Press & Media

How the Pandemic Is Affecting What Babies and Toddlers Learn

Without preschool and playgroups, the youngest children are missing out on important educational opportunities but the online music program songs for seeds fills this gap.

For Today's Entrepreneur, There Is More Than One Way To Drive Growth

Instead of diving head first into the obvious path, the team decided to seek out a lower-risk growth opportunity in the near-term while holding plans for an apple seeds expansion aside for the future.

Couples Strike a Chord With Family Music Class

Two NYC couples expand their popular music program songs for seeds by selling franchises to many young families, who then bring the music to children in their communities.

Seeds of Growth: apple seeds Expands Its Franchise Program

With locations in Chelsea, the Upper West Side, and in Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town, apple seeds is well-known (and well-loved) amongst parents of young children in the city.

Best of New York 2010 • Kids Music Class

As many parents can attest, kiddie music classes are both a blessing (even tiny ones can bang a drum) and a curse (oh, lord, that racket!). Songs for Seeds was created expressly with that dilemma in mind.

He Went Blind, Then Became A Distance Runner

Mr. Berlin and his friends founded a nonprofit called Team See Possibilities, which aims to inspire people to overcome their perceived limitations. Once a year, the group picks an endurance challenge in an iconic place and sets out to help Mr. Berlin accomplish it.

Now This Blind Colorado Man Has Climbed Kilimanjaro

On Kilimanjaro, Berlin’s group started the final push around midnight. They ascended through the dark, with the sighted among them using headlamps to guide the group up steep terrain at high altitude, well above the tallest mountain in Colorado.

Visually Impaired Athlete Runs Inca Trail in One Day

Their mission? To encourage and inspire people to overcome their perceived limitations.

How the pandemic is affecting what babies and toddlers learn

With all the talk of remote learning for secondary schools and colleges, one important population is missing from the nationwide conversation about learning during the pandemic: babies and toddlers.

Do What You Love

You know you’re doing what you love when “going to work” means spending time with your 4-year-old. My twin daughters Madeleine and Sydney, now 9 years old, came to work with me nearly every day as they were growing up...

Alison Berna: The Story Of My Life

Alison Berna is a working mom based in New York City. She is the co-founder of AppleSeeds Play, an all in one play space for families with children newborn to five. An avid runner, dedicated Yogi and newly minted adventurer, Alison recently joined a team of five other runners (and the only woman) to help guide the first blind athlete, Dan Berlin to complete the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim trail run—consisting of 46 miles, 25,000 feet of climbing over 28 hours.

Going Beyond Movement

apple seeds is an all in one play space for families with children newborn to 5 years old. The anchor of our space is a modern, unique, indoor playground that was inspired by our love of children’s museums

Blind Athlete Conquers the Inca Trail in a Single Day

In the team’s planning meeting before the run, one of the Peruvian guides who has completed the trek 215 times told the group: “What you are planning to do is not impossible, but the local authorities think it’s crazy for anyone to try, let alone with a blind person.”

Blind Runner Completes 26-mile Inca Trail

With three teammates—Charles Scott, Alison Qualter Berna, and Brad Graff—Berlin finished the route to Machu Picchu in 13 hours.

Doting Grandpa Bill Clinton

Clinton, 68, could be seen holding on to baby Charlotte, 9½ months, as the duo bopped along to the music of Songs for Seeds, a music class put on by Apple Seeds, an indoor play space mom Chelsea Clinton and daughter Charlotte enjoy.

Chelsea Clinton is joined by parents Bill and Hillary

Chelsea Clinton's daughter Charlotte Clinton-Mezvinsky turned one year old on Saturday and, to celebrate, her mom threw her a balloon-filled bash, which was also attended by her former first-couple grandparents Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Finding Myself on the Edge

By the time I turned 40, a few years ago, I was a proud mother of three loving, hilarious children, and I was a co-owner of apple seeds, an all-in-one children’s play space with three NYC locations, two international locations and a national franchise in the works.

Notable parents on why NYC is the best city in the world

We asked some of our favorite New York parents to tell us why NYC is the absolute best city in the world to raise a family.

Why Every Parent Needs More Headspace and Meditation

Meditation carries the answers to so many issues facing parents and yet many of us are too busy to slow down, let alone sit in silence for 10-15 minutes.

Chit-Chat with Allison & Alison

We started dreaming of a life where we could bring our kids to work with us, and along with our husbands, started an indoor play space for families with young children called apple seeds.

Mompreneurs of the Month: Alison Qualter Berna and Allison Schlanger of apple seeds:

Raising kids in NYC is amazing for so many reasons but it’s not without its challenges. Whether you’re trying to escape some crazy weather outside or you just need a change of scenery from your cramped apartment, apple seeds is the perfect destination.

How the pandemic is affecting what babies and toddlers learn

With all the talk of remote learning at U.S. secondary schools and colleges, one important population is missing from the conversation about learning during the pandemic: babies and toddlers.

Franchise Spotlight: Songs for Seeds

Allison Schlanger and Alison Qualter Berna are co-founders of songs for seeds, a New York City– based ‘more than music’ franchise for kids that focuses on teaching critical aspects of early childhood development.

Grand Canyon Run: An Epilogue

Running rim to rim to rim is not easy. It is a 46-mile route over rocky terrain including 25,000+ feet of elevation change, and in certain sections, dangerous switchbacks on narrow trails beside 1,000-ft drop offs.

Couplepreneurs: From Life Partners to Business Partners

There's a growing trend among married couples these days. After becoming life partners, they also become business partners. Eyewitness News reporter Lauren Glassberg has more on going into business with your spouse

New kids' play in Dubai

We check out activity centres that have opened since last summer

Youth Gets Served

It’s not all kids’ play: Developers are getting serious about partnering with children’s centers in a bid to lure families to new developments.

For Moms Who Want To Start A Business

There are many women who change careers once they have children—either by necessity (like me) or by choice, like Alison Berna and Allison Schlanger, two new friends I made recently who started the apple seeds playspace in NYC.

Best of New York 2009 Best Kids Play Space

Looking to Branch Out into Franchising?

I spoke with Alison (Qualter Berna) and Allison (Schlanger) about fateful meetings, apple seeds’ wildly successful songs for seeds music classes—and what, exactly, they’re looking for in Chicago.

Blending Business and Family with Alison & Allison

Alison Qualter Berna and Allison Schlanger met during a parent/child music class with their twins (yes, both ladies have twins and their names are Alison/Allison—it was meant to be).

Blind Runner Dan Berlin tackles trail marathon to Machu Picchu

On the trail, worried they wouldn’t make their goal of helping Berlin become the first blind athlete to run the 26-mile Inca Trail to the famous ruins in one push, inspiration hit amid the adversity, courtesy of Incan architecture.

Rim to rim to rim: A vision of TeamWork

Five friends sat together at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, near the low-slung stone building near the mule trains heading to Phantom Ranch...

Five Lessons I Learned While Guiding The First Blind Man Across the Grand Canyon

That philosophy is really a lesson for all of us, isn’t it? We all face some degree of adversity and it’s easy to let perceived impediments keep us from pursuing our dreams.

Cómo la pandemia está afectando el aprendizaje en bebés y niños pequeños

En medio de todo el debate sobre el aprendizaje a distancia en la educación media y superior, un sector poblacional muy importante está ausente de la conversación en Estados Unidos sobre el aprendizaje durante la pandemia: los bebés y los niños pequeños.

Athlete a Global Role Model with a Vision

Team See Possibilities is a group that travels the world taking on "epic endurance challenges" to raise money for, and awareness of, "overcoming perceived limitations," Qualter Berna said.