My two children have been attending Building Blocks for about a month now, and we all really love…read moreit. Even though it's a new preschool in town, the director Mandy is not new to teaching or running preschools, as she has another location in the city. Her experience is evident from how she has set up the school to how she interacts with the children. My 2 and 4 year old boys have had no issues transitioning to this school. They are always excited to go and happy when they talk about what they did at school. I love that Mandy does a lot with nature. In just the past few weeks, they have studied ants and spiders. She took them out on a rainy day to look for worms, and they are currently observing caterpillars. My boys are there for half day only, and they get about an hour of outdoor time each day. (I believe the full day children get another hour of outdoor time in the afternoons as well.) Mandy has set up her space well to accommodate the needs of the varying ages, 2 - 5. She has 2 different rooms for exploration/play time, a separate area for projects and snack, and a third indoor playroom for when the weather is too rough to get outside. She also has a large playground area and a big field for the children to run around in. One thing I appreciate is that Mandy makes things so much easier on the parents. They may all be little things, but they really make a difference. She provides the morning snack (and sometimes the children help cook it!), she allows you to keep your children's backup clothes, water bottle, boots, etc. at the school so that there isn't much you need to think about when packing up a bag for the day. She is also flexible. She has allowed me to drop off my boys an hour early for me to get to an appointment, and she has allowed them to come on their off-days during a week that I needed more drop-off time. At the end of each day, Mandy sends a detailed report that includes what the boys ate and how much, potty information, special activities they were involved in, items they played with, stories that were read to them, and any other general comments that were pertinent for the day. She also has the confidence to offer a live nanny cam so you can "pop in" and check and see how things are going while you are away. We are very happy at Building Blocks and would encourage anyone looking for a preschool in New Paltz to give Mandy a call/email and set up a tour.

We love Building Blocks and both our kids have enjoyed going there. Mandy is fantastic and the…read moreschool is so warm and fun. Highly recommend.

Our son just completed his schooling at Livingston Street, having been one of the "founding" kids…read more He absolutely loved it. We felt completely comfortable with Cheryl and she runs the school in such a nurturing, positive and fun (and funny!) way that we knew we'd made the right choice for him. He has really grown through Cheryl's teaching, coming home with incredible art, stories, tales of adventures and a deep respect for others. We recommend Livingston Street very highly! http://livingstonstreet.org/

Cheryl is the teacher. We visited their temporary space and watched her interacting with our 4 year…read moreold. She's a gifted teacher and extremely knowledgeable about early childhood theory and practice. She's obviously studied and read about what the best thinkers in early childhood are advocating for. Her style is reminiscent of the two leading philosophies in early childhood education -- Waldorf and Reggio Emilia. That is to say, Livingston is child-centered, and human. They let kids be kids in an enlightened and respectful way. This is what we've been looking for but it's difficult to find around here. Please visit and then sign up. Livingston is just getting started and as soon as they get a few more kids, we'll have our son there too. We'll see you there.

I'm so glad I enrolled my daughter here. She is learning and developing so well. She loves the…read moreschool, all the teachers and of course her friends. I would recommend to anyone looking to enroll their children in preschool. You won't be disappointed!

Disappointed with my child being turned away after one day. He is on the spectrum in kindergarten…read moreand they never gave him a chance to learn the rules and expectations. When we spoke over they stated they had experience with special needs children. very sad. Our community deserves better. There is already such a lack in programs for children like him.

Erin and her staff were lovely with my kiddo - kind, attentive, engaging. And their philosophy of…read morefree play and respectful interaction is perfect. I couldn't recommend Play Haven more to other parents looking for a safe & fun experience for their littles.

We have been going to Play Haven for over a two years and can't recommend it enough. The staff is…read morealways so so gentle, attentive, and really engage with the kids. Erin keeps the activities rotating so there's always something new. A drop in care center is such an amazing resource to have here for families in the Hudson Valley.

