New sensory gym in Eagle hopes to encourage learning through play

Jen Weber has been working in special education for nearly 22 years, but after moving to Eagle County last year, she decided to embark on a new venture: opening up a sensory gym for children in Eagle.

Weber initially moved from San Diego with her husband and two children, returning to her husband’s roots in the area. When she first moved, she continued her career as a special education teacher at Red Hill Elementary. However, immediately — in listening to parents and other educators — she saw an opportunity to do something different and serve the community in a new way.

“A lot of the people, parents, and employees were saying things like, ‘Oh, I have to drive to Grand Junction, Denver… I have to go through the canyon to get services for kids with IEPs (individual education plans) and things like that,” Weber said. “I wanted to create a space that the parents had to access what they need without having to drive hours and hours or get stuck in a canyon or things of that nature.”

And from this experience, Jen’s Place was created. The new gym will fill a need within the community for local families looking for a place to fulfill physical, occupational, or speech therapy assessments and individual education plans but also for kids just looking for a place to play. 

“It’s catering to the kids with disabilities or that have reports and IEPs that just want more access to tools so their kids can have more tools in front of them to help them with whatever their need might be,” Weber said.

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‘It’s good for all kids’

While the gym will certainly serve a specific need for kids with these specific needs, Weber also sees that the space will serve any and all children in the community.

“It’s good for all kids, it’s not just for kids with special needs,” she said. “All kids can benefit from the fine motor, the gross motor, working on speech skills, going more in-depth — especially after the pandemic, a lot of kids weren’t in school or were limited with school.”

The sensory gym includes tools for building and growing fine and gross motor skills as well as spaces and tools for kids to work on everything from imaginative and creative play to reading and other skill sets. Weber plans to frequently change out the toys and tools as well as be able to bring in new tools to serve any needs not already being met.

Weber will draw on her 22 years as a special education educator to help monitor and oversee the use of these tools to make sure that kids are working on what the parent is concerned about or wants to help develop.

For families, Weber plans on offering two ways to access the gym. The first is through weekly hour-long gym sessions for certain age groups, where kids can engage in the various activities the gym has to offer. The second is through one-on-one sessions where Weber can help parents go through existing assessments from therapists and specialists to ensure that the gym can help meet each kid’s needs and help the child and family find the right session and activities to do so.

For now, the gym will not be able to provide evaluations and assessments of kids’ needs, but rather just offer the tools to help families meet these needs. Eventually, however, Weber hopes the gym will grow in that direction.

“My end goal is to have occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech — have all of those services either accessible through my area or allow the therapist to rent out a space and utilize it, but right now we’re just starting with just me,” Weber said. “I’m hoping to get the speech and the OT and the PT because they can assess and evaluate, I can just help have access to tools and can provide the space and provide my background and my input to help facilitate whatever they might be needing.”

In addition to providing a space for kids to play, engage and have their needs met, Weber also hopes it will help establish a community for parents and families.

“I’m hoping that in some way, maybe it will connect some parents, maybe some groups, and just connect people that feel the need to be connected and then just provide this happy, playful space that kids just want to keep coming back to over and over again,” she said. “It’s hard to meet other parents with kids in the same age group or with special needs. There’s various reasons parents are saying it’s hard to meet people, so my hope is also to get to these larger family events and do stuff just to bring people together.”

No matter what the use, Weber hopes Jen’s Place can be a space for kids to “learn through play.”

“You can come to the sensory gym and everything is so playful, your child is going to be learning in this natural environment,” she said.

Even for Weber herself, she’s excited to get back to this level of engagement with children.

“I’m excited to have fun. Teaching has changed for many, many reasons and I just felt like I couldn’t have as much fun as I wanted to and now I feel like I have that place,” Weber said. “When I walk in — even though it’s my office — I’m happy I’m there. I feel like it’s a good sign.”

Jen’s Place will be hosting an open house on Sunday, July 31, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for families to check out the space and meet Weber. To learn more, visit JensPlaceLLC.com.