Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins

A mom saw a gap for preschoolers and turned hospitality savvy into a safe, creative studio where little kids explore, craft, and feel special

• Nick George • Season 1 • Episode 116

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What if the best event training for kids comes from the world of high-end hospitality? We sit down with Gina Maez, the heart behind Little Hands Play Studio in Old Town Fort Collins, to explore how a veteran bartender and event pro reimagined a space designed for preschoolers first—safe, creative, and genuinely fun. From cape-making and slime labs to stomp-rocket launches, Gina shows how a child-first approach can be both calm and electric, giving little kids room to experiment while feeling like the most important person in the room.

We trace her path from 2 a.m. load-outs to morning sensory trays, and why that pivot matters for parents looking beyond trampoline parks. Gina makes a compelling case that toddlers can do far more than we assume when given the right materials, structure, and encouragement. She also opens up about building a business with authenticity: no paid clicks, just community partnerships, loyal families, and thoughtful programs tailored to real life—Friday homeschool sessions, school break camps, and on-site preschool enrichment that lets caregivers breathe.

There’s a deeper current here, too. Gina shares a personal story of loss that reshaped her priorities and boundaries, grounding the studio in purpose and presence. The result is a Fort Collins hub where creativity, early childhood development, and hospitality polish meet: Instagram-worthy birthdays with Vegas flair, sensory-rich projects that build skills, and a culture that treats each child with dignity and delight.

If you’re a parent, educator, or community builder curious about nurturing young kids through art, sensory play, and connection, this conversation offers practical ideas and a refreshing ethos. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs inspiration, and leave a review to help more families find a creative home in Fort Collins.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a children's art studio, arts and crafts, and a lot more? More of like a play studio. Well, one might be closer than you think. Today I have the great pleasure of introducing Gina Mays from Little Hands Play Studio. Gina, how's it going?

SPEAKER_00:

Hi, Nick. Doing great. Thanks. Thanks for having me on today. How are you?

SPEAKER_02:

Excellent. We're glad to have you on today. Tell us all about your business.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely. So we have been in the entrepreneurial space in northern Colorado for about 15 years now, more in the event side of things, a lot of pretty high-end, big-scale bartending. And I have a three-year-old now. So we pivoted a little bit, though we're still doing all of the big weddings and big events in town. We are focusing a part of our day on children. So we have an art studio now in Old Town Fort Collins. We're really conveniently located right on college, uh just south of Laporte. Um and yeah, it's awesome. We work with children of all ages, but we really specialize in preschool age kiddos, so ages two and a half through about six. Um, I was just kind of noticing as a parent that there wasn't a place that the young guys could kind of call their own. Um, I'm definitely a helicopter mom. So the first time we took him to the bigger, like urban jumping trambling places, I told my husband, he's gonna break his neck. Oh my gosh, like there's no way we can be here. So we really wanted to do something fun and social, uh, definitely for the little kiddos. So, though all children um in elementary school are welcome, we do a lot of really fun stuff for the young ones.

SPEAKER_02:

I agree about the jumping park. I get hurt there every time I go, and so do my kids. That probably doesn't happen at your place. How did how did you get into this business?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, you know, it really just we wanted to do more with kids. Um, like I said, I've been in the event space in northern Colorado for quite a long time. I've been in the hospitality space for a very long time. Um, hitting, oh gosh, I don't want to put my age on display here, but we're hitting about 25 years in the hospitality space. So as you can imagine, I'm aging and the back starting to hurt a little bit more in those 2 a.m. Uh, they they don't come off like they used to. So uh I was ready to get out of the bartending space and more into a kid-friendly world. Um, and there was a need for it in Northern Colorado. So we've really been enjoying ourselves. We're really highly involved in the community. Um so it felt like a good fit for us. So not only has it been challenging and exciting in all the ways that entrepreneurship always is, but it's been particularly rewarding because I have a little guy that can also enjoy it with his mom.

SPEAKER_02:

Awesome. I do too at home. It's a different world.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, Nick, a loud world. I didn't realize how loud these guys were. It's very loud.

unknown:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

That's true.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, what are some myths or misconceptions in what you do in your industry?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you know, I think before becoming a parent, I would say it's maybe not giving the young ones as much credit as they deserve. Um, so my little guy started soccer at about 18 months. I'm a first-time parent, you know, so going out there, I thought, well, this is gonna be like hurting cats. I mean, they're cuter than heck in their uniforms. So I did it for the uniform, you know, it was cute. But I said, Oh, you know, what good are we gonna get out of this other than running out some energy? And I'll tell you, by the second practice, those little guys were stopping the ball. And so we do it with mighty kicks. I'll share that because Jeremy's absolutely awesome and we love the program. Um, but yeah, by lesson two, they were stopping the ball with one foot and learning how to score a goal and cheering on their teammates. And really, just week after week, I really saw the progression. And I thought, wow, I just didn't give these kiddos enough credit. You know, they're young and they're learning, but their bodies and their minds are little sponges. And I was just taken back by how incredible they are. You know, not only are they cuter than heck in their uniforms, but they are they're little athletes and they're little scholars. And I think the misconception is I think that they can do a lot more than we give them credit for sometimes. And I think if you just let them play, they can show you a lot more than what you thought they were capable of.

