Honesty, pricing, process and quality scores appear once 5 customers have rated them.
About Brains & Motion Education
Brains & Motion is the nationwide STEAM and sports education provider families and schools trust to deliver engaging, whole-child enrichment for grades K-8. With summer camps, before and after-school programs, and guided recess, BAM! ensures students thrive year-round through a unique blend of hands-on learning, collaborative play, and joyful physical activity. Under the expert guidance of CEO Bart Epstein—a distinguished educational leader who has served as CEO of the nonprofit EdTech Evidence Exchange, executive at The Princeton Review, professor at the UVA School of Education, and General Manager of a U.S. Department of Defense tutoring program supporting military families—BAM! is redefining enrichment, with over 100,000 students already empowered. Enroll your child today and watch their skills, sportsmanship, and self-confidence soar!
Brains & Motion Education (brains-and-motion.com) has 494 customer reviews on Folks Told, with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5.
I would maybe give a better review of the after-school program my son is enrolled in, but it's entirely opaque. My only contact is with the person who opens the door to let me into the building each day. Otherwise, I don't know any of the instructors and can't see how the program is run. My son is 6, so there's only so much he can tell me about the programming he receives. He seems content enough, but I have no idea what they get up to in there. If I knew more about how the program actually runs at my son's school, maybe I could have given this company a higher review.
As it stands, I have no idea how good the programming actually is, so that doesn't compensate for the horrible experience I've had with this corporation's customer service. I use CCAP (child-care assistance) to pay for afterschool programming for my 2 children, but because BAM has taken over 5 months to figure out how to accept CCAP benefits on their end, I've spent as long paying double the amount for child care, which has had a serious impact on my family financially. Trying to navigate this with the robotic and impersonal call-center-style customer service staff has been a nightmare. I've received nothing but conflicting information and empty scripts about how they 'want to help' while receiving no real assistance. I've spent thousands on child care that should have been fully subsidized because BAM seemingly can't complete paperwork, and no meaningful solutions have been offered. Dealing with this has been the bane of my existence all school year. So anyway, point is, if you rely on CCAP or are struggling to afford BAM's programming, good luck.
KS
K S.
Poor experience, unprofessional staff
I have sent my kids to 3~4 different summer camps to experience various activities over the last couple of summers. This camp (the Arcadia location, specifically) is by far the worst. In fact, we and our kids have been happy with all other camps but this one. Their staff are unprofessional. They frequently scolded our kids for slightest violation of their "rules", and made fun of the appearances of our kids in a demeaning way. They also don't provide anything for kids to play during the extended care, and the kids can only wait idly for parents to pick up. Will never come back to this camp again.
Reply from Brains & Motion EducationAug 1, 2025
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We’re so sorry to hear that your experience at our Arcadia camp didn’t meet expectations. At Brains & Motion, we care deeply about creating a positive, supportive environment where every child feels safe, engaged and valued, so it’s upsetting to hear that your family walked away feeling otherwise.
We take all feedback seriously and are always looking for ways to improve. If you're open to it, we’d really appreciate the opportunity to connect and learn more about your experience. Please feel free to reach out to our head of customer service directly at [email protected].
Thank you again for bringing this to our attention.
TK
Tony K.
Very unprofessional and unethical avoid
Very unprofessional and unethical. If I ever hated a company it would be this one. They don’t care. A bunch of people with no experience with kids. The owners tried to cover their dirty work by rebranding to BAM. But Google had the truth. Look up KidzToPros that’s the truth. Unorganized stealing wages but yet they are making so much money
Reply from Brains & Motion EducationJul 25, 2025
We're really sorry to hear that this was your experience, Tony. We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback and want you to know that your voice matters to us.
Brains & Motion Education is the result of a complete relaunch under new leadership, with a new vision, structure, and team. While we recognize there may be past concerns associated with a different organization, BAM is not the same company. We are committed to doing right by our students, families, and staff, and we’ve worked hard to build a culture centered around care, safety, and meaningful enrichment.
