Open house at new preschool Saturday
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » There’s a new preschool in town with the opening of Jumper Bean Preschool in Ballston Spa.
With a focus on healthy, active and organic living, Jumper Bean Preschool will begin offering services in September.
Open enrollment is now available for kids ages three to five, and an open house is scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the 441 Geyser Rd. preschool.
Set in a former insurance office, Jumper Bean Preschool is owner Ashley Tyler’s second local child-based business. In 2013, she started Jumper Bean Daycare out of her Ballston Spa home, where 12 little ones ages eight months to three years attend regularly.
Now, Jumper Bean can serve 23 more local children with the opening of the new Jumper Bean Preschool.
“We didn’t have enough room with just the 12 spaces and I really wanted to expand it for kids going to preschool, because I know that there was a need for preschool,” Tyler said on why she started the new facility.
Tyler hopes the new preschool will be a good place for the kids to prepare for kindergarten. “It’s a good in-between between the home daycare and going straight off to school,” Tyler said. “This is a good middle ground.”
Once open, Jumper Bean Preschool will operate year-round, with full-day hours from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Children can come full time, which is five days a week, or part time.
Likewise, Jumper Bean Daycare will still be open for younger kids at its McMaster Street location in Ballston Spa.
When Tyler first started the business, she didn’t envision it growing so quickly, but is thrilled that it has.
Looking ahead, Tyler’s goal for the future is to continue expanding, and to show the community that there are options for quality care and education outside of the big centers in the
area. “You can come to a smaller setting that’s more comfortable, that’s more homey. They can eat better, they can do more things. They can really form attachments with their caregivers and their friends.”
Local mom Michelle Cameron of Ballston Spa is glad her kids can continue on in the Jumper Bean program with the addition of the new preschool. “I’ve just been so happy with the educational base that she instills in her program,” Cameron said of Tyler. “It’s a wonderfully-run, wellrounded, educational-based daycare and her philosophy is just fantastic.” Cameron’s four-year-old daughter Lily and 20-month-old son Jackson are both currently in the daycare, and Lily will soon move up to the preschool program. “I look forward to having Lily go to preschool there to get her ready for kindergarten,” said Cameron, who plans for Jackson to go there when he’s ready too. “We’re looking forward to the next step.”
Another Ballston Spa mom Suzanne Jaynes is happy to be in the same boat. Her four-year-old daughter Hazel, who’s been with Jumper Bean since she was two, will advance from the daycare to the new preschool in a few weeks too. Jaynes is glad that Hazel gets a lot of outdoor time and a healthy diet in the program, as well as great care from the Jumper Bean staff. “They use their own kindness to teach the children how to be kind as well,” Jaynes said. “Kind loving people in turn create kind, loving children.”
Like other parents, Jaynes said she was really excited upon learning that Tyler would be opening Jumper Bean Preschool this fall.
More information on Jumper Bean Preschool and Daycare is available online at jumperbean.comand on Facebook.
Jumper Bean Preschool can be contacted by phone at (518) 256-2450 or email at info@jumperbean. com. Anyone who can’t make Saturday’s open house event is welcome to schedule a private tour.