parent says "bragged" about a well-known family's child, against another parent's view that the fees are "more affordable than most."

The set of reviews collected for this article did not include public replies from the school, so we cannot credit its side; if Preston Creek has replied on Google, we will add its replies here, and its director is welcome to write to us (see the note at the end of this page). What cuts the other way is real and we would be dishonest to leave it out: twelve state inspections in five years and six clean annual inspections in a row, which does not support claims of a generally unsafe or badly run building; zero recorded injuries; a staff the state says is settled, with six departures last year; a founder with thirty years in the business and teachers who have stayed fifteen; and a cook, a Spanish programme and a twelve-hour day that most families value every day. So the reviews mean something specific. They do not say the school is unsafe; the state's numbers say it is. They say that, for a handful of families across four years, a particular adult in a particular room was harsher than a Montessori room should be, and that when the family raised it, whether after a sprain, a cut lip or a hard conference, the office's answer did not satisfy them. That is exactly the thing a tour can test.

Creative Minds Montessori

Creative Minds Montessori holds a 4.7-star rating across 44 Google reviews, counted on September 17, 2026. It is a smaller school, so the count is smaller; the score is what we are proud of, and so is the state's record of five and seven staff departures in the last two years, because the reviews are mostly about people who are still here. The Google reviews quoted on our Testimonials page cluster around the infant teachers who have been here since the school opened, the calm of the classrooms, the food, the cameras, the Director's patience, and children who come home and set the table without being asked. We are not going to pretend we have no critical reviews; read all 44 on Google and ask us about any of them on the tour. We would rather answer than spin.

One thing we say to every family who tours us after touring another Montessori school: the word on the sign is the beginning of the comparison, not the end of it. Two rooms with the same pink tower can feel completely different depending on who is in them and how long they have been there. Watch the adults.

Which school fits which family

And a third possibility that is more common than either school likes to admit: some children are simply happier in one room than another, and you will know within ten minutes of watching them in it. Bring your child to both tours if you possibly can.

Ten questions to ask on both tours

These are the questions that separate a good tour from a brochure read aloud. Ask every one of them at both schools, in the same words, and compare the answers side by side.

1. "What is the exact ratio and group size in the room my child would start in, today?" Not the licensing maximum, the actual number this month.
2. "How long have the teachers in that room been here?" Tenure is the single best predictor of how your child's day will feel. Both schools have a good story here; make them tell it room by room.
3. "What happens when a child says, 'I can't do it'?" The answer reveals the whole philosophy. We explain why in our guide to choosing a whole-child program.
4. "What is your written policy on touching, redirecting or restraining a child, and what happened after your most recent state finding?" Both schools have one to talk about.
5. "Can I see my child's room during the day, and how?" Cameras, an app, a window, or an open door. Get the specifics and the cost.
6. "What did the children eat yesterday, and where was it cooked?" Then ask to see the menu for next week and the allergy policy.
7. "How much screen time will my child have, and what is it for?" Get a number, not an adjective.
8. "What is my all-in annual cost for this age, including every fee, the uniform, the deposit, and the closure weeks?" Then ask what happens to the deposit and the spot if you withdraw mid-year.
9. "When a parent raises a concern, what happens in the next 48 hours, and what did you report to the state last year?" Ask for a real example. Compare the answer with the school's state page.
10. "May I come back on a normal morning?" The answer, and the tone of the answer, tells you nearly everything.

For the longer version of this checklist, including the unannounced-visit test and the difference between settling-in tears and real red flags, see How to Choose a Daycare You Actually Trust.

The bottom line

Preston Creek Montessori is a well-established, founder-run Plano Montessori with the longest hours and the fullest kitchen in this comparison: 6:30 to 6:30, a cook serving hot meals with kosher and halal choices, Spanish from two, weekly music, a uniform, a summer programme to twelve, and a 4.7-star rating across 84 Google reviews, and a state record with five straight clean annual inspections and just three findings in five years. Those three findings, and the critical reviews across four years, keep returning to the same thing: how an adult handled a child at a hard moment, and how the office answered the parent afterwards. None of that is about the building, and the state record backs the school on the building.

Creative Minds Montessori is a smaller-hours, more-transparent offer: one philosophy carried out faithfully from six weeks to kindergarten by adults who have been here for years, with a food and screen policy you can read before you enroll, positive guidance with published limits, fees on the website, cameras you can watch all day, and a state record that by count is far worse than Preston Creek's and includes findings of the same kinds, which we have set out above rather than hidden. It cannot keep your child until 6:30 or cook a hot breakfast.

Those are different products, and a family can be right to choose either. The wrong choice is the one made from a website, including this one. Tour both. Bring the questions above. Watch the children more than the adults, and then watch the adults. And if you would like to start with us, book a 40-minute weekday tour at Creative Minds, call (972) 338-4304, or email director@creativemindsfrisco.com. Preston Creek Montessori asks families to call (972) 403-7766 to schedule a tour.