If you had an experience that didn’t reflect those values, we want to understand what happened and how we can do better. We welcome honest feedback and are always open to learning and improving.
If you're open to it, we'd really appreciate the chance to connect. You can reach us directly at [email protected]
IA
Iris A.
BAM in Dublin California is a SCAM!
I can’t speak for other locations but the camps held at Valley Christian Elementary in Dublin CA in 2025 are an ABSOLUTE SCAM.
The websites look nice and claim the kids will do these cool stem activities, robotics, coding, outdoor activities etc. when in actuality they’ll put them in front of a TV or video game then let them play on the schools playground. When you confront them about none of the advertised activities actually happening they’ll apologize and say they are understaffed and under supplied. The kids running the classes will tell you it’s out of their control and to talk to someone else. At that point it’s too late and they already stole your money. You can email the company about a refund but the Program Manager will be like the guy here in the Bay Area and send you some BS apology letter about how his camp sucks but can’t refund anything since I signed a T&C when registering my kids. Then likely laughs as another suckers family’s money and week of summer is wasted on this joke. They changed their company name once already because the scams caught up to them, they will likely do the same again soon and continue the scam for summers to come. Hopefully places recognize their reputation soon enough and stop letting them run these terrible scams from their facilities.
Reply from Brains & Motion EducationJul 11, 2025
Hello Iris. We’re truly sorry to hear that your experience with our camp at Valley Christian left you feeling frustrated and disappointed. That’s never the experience we want for any family, and we regret that we didn’t have the chance to address your concerns during the week your child was attending.
We understand how upsetting it can be when a program doesn’t match expectation. We take those concerns seriously and wish we had been made aware sooner so we could have worked to make things right in real time. Our team is committed to creating engaging, hands-on learning experiences, and it’s deeply disappointing to hear that this wasn’t reflected in your child’s camp week.
Our Operations Director has reached out to try to connect with your family directly. We’d still welcome the opportunity to speak with you, hear more about your experience, and do what we can to address your concerns. We are always working to improve, and feedback like yours helps us identify where we’ve fallen short and how we can do better moving forward.
Thank you again for sharing your experience. We are listening, and we appreciate you taking the time to bring these concerns to our attention!
MG
Manu G.
Disappointed and Alarmed by Experience at BAM Camp
I rarely leave negative reviews, but as a parent, I feel a responsibility to share what happened at a Brains & Motion (BAM) camp in Saratoga, CA, so others can make informed decisions.
My 8-year-old son attended BAM’s summer program expecting a fun, hands-on STEM experience. Instead, he and his friend had an upsetting experience that no child should face in an educational setting.
Their classroom was led by high school students, not professional educators. During camp hours, the kids were:
• Exposed to racial slurs, including the N-word used toward another child
• Subjected to inappropriate language, including Chinese phrases that we discovered later included racial slurs
• Played music with explicit, profane lyrics, including the F-word
• Given very little hands-on instruction, despite the camp’s advertised focus
When I raised these serious concerns with BAM leadership, their response was deeply disappointing. They denied or deflected key issues and chalked the incident up to “miscommunication.” No apology to families, no clear disciplinary action, no steps outlined to prevent this from happening again.
The safety, supervision, and emotional well-being of our children were compromised. It’s not just about what happened — it’s about how BAM failed to take real responsibility when it was brought to their attention.
If you’re a parent considering this camp, I urge you to ask hard questions about who is supervising, what’s being taught, and how issues are handled. Based on our experience, I cannot recommend BAM and will not be enrolling in any future programs.
Reply from Brains & Motion EducationJul 9, 2025
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, Manu! We’re truly sorry to hear that your son’s time at camp was upsetting for both him and your family. As a team made up of educators and parents, it’s incredibly disheartening to know that he left camp feeling distressed, and that your expectations for a safe, enriching STEM program were not met.
We’re especially sorry for the language and behavior your son witnessed. While we’ve confirmed that these words did not come from staff members but rather from fellow campers, it doesn’t make the experience any less troubling. Every child deserves to feel safe and supported at camp, and we take full responsibility for ensuring our staff are trained to intervene appropriately and help children process difficult moments with care and compassion.
