Kidville Upper East Side

My daughter has a lifetime membership, unfortunately no longer offered. She has attended hundreds of classes over the past 4 years. She loves kidville and always looks forward to it. The instructors have become like close friends to her. The music classes were wonderful until about 2.5 years old. Now she prefers the science and gym classes.

I am very impressed! I brought my son to many music classes in past, but what kidville offers is more than amazing. On Rocking Railroad, that is the name of the music class there, there are two teachers in this class. One plays the guitar and the another sets up instruments, plays puppets, etc, so kids get a lot of attention and there is no downtime to get bored. My son does not like the music class that only offers singing and dancing and he ends up with walking around in the classroom on his own. However, he can sit down and actually does participate in the class activities there. The class is very well coordinated and fun for adults too.
Also, the playspace at kidville is perfect. All equipment and areas are protected for little kids so no need to worry for my son tripping. Everytime I go there, I find the place is clean. With the silver membership you only get 2 playspace tickets, so you have to buy more tickets when you want to use the space. But it is worth paying extra bucks in my opinion.

I found Kidville to be a bit expensive. I really loved most of the instructors who were fun, warm, caring and enthusiastic. There were some instructors who I found to be a bit overzealous and misinformed about child development who would give out erroneous advice. Also, I found that some of the classes are too structured for very young children (birth-​two year olds).

Very expensive.
Not only the classes are more expensive than in many other similar places in Yorkville/​UES such as 92Y, Gymboree, etc., but they also charge a mandatory annular membership fee. The minimum fee is around $ 76.

I received an email from this location regarding an event they are having for mayoral candidate ??? «Come Meet Tom Allon 2013 NYC Mayoral Candidate.» Why would a Kidville host such an event with our children there? Even more disappointing, they replied with this to defend hosting such an event:
«Thank you for reaching out to us and expressing your position. We certainly have no political affiliation; however we pride ourselves on being a community center and as such are proud to host all different events that may interest the community.
We hope you continue to enjoy classes at Kidville with [daughter’s name]. Best, Jeffrey M. Weiss»
Really? Last time I checked, we don’t pay for community centers? And, I wasn’t aware I was enrolling my daughter in one. This is not a child friendly place! Inviting strangers to a place where our children play to meet someone running for mayor. Surely it would be different if our children were meeting the mayor!!!

My daughter took a lovely ballet class here, but I’m really writing to recommend their birthday parties. We’re now pros at attending 2 and 3 year old parties, and they’re usually much the same– kids come in all hopped up and after an hour or so the parents can’t wait for it to end. We had her party here for convenience– we have a newborn– and it was the best decision. The party coordinators are wonderful– warm and attentive and they keep the kids moving from activity to activity efficiently. The party themes are adorable — we had a cooking class — kids decorated their chefs hats, made mac and cheese and brownies, and played in the gym while it cooked. After the requisite pizza and cake, they took home their food and goody bags. I cannot overstate what a pleasure it was coordinating with Carrie or working with Christopher on the day of the event.

Interesting approach. The downstairs lobby is super-​chic, fancy, amazing — beckoning you to wonders above that you can’t see. But when you get upstairs to the gym, it’s a rather depressing small room with not too much going on. They have great mats and a nice tumble track, but for the price, it’s nothing special. And there was even an exposed electrical outlet that popped into view anytime a kid jumped on the tumble track, which my 1-​year-​old son quickly discovered. I don’t know what the classes are like, but I was disappointed in the play gym (for the price — if it wasn’t so expensive, it would be fine.)

I took my little cousin here a few months ago bc her mom was sick. I don’t really care for kids but this place was allot of fun. I played in a rubber room and and ate allot if food, then I napped.