Our Staff
About Natalie Cronin, Founder and Director
Natalie Cronin-Reyes is the Founder of Tinker Tree Play/Care on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Deeply passionate about children and the environment, she has developed a number of charitable initiatives that support children’s health and ecologically sound parenting, such as “The Great Green Playdate for a Cause” and the “Be Brave Adventure Benefit” for the MaxCure Foundation. She is a featured artist and consultant for the Rug Bug Music Program, and served as the founding National Director of Child Development for Kidville until 2011. She resides inNew York City with her husband and son, and is thankful every day for the opportunity to “play” for a living.
About Jackie Kristel (By Natalie Cronin)
I first met Jackie when I was director of Kidville. She was a ton of fun to teach with, she liked to sing, and read aloud in cool ways and she is a true play artist. She loves children and lets them inspire her, and she so often has just the right thing to say and song to sing. We had great fun planning and teaching together as she finished her MA from Teachers College, Columbia University in Developmental Psychopathology. We talked “play” for hours and I appreciated that she took play seriously. She went on from Kidville to teach at an NYC private preschool and when I opened my place, she came to pitch in. I asked her to be my “Vice President of Play Arts,” and she said yes. I am very grateful.
