Hundreds of pre-school children have to wait up to two years to get to the top of bulging waiting lists.
Parents are finding it hard to place their children, even with eight centres in Queenstown, Frankton and Arrowtown, one expanding and another opening this year.
Queenstown Montessori Preschool owner Guy Hughes has applied for consent to cater for 38 children aged between 2 and 6.
Open since February, it is caters for up to 20 children.
"We got consent for 20 children so we set up with what we could legally do but we are full and have an incredibly long waiting list," he said.
About 50 children were on the centre's waiting list.
"The demand for early childhood learning is huge. I tried to get our daughter in all of them and couldn't. I thought if it's this hard there must be demand for a new one," he said.
Zig Zag Zoo early childhood learning centre will open in November and is already full.
Founder Mike Stewart said the building on Henry St was nearing completion.
"The Ministry of Education will do an inspection when it is built but we expect them to sign off on us having space for between 35 and 40 children," he said.
He had taken provisional enrolments, but expected to have about 10 on a waiting list once opened.
"We haven't even advertised," he said.
Frankton's City Impact Church Early Childhood Education Centre manager Shaun Vining said the centre was full with 90 children from 3 months to 5 years enrolled.
"We have 200 on our waiting list. So the waiting times are about 18 months for under 2, which is ridiculous, and 10 to 12 months for over 2s," he said.
Frankton Kindergarten head teacher Pam Wild said she had 80 children enrolled and 91 on the waiting list.
The kindergarten took children between 3 and 5 years old.
Wakatipu Kindergarten had a full roll of 80, head teacher Sally Hogg said.
"We have 40 children in the morning and 40 come in the afternoon. We also have 80 on our waiting list. Children should be put on the waiting list about 2 and they don't start until after 3," she said.