Quick answers

How far apart are the two schools?

About fifteen minutes. Preston Creek Montessori is at 5040 Commonsgate Boulevard in West Plano (75024), off Preston Road south of Spring Creek Parkway; Creative Minds is at 5115 Warren Parkway in West Frisco (75034), behind Dua Trattoria at Legacy and Warren.

Are both schools really Montessori?

Yes. Preston Creek describes Montessori-certified teachers and the method in Dr. Montessori's own terms, in single-age classes from infants to a kindergarten-year "Lower Elementary"; Creative Minds has certified Montessori guides, mixed-age rooms and the classic materials across the five areas, with a Waldorf-inspired arts and music thread.

Which has longer hours?

Preston Creek: 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM, twelve hours, on its website and state record. Creative Minds: 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM, with care capped at ten hours and a 9:00 arrival requested. Neither offers transportation.

Is Preston Creek Montessori a licensed center?

Yes. Texas HHS lists "Preston Creek Montessori," a Licensed Center – Child Care Program with a Full Permit since November 3, 2009, Operation No. 986506, licensed capacity 207, licensed for infants through school-age children, with meals, snacks, skill classes and part-time care on its record.

What do the Texas licensing records show for each school?

Over five years, both have zero injuries, zero penalties and no corrective or adverse action. Preston Creek shows 3 deficiencies across 3,732 standards, all rated High and all from complaint investigations: a caregiver who pulled a child away from a biter and a parent's concern of harm not reported to the state (May 2025), and a caregiver who grabbed a child by the chin (June 2026), all corrected; its six annual inspections found nothing. Creative Minds shows 26 deficiencies across 3,942 standards, including three supervision findings (2022, 2023 and a self-reported one in June 2026), all verified corrected, plus 3 self-reported incidents, zero injuries in the same years.

Does either publish tuition?

No. Preston Creek publishes no rates or fees and enrolls by in-person application; one reviewer cites a $350 annual supply fee. Creative Minds publishes its fees ($150 registration, $150 supply fee twice a year, $25 monthly camera fee) and credits (10% sibling discount, $150 referral, $100-a-month welcome credit for ten months); monthly rates come from the Director.

What do the critical Google reviews of Preston Creek Montessori say?

Against a 4.7-star rating across 84 Google reviews as of September 22, 2026, we read five critical reviews posted between roughly 2022 and August 2026. They repeat three themes: adults being harsh, impatient or physical with a child (three reviews), unsatisfying answers after an injury or complaint (two reviews, one describing a sprain and one a cut without footage), and money (a $350 supply fee and Christmas-week charges, against another reviewer who calls the fees affordable). The reviews we read contained no public replies from the school.

Do both have parent cameras?

Creative Minds has cameras in every classroom with all-day secure viewing for $25 per child per month and grandparent logins available. Preston Creek's website does not mention cameras, and a 2026 reviewer says she was not given footage after an injury. Ask on the tour.

Keep reading

• How to Choose a Daycare You Actually Trust — the full checklist, the unannounced-visit test, and real red flags.
• Alpha Montessori Frisco vs. Creative Minds Montessori, Acepire Montessori vs. Creative Minds Montessori, Primrose School of Lakehill vs. Creative Minds Montessori and Kids 'R' Kids Legacy West vs. Creative Minds Montessori — our other comparisons, same method.
• What Should Parents Look For? Choosing a Whole-Child Program — eight questions that reveal a program's beliefs.
• Early Childhood Education Methodologies — Montessori, Reggio, Waldorf, and seventeen other approaches compared.
• How Much Does Childcare Cost — FSAs, tax credits, and why continuity beats the cheapest slot.
• Our Curriculum and Our Nutrition Program — see the claims in this article for yourself.

About this comparison: written by the teachers of Creative Minds Montessori, Frisco, TX, in September 2026. Facts about Preston Creek Montessori come from its public website (home, about, programmes, parent information and contact pages, read September 22, 2026), from its Texas HHS Child Care Search record (permit, capacity, programs, hours, director, and the full five-year inspection and compliance history, pulled the same day), and from public Google reviews as of the same date; review counts, ratings and policies change. Facts about Creative Minds come from our own website and our Texas HHS record. Quotations from reviews and from the state record are reproduced as posted; individual reviews are the opinions of their authors and are unverified, and the state's findings are the state's, not ours. If you are the owner or director of Preston Creek Montessori and find an error, or want to add context or your public replies to anything here, email director@creativemindsfrisco.com and we will correct or add it promptly and note the change. Nothing here is a substitute for your own tour of both schools. Our legal disclaimer applies.