The Murray Hill Wee Ones Club is a private preschool located in the heart of the historic Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. Since 2004, Wee Ones Club has provided a meaningful educational foundation for our students, offering preschool programs as well as Clubhouse mommy and me classes for children accompanied by a parent or caregiver.  With carefully developed curricula designed to allow children to express themselves in a supportive and caring environment, Wee Ones Club encourages growth and learning through play at any age. 

Our program structure is designed to support each child on the journey from infancy to five years of age, beginning with Clubhouse classes that bring together families and their little ones to work on important developmental skills, and continuing on through our Twos, Threes, and Fours preschool programs, where our certified teachers help our students  thrive in more structured classroom environments, attend more complex lessons, interact appropriately with friends and teachers, and develop their language and self-help skills to find success in whatever academic environments they encounter in the future.

Recommended age ranges for Wee Ones Club depend on your intended class or program, and of course, all children are different! The following is general guidance, but feel free to reach out to us if you’re not sure which program is right for your child—we’re happy to help you determine what class will be right for your child and your family.

Tadpoles—This class is geared primarily towards the parents of newborns to have a space for connection and community-building with one another as they enter parenthood. Families with little ones who are roughly 0-3 months old will find that Tadpoles is the best fit.

Turtles—Babies are ready for Turtles class around the 3 to 5 month mark. We recommend that children have their vaccinations by the time they begin Turtles, and that their heads no longer need to be externally supported. Babies in Turtles class are generally not yet cruising, though they may be beginning to experiment with independent movement.

Frogs—Little ones who are up and stable on their feet (or very nearly so) are ready for Frogs class! This class is an opportunity for children to explore their newfound physical independence, and is generally the right fit for children who have reached the 8 or 9 month mark.

Toads—Children are ready for Toads around 14 months of age, or around the time that you begin to think about enrolling them in a drop-off preschool program.

Preschool Practice—With a focus on building the confidence, independence, and stamina that will make for the smoothest possible transition into preschool, Preschool Practice is generally recommended for children from 18-24 months of age.

Twos Preschool—Twos Preschool is generally the first experience your child will have with a fully drop-off program, and little ones should be at least one year and 9 months old by September 1st to enroll in Twos.

Threes Preschool—Children should be at least two years and 9 months old by September 1st to enroll in Threes, which has a longer school day than Twos.

Fours Preschool—Fours is our pre-kindergarten class, and gets your child ready to enter “big-kid school” with longer school days and more structured classroom activity. Children should be at least 3 years and 9 months old by September 1st to enroll in Fours.

No! Your child does not need to be potty trained to join our Twos program. We partner with parents to help our students with potty training throughout the year.

Yes! Every child’s journey to using the potty independently is different. We will work with your family to ensure that your child’s potty-training experience is consistent between home and school, and that every child has the opportunity to learn how to use the potty confidently and without pressure. If this has been a great source of concern for you, rest easy! Almost all of our students finish their first year of preschool potty trained.

Some parents worry about their child’s ability to stay focused and follow along with a preschool curriculum if they don’t have previous experience in a structured classroom environment. Don’t worry about that! As educators, it is our job to offer activities and materials that teach and engage children where they’re at. A part of Twos Preschool is getting our students acclimated to the classroom environment, and we work hard to help each student have a smooth transition into this new style of learning.

The first time a child and a parent separate for school can be emotional for both parent and child. We suggest that as you prepare for the preschool separation with your child, you approach the process with lots of positive language and excitement. Talk with your child about the fun activities that they’ll be doing at preschool, emphasizing activities with which they are already familiar, like reading stories and using paints and art supplies. This will help your child form a positive idea about their upcoming experience of independence.

There are portions of our Toads and Preschool Practice classes during which little ones separate from their adults and enter a different classroom area to work with the teacher, but caregivers must remain on Wee Ones premises during these times. Our gradual, child-led separation approach uses elements of classroom routine to provide our students opportunity for independent exploration and confidence-building, but an important part of this approach is that our students can return to their adults when they need support. We think of gradual separation as a partnership between teachers and caregivers to help our students develop their skills of autonomy.

Learning to read is an important part of a child’s education. At Wee Ones Club, we engage fully in the journey each child takes on their way to reading, and pre-literacy skills are emphasized throughout our program. Our preschool students learn how to write uppercase and lowercase letters, and learn the corresponding sounds that those letters make. Our classrooms are print-rich environments with library shelves in each, and we make sure that our students have all the fundamental building blocks of literacy that will allow them to read when they’re ready. Each child is different, and each child learns to read at their own pace.

We welcome mommies, daddies, grandparents, nannies, and all other manner of caregivers to join their child in our Club Classes. Really, anybody who spends the day with your child is welcome to attend class with them!

We recommend that children come dressed in comfortable clothes, in which they can freely move, play, and get (reasonably) messy. We never want a child to have to miss an experience, for example an art project, because their clothing can’t get messy. Children learn best when they are not limited by their garments, and can freely move their bodies as they interact with the world and their peers. And we promise, we’re using washable art supplies!

All of our classrooms require that anyone entering the space (adults and children alike) remove their outdoor shoes. We find that this keeps our environment cleaner and healthier, and is important for the sensory development of our youngest learners. Feeling the ground beneath their feet helps our Club Class students develop balance and gross motor skills, and keeping our floors free of outside shoes allows all of our students and teachers to work on the floor without having to worry about the transfer of outdoor germs from shoes.