Best of Santa Barbara® 2021 Little Creatures

Toy store • Children’s clothing store

Little chicken

chickenlittlekids.com

Fittingly, the legacy of Chicken Little founder Paula Bouma has been so successfully carried on by her children, Jennifer and Gregory. With its iconic State Street corner location and ‘kid in a toy store’ atmosphere, visiting Chicken Little in person is always its own little bundle of joy. With a full digital store on their website, you can also buy strollers and car seats from brands like UPPAbaby and Chicco from home during naps.

Runner-up (Toy Store): Bennett’s Toys and Educational Materials

Finalist (Children’s Clothing Store): Happy Little Hippo

Daycare

Kindergarten for little angels

littleangelspreschool.com

Little Angels principal, Mary Lopez, and her faculty would like to “thank everyone who voted for us!” adding that “we have had the best and most involved parents, grandparents and community partners over the past 20 years! The school employs many exceptional educators from the Early Childhood Education program at Santa Barbara City College. Their common experience gives the school’s play-based philosophy consistency and integrity. Lopez writes that Santa Barbara is a great place for a preschool “because the kids can be outside all year round. There is so much beauty and nature around us for children to explore.

Finalist: Rainbow School

Children’s summer camp

Zoo Camp at the Santa Barbara Zoo

sbzoo.org

What child between 3 and 12 does not belong in a zoo? For the zoo camp! This hands-on approach to learning about animals and the environment is science-based and includes games, crafts, and close encounters with all kinds of animals. In addition to summer, the zoo camp takes place during the fall and winter school holiday weeks, which means your kids won’t have to wait until June to wander around with the wallabies. Good morning !

Finalist: Santa Barbara County Junior Lifeguards

After school program

Girl’s Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara

girlsincsb.org

What began in 1958 as a first step towards gender equality in Santa Barbara’s youth programs has grown over the following decades to an invaluable service whose mission is to inspire “all girls to be strong, smart and daring ”. With evidence-based after-school and summer programs for girls in Kindergarten to Grade 12 transitioning, Girls Inc. is a place where “girls learn to value themselves, to discover and develop their inherent strengths and to develop their inherent strengths. receive the support they need to navigate the challenges they face.

Finalist: Wilderness Youth Project

Tutor

Tutoring Santa Barbara

sbtutoring.com

At Santa Barbara Tutoring, students find the support they need to get the grades they deserve. Executive Director Steven Efada holds a Mathematics degree from UCSB and he hires other UCSB scientists to ensure that the education his students receive compares favorably with that of the best universities in the world. Efada says his favorite thing about tutoring is “making a difference. Nothing compares to feeling like knowing you’ve helped someone reach their goal.

Finalist: California Learning Center

Pediatrician

Dr Saïda Hamdani

(805) 563-6211

With 30 years of experience and impeccable behavior at the bedside, Dr Hamdani has clearly established himself in the pediatric category. Working out of the Hitchcock location of the Sansum Clinic, Dr Hamdani sees children and adolescents, so your child can keep her as a doctor until he leaves for college.

Finalist: Dr Jerold Black

Pet hospital / clinic

Cumbre veterinary hospital

lcah.com

La Cumbre Animal Hospital has a rich 60-year history of serving people and their pets in Santa Barbara. Founded by Dr Francis Knoop in 1959 as a one-person practice, LCAH today employs five full-time veterinarians and is owned by Dr Beverly Holmes and Dr Eve Kuesis, who arrived on board in 2004 and 2005 and purchased LCAH in 2012. Relocated from La Cumbre Road to a new building nearby on State Street, the LCAH promises that “as veterinary medicine technology advances, we continue to keep pace, striving to provide the highest level of care. complete to your furry family members in Santa Barbara ”.

Finalist: St. Francis Veterinary Clinic

Pet boarding

Dioji Canine Resort & Athletic Club

dioji.com

At Dioji K-9 Resort & Athletic Club, they take care of your dogs as if they were their own pets. Susan Vasquez writes that with 14 straight wins in this category, she and her team remain “honored that our 24-hour cage-free canine care facility is appreciated by the community.” She notes that in Dioji, they “set out to create a different type of boarding house for family dogs: a home away from home where puppies can run, play and swim all day and cuddle up to a human at night. – never. be caged or isolated.

Finalist: Canine Camp

Pet Shop

Lemos Feed & Pet Supply

lemospet.com

Raymond Padilla, Store Manager at Lemos Feed & Pet Supply, clearly enjoys his job. He writes that this award means that he and his team “have been able to reach our community, even in these difficult times, and hopefully have made it easier to deal with all the madness around us.” Sometimes madness comes with laughter, like the day a customer brought his goat into the store to put on a harness.

Runner-up: Pet House

Pet grooming

The little dog house

There is nothing in the world of pets like the impact of a good grooming service. Anyone who owns a dog (or sometimes even a cat) knows how adorable this freshly groomed animal behaves during the first few hours at home after a visit to the groomer. At The Little Dog House, they go out of their way to make sure your pet is back in shape and ready to roll into something before you can stop them.

Finalist: SB Paws and Claws

Dog trainer

K-Nine Solutions

kninesolutions.com

Remember when you were little and wanted a puppy and your parents told you that taking care of a dog was a big responsibility? At K-Nine Solutions, trainers know that it’s not just personal responsibility to develop the types of behavior that make your pet a reliable asset in all situations. That’s why they offer multiple programs, each solution designed to meet the specific needs of your family and unique pet. Don’t give up on Fido yet. He may just need to spend some time with the professionals at K-Nine Solutions. Let them help the dog you have become the dog you dream of owning.

Finalist: The Ruff Ranch