The Playroom opens as indoor play space for children in Gilford

GILFORD — Upon arrival to The Playroom, children's screams of excitement fill the air while the constant chatter of onlooking parents fills in the silent gaps. So do sights of toddlers running around ecstatically, laughing on the indoor swings, and jumping from various colored vinyl play shapes onto soft mats and doing it all over again. The frenzied environment, however, is going exactly as planned for the owners of the indoor play space, Molly Fugate and Heidi Englert.

The Playroom, which opened Aug. 18 inside The Village at Paugus Bay, was established by Fugate, 32, and Englert, 36, to provide an indoor play space for children, especially during the rainy off-season and the snowy winter months when outdoor playgrounds are not a pleasant option. But The Playroom is specifically designed for children ages 1 to 6.

“We wanted a space that was safe for the littles to go without being bombarded by big kids,” Fugate said. “But also promote developmental skills like gross motor skills, fine motor skills.”

Fugate and Englert both have backgrounds in early childhood education, which connected them after meeting a little over a year ago at a dance studio where they brought their daughters for lessons. After talking, they realized they were looking for the same things. Fugate needed a place for childcare while also having the flexibility of being a mom, and Englert, who owns preschools in the area — including Ready, Set, Learn, across the hall from The Playroom — wanted a space to allow kids to get their sillies out before school began. They conceived of the idea for an indoor play space.

“We just hit it off really well,” Englert said. “She needed me, and I needed her to kind of collaborate and it just was fate.”

But The Playroom has many purposes. First, the space has Drop In Stay & Play, which on weekdays runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., when anyone can come and have their children play in the room.

“The moms want to have a playdate with their friends, but their house is a disaster. You don’t want to have to clean it,” Englert said. “Come here, make the mess, then go home.”

The Playroom can also be booked for special events like public and private parties. This is especially important for Fugate and Englert, who consider there not to be sufficient venue options for toddlers. Fugate, who has children born in the months of January and March, has had to resort to hotel function rooms for parties. The Playroom allows parents an option for more kid-friendly parties.

Parents attending Englert’s preschool and pre-K across the hall can now drop off their children at The Playroom early, 7-9 a.m., before it opens to the public. This has made it easier for families who have children who are a bit more difficult to handle during morning drop-off.

“It's been helpful for some of our moms whose kids cry every morning,” Fugate said. “Now they come in, and they're so happy. And so that makes the families happy.”

But having a morning of play also allows for students to do better in school. “When 9 o'clock hits, and we start transitioning over to the school, they've already gotten a lot of energy out,” Fugate said. “So then when we go into our class times, and our art and literature and math and science, they're really settled and focused on those activities.”

The business would not be a success without the friendship of the owners. Fugate's and Englert’s love for children, both as mothers and passionate early childhood educators, is what creates the welcoming energy of The Playroom.

“We've worked in childcare for a long time. We are both parents and we wanted to open a space that was welcoming for families and safe for young children,” Fugate said. “We kind of just brainstormed ideas together to make something really great for the kids.”

For all the details about The Playroom, visit theplayroom603.com.