Aug. 7, 2013 By Christian Murray
An upscale children’s center, which offers academic and physical programs for kids between the ages of 2 months and 12 years, will be opening in Long Island City in 2014.
The NY Kids Club, which currently has eight locations throughout New York City, will be operating out of the ground floor of 45-45 Center Blvd, where it will be offering a range of classes and catering to about 1,800 children per week.
“We did our research on Long Island City and found that parents here are academically minded,” said Pam Wolf, the founder of the NY Kids Club. “Given the feedback we have received so far we may have to open another one [center] here.”
The Center Blvd location is 5,000 sq ft., which is a standard size for the club. However, Wolf said that her firm has just opened a Park Slope facility that is 16,000 sq ft. which is likely to cater to about 3,000 children per week.
Wolf said the center prides itself on its small classes and teacher-student ratios. She said that she limits the class sizes to 16 children and ensures that there is one teacher to every four children.
The school will offer a number of toddler/parent programs that focus, among other disciplines, on a child’s coordination & movement.
Its pre-school programs begin at age 2, and there is a focus on teaching the children numbers, color recognition and elementary science. The science component, for example, shows children what happens when water freezes.
The center has programs dedicated to children aged 2, 3 and 4. These programs are not inexpensive. For instance, the 5-days per week, 3 hours per day enrichment class for 3 year olds costs nearly $17,000 for the year.
However, the programs offer a number of classes that are tailored to a child’s age. These classes cover: gymnastics, art, music, Spanish, karate, dance, theater and cooking.
The LIC facility will be the New York Kids Club’s first Queens location and Wolf said that the company is likely to expand into neighborhoods such as Jackson Heights.
The next step for the organization is opening in Williamsburg.
However, in the fall of 2014, the Center Blvd facility will open. Tours of the facility are expected to begin next summer.
