KidsPark Less Expensive Child Care

During the holidays it can be tough to find a trusted sitter, and worse sitter’s rates have seemingly gone up and up in recent years. Coming to some parent’s rescue are KidsPark national child-care centers.

KidsPark centers offer day, evening and weekend care for children ages 2-11 and is open almost each and every day of the year with parent schedule friendly hours – they’re open from 8 am to 10 pm Monday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. KidsPark also offers recession conscience prices (about $7.50 per hour) so most families can afford it. There’s no reservation needed – families register once and they’re in the KidsPark system.

Safety - KidsPark exceeds state licensing requirements with an average teacher-child ratio of 1:8. At all times, no matter the number of children present there are two staff on site. If a child needs one-on-one attention, another teacher is available to the group.

All KidsPark staff is:

• Certified in First Aid and CPR
• Screened by the Department of Justice
• Trained in Early Childhood Education and Recreation
• Required to attend staff development and skill building workshops

KidsPark offers lots of hands-on projects, art projects, games and a pretty slick calendar of seasonal special events. Additionally, various areas for different activities are designated at each center. Such as…

• Creation Station – for art, cooking, hands-on-science and more.
• Activity Area – where kids can play individually or in group with toys, play pretend in the playhouse or investigate the book nook.
• Mountain of Energy – an active minded structure that kids can pretend is a mountain, space ship and more.
• Theater – an areaused for story times, music, G-rated movies, games and guest performers.
• Sport Court – perfect for kids tired of being inside all winter, kids can kick goals, shoot baskets, play 4-square or just enjoy a game of catch.
• Blue Crew – a school-age area that encourages interaction with peers. Older kids can learn more detailed art projects, play age appropriate games and non-violent video games or do homework.

The only downside I see to KidsPark is that there are not nearly enough of them. Current locations include Arlington/Texas, Jacksonville/FL, Scottsdale/AZ, Olathe/Kansas and in California – Chico, Northridge, Corona, Fresno, Rocklin, Sacramento, and their pilot centers in San Jose, CA. That said there are also three additional locations opening in the first half of 2010.

If you live in one of the areas with a KidsPark you may want to check them out for holiday care this year while they’re out of school or while you need to holiday shop OR set up a date night with your partner.