Studio Grow

Dangerous!
Outdoor water play is not padded. Babies got bumps after falling off the ground. (Staff seems be very experienced when this happened and got ice immediately. she said she had seen even blood coming out. Well. does this happen quite often?) Indoor slides and swing area is partially padded. well. any state park playground pads the whole swing and slide area.
The ball pool doesn’t have pad at the bottom so if kids throw balls out, your baby will jump into an empty and hard ground.
The entry door to the receptionist is dangerous. Don’t know how my son got blooded by stepping out of the door.

My children love this place, but I don’t understand/​agree with the pricing system. Adults should not cost money — or at least, not as much! I don’t know about you, but visiting these kid play areas is usually NOT AMAZING for the adults. For a family of four to spend $ 40 is okay once in a while, but not justifiable every time. I would also love to send my nanny once or twice a week, but to pay for her and two kids on a regular basis would be difficult. I know there is the discount card option but it doesn’t seem smart to pay admission for a nanny to watch over a couple of toddlers.
I really hope they change the pricing… it’s a pain to keep my husband at home because then I’m chasing both kids around. I bet they would see more business if they change their pricing.

I found it worthwhile to write an informational review for this place, because as many others have noted, the pricing is a little strange. It’s expensive — they charge $ 10 per person (including adults, which is very unusual). So for myself and toddler twins it was $ 30. Too much.
Also, there is very limited parking in front which was full by 9:30. It’s challenging to get out of the parking lot (even with a compact hatchback), and then I had to find street parking and pay for that as well. It was across the street and there was no close crosswalk, and the street is pretty busy. Just saying, if you are solo with toddlers and it’s a rainy day, it’s not easy to cross an active street.
Yes, we enjoyed ourselves and the playspaces were pretty fun, but in my opinion, I was very discouraged by the cost and parking situation. Unfortunately I won’t be back.

It’s nice, but I can’t give a positive review to any place that offers a basic play setting and then charges a non-​cheap price per child and then the same price per adult. It’s not an affordable regular play option for us – $ 20 a visit. Either lower the price or don’t charge for parent. The toys are fine – but not amazing. Didn’t hate it, but the cost made it impossible for me to give it a positive review.

While visiting Berkeley, I was looking for places for my crawling baby to get some energy out. Studio Grow popped up as a highly rated option, and it was fairly close to the house we rented. I appreciate that they don’t charge for babies under 1 year, as well as the discounted pricing of $ 7 after 1pm. The space is pretty large with multiple rooms. The concepts are great! A gym area, music room, art room, etc. My biggest issue was with the cleanliness and upkeep (or lack thereof) for their building and toys. Most are VERY dirty, paint worn off, and in deterioting condition. They normally charge $ 10 per person. If I had paid $ 20, I would have been extremely disappointed. With all of this being said, my son did have a good time. I just felt we both needed baths after…

Expensive, they charge adults, which other places of the like are not doing. The place could be cleaned better too cobwebs, dust & floors, especially with kids walking barefoot

My kid loves this place, and so do I! It’s a fun, clean, creative space for kids! It’s great anytime but rainy days are the best day to go! Drop in rates are $ 10 Per person (kids over 2 and $ 7 after 1pm! Not per hour you can hang there all day, perfect.

My toddler (now 2.5) has been here a few times over the past few months and she looks forward to going. Most recently, she even chose going to the ‘indoor playground’ over the outdoor ‘park’!
Her favorite activities are:
–the small ball pit
–mini roller coaster cars
–dance room
–the play structure
–dollhouse
–art area
The space is pretty large, and there are different rooms for different activities. They seem to keep the place pretty clean, and they bring in special activities for the kids. On one recent visit, they had a fellow showing the kids all kinds of small animals like hamsters, rabbits, etc. and the kids loved it.
Minus one star because it is a little pricey for what it is, but at least I don’t have to clean sand off of my kid like I do when I take her to outdoor parks. It is also too bad that they don’t have kid-​sized toilets.
I think if we lived closer and went more often, she would get bored of this place, but if we keep our visits there to once a month or every six weeks, it should still hold her interest. As she gets older, she may not like it as much I think.

Very nice and relax place to hangout.
We really enjoyed it, you need it they have it including parking — big for me :)
I would go there again.

Pros:
–large indoor play area
–different playing rooms
–kitchen area for snacks
— dance studio & painting area pretty cool
Cons:
— price! (Over 12months $ 10!!!)
— dirty (bathroom was filthy)
— paint area needed some TLC
— parking (their own parking is limited)

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. My daughter first birthday party was success! Thank you so much. The lady was so nice and helpful. She helped me with setup and clean up. She was amazing.
The kids love the place, there’s plenty to do for everyone including the adults. Everyone love the place and had a great time. I really recommend renting the place out for birthday. It’s so worth it!!!

I loved this place, especially the outdoor water area, a puppet play area, a role play zone, dress up station, dance area and the kids climbing gym with balls you can kick really high.
Although, I have to say, that when I was playing with my tots in the jumping zone of small balls I found a dirty baby wipe.
Then, there was only one spot to paint and my little ones didn’t get a chance to. The art activity, using stamps, was boring for them and they didn’t want to stay there for very long at all.
The music in the dance space is terrible mainstream pop music that even the kids didn’t like. Maybe something like Raffi or Pete Seeger or the Banana Slug String Band would be better?
And in the way of snacks, there were not many healthy snack options for my little ones that only wanted some kind of fruit. Maybe selling apples and bananas would be smart.