Horrible director!! They advertised on their website a daily morning routine including arts and…read morecrafts and physical activity either in the gym, or outside. See below: Before Care Program We offer care beginning at 7:15am. The activities in the morning vary, but below is a schedule of a typical morning: 7:15-7:30 Greeting, welcoming students, group games 7:30-8:00 Arts and crafts, board games, free play 8:00-8:30 Organized gym or outside activity (weather permitting) 8:30-8:45 Trivia, dismissal My son was very excited about the morning exercise option and like most boys, benefits tremendously from exercise and blowing off boy energy before the start of the school day. My kids attended 4 days. Of those 4 days, my son had only 10 minutes (not 30 minutes as advertised) on only 2 of the days. First, I was told that exercise was only every other day and that "wet grass" meant that they wouldn't go out, even though there are perfectly dry asphalt basketball and foursquare/hopscotch courts available. Then I was told the gym often wasn't accessible because of other school activities early in the morning. I was also informed there's not enough time in the mornings for physical activity. I asked the director why her website advertised otherwise. She claimed she did not know what was on her website and that her friend had done it for free. I read exactly what her own website said in the "Services and Daily Schedule" tab (above). She blew up and said she shouldn't have to "change her program" to have to accommodate only one child. She said I should move onto another provider since it obviously wouldn't work for us. I told her we did not have another option currently. She said she had other people waiting for our spots (translated: I don't need people like you). An hour and a half after our phone call, she sent me a very unfriendly email attempting to justify her actions and terminating our childcare effective immediately. She said her website indicated this was only a "typical" day and that the schedule "varied" and therefore she did not have to adhere to any promise of arts & crafts and exercise. I indicated I would make her business practices known and file complaints with the school and among my network of fellow mothers in the area if she did not reconsider her irrational decision. She then said that I was threatening her, had made demands on her staff (untrue) and that her daycare was (essentially) untouchable since she only leased the space from the school and the district and administration had no authority over her. Obviously she knew this would hit us hard since I now have just the weekend to find alternate arrangements. She was unreasonable, completely non-service oriented, aggressive and not at all someone I'd imagine being good around children, or upholding any kind of model citizen behavior. You'd think I was asking her to single handedly move the Titanic just to include the advertised 30 minutes of exercise in her program! Needless to say, I do not want my kids in her program anymore!!

I am appalled by the first reviewers claims of the Kids at Play (KAP) Program as my all of my…read morechildren have gone to KAP while in school and I never would have thought of sending them anywhere else. From my experience with the program, the children all get more than ample time outside, inside, playing, doing arts and crafts, etc., the program varied daily depending on weather, extra curricular actives, what have you and I have never been disappointed nor do I think their website has in any way mislead anyone. All the parents I talked to in and out of the program have all been very pleased with the quality of care their children receive and comfortable that their children are in the care of this long time staff - and right in the school! It doesn't get more convenient than that! Shame on this reviewer for making such claims after her children only attended for 4 days and clearly an angered customer who was probably asked to go elsewhere for good reason.

As soon as they had two spots we dropped our 100 days of remote K and signed up immediately. I just…read morehave to say, it was worth the wait! First Steps runs a kind, compassionate, creative and caring daycare program. Our girls LOVE it there as well! Picking up happy kids from school and hearing stories about their friends and teachers makes us even happier. Kudus to Ms. Kimberly, Ms. Kathy, Ms. Heather, Ms. Brandy, Ms. Kristin and the many more wonderful teachers.

My daughter is currently enrolled at First steps and We are so lucky she is. She has learned so…read moremuch. My daughter enjoys going to school and learning because of her First Steps family.

My daughter attends Funshine and absolutely loves it. The teachers she had at the Fisk Street…read morelocation were wonderful and do so much with them. She will be attending again next year!

Horrible rude cold and all they care about is your money . Good luck trying to get your security…read moredeposit back because they're refusing to give me mine for two children

Child Care: The mother of my daughter brought her into school with hand foot and mouth disease…read more When I heard about this and told the director (Mary), she said not to worry and kept her at the school anyway with the disease exposing other children. This is not a place that takes child care seriously. Empathy: I asked through email to schedule a call to meet the teachers and it went five days without a response. When I asked the director (Mary) about why I hadn't heard back from her she immediately got defensive and just talked about how busy she was. I just wanted to work together with the school to know who the teachers of my children were and how I can work together with them for the development of my children. Value: I think that this location is mostly used out of location convenience. I think if there were another child care option in town Honey Bee would either lose business or have to adapt and improve their quality here. Unfortunately they don't have to because of the child care need right now. For context, the mother of my children ran away to dad's in Poughkeepsie with the children and now they are legally residents and have to choose from the day care options there. I would not choose Honey Bee. I would choose Vassar College's day care program over them.