After our Operations Director connected with you directly, we were grateful to hear more context about what your son experienced and to learn how deeply he loves STEM. We also appreciated your thoughtful suggestions around staff training and behavior management. Please know that we are taking your feedback seriously. We’re actively working with our staff to strengthen training around behavior management and how to better support children who may be upset or in distress. Our goal is always to create a safe, welcoming environment for every camper.
Most of all, we’re glad that the conversation helped you feel heard. That is always our goal. Your hope to give our program another try means a lot, and we are committed to doing better, so that if you do choose to return, your child has the kind of positive, inspiring experience we strive to provide for every student.
We’re grateful for the honest conversation and your openness to possibly return in the future. We are committed to doing better and truly hope to provide a more positive experience if you decide to rejoin us.
AR
Artisan
Worst camp ever
Worst camp ever. It was so boring and lame. Some of the activities didn’t even go with the week’s theme, which was space. We built lame Lego rockets out of knockoff Lego and there wasn’t a variety of pieces. We also did spike with Lego and the counselor didn’t give us any instructions on what to do. Overall, I learned nothing. It was very expensive for the experience too. Around 600 dollars a week. A lot of other campers also said they hated the camp and they wanted to go home. If I could, I would rate this camp 0 stars. 100 percent would not recommend. :(
Reply from Brains & Motion EducationJun 29, 2025
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. We’re genuinely sorry to hear that the camp experience didn’t meet your expectations. We care deeply about how our students experience our programs, and your feedback is incredibly important to us.
We always aim to create a fun and engaging environment where students feel inspired and supported. It sounds like parts of the week didn’t connect in the way we hoped, and we truly appreciate you letting us know. Hearing directly from campers helps us reflect on what’s working and where we can improve.
We’d genuinely appreciate the opportunity to hear more about your experience and any suggestions you might have. If you’re open to it, please feel welcome to reach out directly to our Director of Customer Service, Kirsten Tamura, at [email protected].
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with us!
KM
Katie M.
Bad, unethical company.
One should be aware that this company is just rebranded KidztoPros. You can google to see that company's awful reputation. Both their workers, as well as parents who participated in their camps thought they were awful.
They have a new PR campaign to sanitize their image, paying to get puffpieces published and removing any association from their former name, but they are doing the same things, treating their workers the same, and providing the same poor experience.
Notice too how many of these reviews are left by profiles that have only ever written one review and follow the same formula.
MW
Meng W.
Coach consistently been late without ANY notice
I am extremely disappointed with the soccer class my 6-year-old son has been attending. The coach has consistently been arriving more than 15-20 minutes late for each session, which is not only frustrating but also raises serious concerns regarding safety. The class ending time had never been extended due to her late arrival.
This week, for example, my son and the other kids had to stand in heavy rain waiting for the coach to arrive. The weather conditions were unsafe, and there was no communication or effort from the company and the coach to address the situation. It is completely unacceptable that young children are left exposed to the elements like this, especially when their safety should be a top priority.
I understand that delays can happen, but this has been a recurring issue without any explanation or effort to improve punctuality. As a parent, it is worrying to see the lack of responsibility and concern for the children's wellbeing. This experience has been very frustrating, and I hope the coaching staff can take immediate action to ensure this does not continue.
Until then, I would NOT enrolled any class in this program.
I hope this issue is addressed promptly.
Reply from Brains & Motion EducationDec 17, 2024
Hello Meng, thank you for providing this feedback. We are truly sorry for your negative experience with our soccer program and understand how frustrating this has been for you and your family. The issues you raised about the coach’s tardiness, lack of communication, and safety concerns during bad weather are unacceptable, and we deeply regret the impact this has had on your trust in our program. We are taking immediate steps to address these issues.
To discuss your concerns further and find a resolution, we encourage you to contact our Head of Customer Service, Kirsten Tamura, directly at [email protected]. Your feedback is important, and we’re committed to making things right.