I went with my 2 year old and another adult and was charged $ 20. Pretty expensive for what it is.
I appreciate that this place exists. On a rainy day, we need a place like this. But, it’s a bit dingy. I walked in and immediately noticed a musty smell. I also don’t like that shoes are optional for adults but not for children. They should institute no shoe policy for everyone to keep the floor clean or let everyone wear shoes.
The art studio area is small but has enough to keep toddlers engaged for good 5 min. There was staff who kept the art area in decent condition which was nice.
My kid did have a lot of fun. She was especially into the roller coaster ride toy and the parachute time. However, the place really didn’t feel all that clean and the balls in the ball pit looked quite dirty.
I saw some toddlers mouthing toys but there was no staff, no wipes or no clear ‘wet’ bins for the parents to take immediate actions. I also saw some kids with snotty nose and coughing.
My kid LOVED parachute time. It was pretty cool, but the parachute looked dirty. I think it was pretty dusty. When we were flapping the parachute, I began to sneeze and my eyes started to water. (I’m allergic to dust.)
As soon as we got home, I stripped the kid and washed her hands and feet.
If I lived in the neighborhood, I’d probably make frequent use of this place, despite the less than ideal conditions of this place. But, it’s not worth 20 min. drive for me, since there are other indoor play options that are closer to where I live. I don’t think I’d be going back. For indoor ‘active’ play, I prefer We Rock and for indoor creative/​imaginative play, I prefer Habitot. (Both are closer to my house than Studio Grow.)
One nice thing about this place is that it is quite spacious and parking is easy. It’s also next to whole foods, so you can get grocery shopping done in one trip.

Sadly disappointed by this place. It’s just one large room with a variety of play stations scattered about. For $ 10 a child and $ 5 an adult, this is way over priced. I can’t believe they charge for adults, since parents have to be in the play area to supervise the kids.
We were there on a Sat from 10 – 12 and there was only one staff person working. The play area got completely disorganized with toys thrown all over the floor. No one picked up after their kinds and no staff monitored or cleaned the play area.
My 2 yr old was mostly entertained for a couple of hours, but I’d rather spend my money at SuperFranks where Adults can get in free, there’s WiFi, lunch and wine.
I’ve heard the Berkeley location is better, so that may be another alternative.

Finding such a large indoor play space in the East Bay is a luxury! They have 7 or 8 different rooms with many themes and every week they interchange their toys on each table.
Very impressive!
Our daughter loves this place and more recently I brought some of my friends and their kids and they love it too. We spent close to four hours there today. They have an awesome daily schedule with excellent musicians and storytellers. If you don’t feel like joining the sing-​a-​longs you can visit in the afternoon or just go to a different room. The owner is very nice and all the teachers that work there are superb!
They are opening up a Whole Foods right next door which will make it super convenient for busy parents. Currently there is a Philz Coffee and a Chipotle just a block away so you can grab a snack and come back to play =)
I highly recommend Studio Grow!

This place was so-​so.
The rooms are huge with lots of activities to choose from., but the toy selection is a bit skimpy in all areas.
Areas to Grow:
1. A shorter water play area for the small kids who should not be up on stools with the concrete ground below.
2. A staff person could be helping at each station or at least one person going from station to station assisting the kids with projects, imaginative play, dance etc. this would be a great job for some enthusiastic teens. It’s more like a bunch of parents or grandparents following their kid from room to room.
3. The place is huge, so having a couch or place for a nursing momma to set up so she can watch her toddler and babe at the same time.
4. Duct tape is covering electrical outlets, this looked very unsafe,
5. No cotton candy pleas, this is not something I want my kid begging for.
This might be a good place for a birthday party, but even then it’s so huge you may not get to see your guests very much because you’d all be in separate rooms.
Thanks and best of luck.

Huge space with so many activities!!! Went here with my sister, 20 month old toddler, and 3 month old baby. My toddler really enjoyed himself here and took advantage of everything they had to offer. Oddly, his favorites were the rainbow doorway, the life size dollhouse, and the story time stage. I can definitely see us returning for story time and the parachute since we missed out and got there late. Only con about this place– adults are charged a fee, I’m not the playing here, it’s my kids. Great space for the toddlers, but I think adults (at least one) should be free!

Unilocal 100 CHALLENGE 2014 ¹⁰⁄₁₀₀
Went here for the first time yesterday with my 14 month old and we LOVED it! This is an amazing place for little ones. The rooms are big and spacious with themes and lots for little ones to do. The place is very well maintained and clean. The toys are in good condition too. There were lots if kids here when we went so plenty if social skill building for my baby. We loved the music time and parachute and wish we would’ve been there at the right time to join the dance party! I can’t rave about this place enough, we were definitely impressed by how well this place caters to the babies. The staff is so kind and cheery as well which makes the experience that much better. We will most definitely be back!

Wish there are more new toys
And keeps clean more.
The place is pretty big and staffs are nice
But please add more new toys for kids.
And hope to not see those sick kids.
Coughing and runny nose babies in the ball pool worries me.

Love this place, but more importantly my son loves this place. Great alternative to the park when it’s raining, or simply want to enjoy dancing, painting, or play all at once.