Blue Skies Exploration Academy

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My husband and I toured Blue Skies about a month before our son was born. We loved it right away. There was a very homey feel and we felt completely comfortable sending our 6 week old there. Our son has been there for almost 17 months and we feel that all of the staff loves our child like we do. We especially enjoy visiting with the many bunnies the blue skies has around!

My children attended Blue Skies for 3 years. They loved going and really enjoyed the hands on approach to learning. They especially loved being able to go out to the garden and seeing the bunnies. Now that my son is in kindergarten we no longer attend but they both speak very affectionately of their "old school". The staff were loving and really got to know my children and always made them feel welcome.

My daughter attended Blue Skies from the time she was about 6 months old until she was 4 years old. She has Down Syndrome and the staff at Blue Skies was extremely welcoming and accommodating in meeting her needs. I got to know many of the staff members as the years went by and so did my daughter and they were all very nurturing and caring to her. My daughter loved going to Blue Skies and while under their care, really progressed developmentally. Her teachers were always so willing to work with her to teach her how to do things and they would be so excited to tell me new things she did every day. My daughter used sign language as part of her means of communication while at Blue Skies, and the teachers were very accommodating in learning the signs that she knew so they could better communicate with her. I would highly recommend this facility, as the staff was always very attentive and nurturing to my daughter, it's a very safe and clean place, and very well-run. Blue Skies was truly a blessing to my family.

Response from the Owner of Blue Skies:This review was posted anonymously or on some sites by a “Mary Yoder” we have never had a Mary Yoder as a client but we are 99.9% sure that it was actually a former client who had just been sent to collections for a long overdue bill. She was very angry. She did however, have some interesting points that I would like to address.#1 Staffing: We have doubled our enrollment and have hired many new wonderful teachers during the time this family was with us. This particular child had the same teacher (Ms. Beth) as his teacher for the entire time he was with us BUT the aides did change. We have very high standards and will not keep an employee on who does not perform well. We also move them to where their talents are best utilized. Since most of our staff has been with us for a long time, we think they are pretty happy.#2 Play Areas: We do have a pea gravel play surface because the state requires us to have a resilient surface and they recommend pea gravel because it does not compact and become hard. There are hundreds of tons of gravel on the playgrounds with the toddler area being several feet deep. It is not feasible to remove the gravel. The cushy mat type surface is full of very nasty chemicals and the shredded rubber leaves brown rubber dust all over the children which they inhale and ingest. Pea gravel is the healthiest choice as it is entirely natural. We care about the children’s health!Safety is important to us: The child in question learned to walk with us and children do fall a lot as they learn. We have no record of the incident mom cites and that is definitely the sort of thing we would document in our Accident Reports. The toddler playground had a sloped area of asphalt which was steep for the toddlers who were just learning to walk. We removed it and added a huge sandbox in the area. It’s wildly popular with the toddlers and a great improvement to the playground. The child in question did get a bruise on his left eye at approximately 18 months as he pulled himself up using a low shelf and bumped his head next to his eye on the shelf. It was documented and his mother was notified and signed an Accident Report which we have on file. While toddlers frequently bump themselves while learning to walk, we always write up incidents and accidents so parents know what happened. We also have a GREAT new video monitoring service starting in October which will allow us to record everything AND ALLOWS INTERNET ACCESS FOR PARENTS TO WATCH FROM AFAR! We are so excited to announce this new benefit!We won a grant in 2013 to build a fabulous greenhouse and garden from the Colorado Garden Show and this client and her husband were hired to provide the electricity for the building. She was very happy about it at the time. It is a fabulous learning space for our kiddos!#3 Cleanliness: Well, you’d have to see us for yourself. We have great reports from the Health Department. We are in a 25 year-old building which has been updated in many ways, including a new roof, a new kitchen which was entirely replaced down to the sub-floor, a GORGEOUS nursery which was entirely gutted and modernized, all new toilets and plumbing and three entirely new bathrooms! Do we need to update more? Yes! ---And we are very excited about doing it! Dirty? No.We have also replaced a lot of furniture in most of our classrooms and there was a period of time when we moved a lot of furniture in and out of the classrooms and did have boxes and furniture in the halls as we upgraded and decided what to get rid of. We love the new non-toxic wood furniture!#4 Pricing: Our pricing is actually average for the community and considering our exceptionally healthy meals, outdoor classroom, ga...

I'm puzzled by a previous negative review. My two grandchildren have attended this center since the current owners took it over. I am a former early childhood educator at the Masters' level and every time I have visited this center I gave been impressed with the quality of care, including healthy foods, curriculum, cleanliness and staff. I would highly recommend this center.

I would not recommend this facility for the following reasons: 1. Staff turnover: This facility must be a terrible place to work because they cannot keep a staff member in the rooms for more than a month. Every month I was meeting new staff members to take care of my child. 2. Unsafe play areas: The play area is filled with tiny rocks instead of a safe coosh-ey mat and my toddler had several injuries from falling in the rocks, once a minor black eye and a large indentation from where the rock was virtually implanted into his face. When I brought this to the attention of the director they said it was too expensive to put the safer material in. The next month, they built a greenhouse. 3. Unclean, messy, disorganized facility: The facility itself is dirty and run-down. When you walk in, the entrance is surrounded by boxes and things that stay there for months. 4. Pricing: Given the above issues, you would assume that the prices would be lower. They are not. They are the same as the brand new facilities down the street. It is common to have allotted vacation days, but this facility is very scarce with the # of days. You only get 4 a year, because Thanksgiving is considered "one of your vacation days" even thought they are closed. I would recommend going somewhere else for the prices they are charging

My kids love the teachers at Blue Skies who make each day fun and creative. There is always something exciting they look forward to doing from going to the art studio, soccer lessons and the outdoor garden and greenhouse. The staff knows me by name and is always so attentive to our family.