apple seeds

Great! The musicians bring so much energy and are so friendly. We love our Songs for Seeds class. The facility itself is also very bright, clean, and fun.

I take my daughter here for the play space– which she enjoys a lot. It’s perfect for a familiar place to go when its freezing/​raining out. She likes filling up her cart with plastic fruit from the pretend market, the lego benches, and jumping on the trampoline. I could see how it could get repetitive, but we don’t go every day and we keep the visits short. The staff here have been friendly and helpful as well.
She also takes their songs for seeds class which she loves– live 3 piece band, unique songs which repeat to a certain degree every week so there is always something familiar. I love the way they welcome every child personally during their «hello» song and the dancing with the disco ball!
The downsides: It can get crowded with older kids who are jumping around unsupervised, and she has gotten knocked over. Also, they are closed for every possible holiday, so if you have the day off– chances are, its closed.

The Apple Seeds in Chelsea seemed a bit Type A for our family. Lots of rules: wrist bands to wear, required socks, removing all the toys in the middle of the day to replace them with other toys, having to eat only in the dining area. Citibabes in Soho is much more low key, family flexible and hipper.

My kids are big fans of Appleseeds. We didn’t even know they were there until Superstorm Sandy happened and we were in need of someplace to bring the kids to play. Now we are so happy we’ve made this discovery. The people are lovely and helpful, the space is clean, and the kids never get bored!

We discovered Appleseeds just in time for the cold weather last fall. It is not cheap, but offers an amazing alternative to being stuck inside all winter. Also, the membership fee is flat for the whole family, which works out great if you have more than one kid. The facility is best for toddlers, but they also have a very cute padded area for crawlers. I have never taken their classes, but other I know many moms who love them. Both my kids love coming here and I love taking them because it’s a beautifully designed bright, safe space with lots of toys and activities. Appleseeds also takes hygiene very seriously — no shoes are allowed inside the play area and the staff is regularly washing and disinfecting toys and surfaces.

My daughter attended Music Together with Beth for a single «semester.» The class itself was fun and my daughter really seemed to like the experience. She also attended Developmental Movement with Dionne. She attended that class with her nanny, so I can’t speak of the actual experience, but my nanny adored Dionne and claimed that my daughter loved the class.
However, I will not be signing up for any more classes through Appleseeds in the future. Here’s why:
I signed up for Music Together and Developmental Movement again during the following semester. Several weeks before the classes were scheduled to begin my husband and I signed a lease for a new apartment on the UWS. Knowing that there is a UWS Appleseeds location, I assumed that I could simply transfer my daughter’s registration to the new location, but we were very disappointed to learn that neither Music Together, nor Developmental Movement are offered on the UWS. When I went in to cancel the classes several weeks prior to their start dates (there is no way I’m schlepping 30+ blocks to 2 classes/​week), I was charged the full cancellation fees for both classes. The cancellation fee for Developmental Movement alone amounted to ¼ of the cost to attend the class! Are you kidding me? And this, after it’s not even offered at the other locations. I certainly understand the concept of a cancellation policy, but charging me this amount considering the circumstances is just bad business. I’m fairly certain that my spot was easily filled in the weeks leading up to the start of the new class.
There are so many classes in this city for little ones to attend, I would assume that Appleseeds would do a better job of ensure a positive experience for customers. As a result of this rigid and unfair policy, we won’t be back to any Appleseeds location. It’s a shame because a bit of good customer service and flexibility here would have secured my daughter (and likely my future children) as a long-​term Appleseeds customer, typically enrolled in at least 2 classes/​semester.
Other complaints: a front desk and stroller parking staff more interested in rehashing the details of their weekends than attending to customers. No drop-​in classes. Extremely wide (and inappropriate) age-​ranges for many classes (I am not putting my 9-​month old in a music class with 3-​year old children). No pay-​by-​the-​day playground policy.

Parents Beware —
I tried to reach the owners of the establishment to let them know about the difficulties I was continuously having with their inadequate staff on the front desk. However, the front desk (specifically Tyrelle and Monique) would refuse to put me through and finally succumbed to letting me speak to the Operations manager (Janelle) who unfortunately seemed to dismiss my concerns. Since I made a complaint the staff would always place me on hold when I called in they were rude to myself and my nanny. After 6 months of tolerating this I decided to escalate the issue again. However, it became apparent the front desk and Operations Manager had been portraying me as a nagging mum and I received a call from Alison the owner who decided to reprimand me for making a complaint. It appears Appleseeds is more concerned about promoting their franchise than listening to parents concerns.
Be warned — don’t make a complaint about their staff because it’s you who will be reprimanded and treated badly.

The best play space in Manhattan hands down. The playground is nice and clean, and never overcrowded, and we love the quality of classes provided here. The also have a hair salon that we are going to check out as we’ve been happy with everything here so far!