SPEAKER_02:

Give us a window into a day in the life of uh Little Hands Play Studio.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. Um, so we actually do a lot in town. We're multifaceted. So not only do we have the studio right there in Old Town where kids can come up and take a class. We work with a lot of homeschool parents that do uh a program through us on Fridays. But not only that, we do really fun. So when the kids are out of school, they can come in and do a camp with us to keep them entertained while mom and dad are at work. We do enrichment programs with a lot of the preschools and daycares in town. So it gives their caretakers a moment to kind of take a breath and you know eat a quick banana while we're entertaining the kids. Um and the kids really, really look forward to it. As soon as we walk in the door, everyone's excited and yelling and happy to see our teachers. So that one's super fun. Um, and then the part that we're the most excited about is here shortly, we're going to start dabbling into the children's event space. So doing um a lot of really fun direct-to-you birthday parties. So everything from character cape making to slime making to just your regular run-of-the-mill art classes. But I my background is Las Vegas, so of course there's going to be some glitz and some glamour, not just kiddo stuff. Very Instagram worthy and very fun. But like I said, we've had a lot of years in the event space and we're ready to take on the kiddos and make sure they have a great time.

SPEAKER_02:

How do you market yourself now? And who's your target parent or kids?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, Nick, I'll tell you that's a tough one for me as a small business owner. I truly believe in authenticity and I believe in old school values, you know, doing what's right, not what's easy. And a handshake deal, you know, surmounts everything. And I think I just have a hard time kind of buying on to the new age, paying for clicks and buying this and buying that. And I'm sure it's a great way for tech to continue to make money, and that's great for them. But I don't know if it's a great business model for small business owners. I don't know how much of that has a false bottom. So I would rather just do it authentically. So, I mean, if you look at our Facebook page, I think we're struggling to barely hit a hundred followers, but we have a hundred loyal followers, a hundred people that do buy into the program, buy into us, whose kids have had a great experience with us. Um, so that's tough. You know, we don't really do any paid advertisement. And part of it's because yeah, I'm cheap, you know, I'm just a cheapo. And the other part is I just I believe in digging this out, you know. I I want the first couple of years to be hard because I want to be here in 20 years.

SPEAKER_02:

Is there a McDonald's in your industry that does this on a scale that I just didn't put together with that this is your industry? Or is you did you invent this?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, there's not a large scale one. Um, there are a few others that do it um in bigger cities. So we lived in we're from Colorado, but we lived in Phoenix area for a while and Las Vegas for a while. And there are some pretty big ones there, but really not one here. Everything is more active. So, like little monsters, um, that's a huge ball pit that's really fun, but really nothing for the young kids to craft and play and make and you know, use sensory to explore their new world.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I've got a two-year-old and a four-year-old, and I hadn't even thought of this. And uh, so I'm intrigued. Uh, have you ever thought about podcasting to reach people?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I would absolutely love to. I think it would be fun. I I I I certainly couldn't do it with the grace um that you are doing it with, Nick, but I I I'll try my hand at anything.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll I'm definitely owe you one for that. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh so um um what do you do for fun when you're not having fun?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh goodness, that's tough. What does an entrepreneur do for fun? We work and then we everybody else goes to bed and we work a little bit more. Um, I don't know. I I really like being involved in my community. So I serve as our HOA president. Um, I'm a volunteer on our my son's PTO. I'm part of the junior league here in Fort Collins. I do a lot of philanthropy work. Um, so I really believe in giving back. I think that we build the community that we want, but we need to put in the work if we want to be surrounded by that. Um so I certainly do that, and it's challenging and fun. Um, I'm a hospitality kid at heart, so I'll definitely drink a fantastic bottle of wine when it's offered. Um and then, of course, my little guy, he's super involved in a lot of sports, and he's just so fun. And I really hate to miss any time with him at all. So, though we get mom and dad some time sometimes when grandparents have him, we we like to put in that family time.

SPEAKER_02:

Gina, what's one takeaway that people should remember from this interview about Little Hands Play Studio?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I think it's just that it's a place that is designed just for the kiddos. So it's not for you know, the glitz and the glamour of what mom and dad, you know, want to take pictures of. It's really about the little kids getting in there and just being themselves and playing and exploring and learning and meeting them on their level. Um, and we really try to make everything extra special. I think that's just a hazard of being in the hospitality industry. So at the last um camp day that we had, we were making rocket ships. So I said, Well, we have to launch these. I mean, that's not fun. Why make a rocket ship if we can't launch it? So I scoured the internet, I found um a stomp rocket. So we were able to put their rockets over the top of what the mechanism was made for, and then let them stomp on the stomp rocket to actually launch it into space. So much fun, like so much laughter, so much yelling and jumping around. The kids had an absolute blast. I mean, that would have kept them busy for the the two hours, you know, that we had them. So very, very, very fun. And we have a lot of tricks up our sleeves like that. I just I want them to leave feeling like we've always said in our our industry that I want you to feel like the most important person in the room. And that doesn't change, you know, we're dealing with a different age group. I want the bride to feel like the most important person in the room. I want every bar guest to feel that way, and I want every little kiddo that has any dealings with us to feel special. And we do a great job, I gotta say, we do a great job of it.

SPEAKER_02:

That's that's amazing. That you know, there's we live in a world now where not everybody likes people. And so people like you are rare and very needed and valuable. I do have one more question for you, if it doesn't offend you. Is there any hardship in your life that's happened that you don't really wear in your smile that that that brought you to be the person that you are today that you'd like to share with us that you overcame, made you a stronger person?

SPEAKER_00:

Sure, yeah. You know, there's been a couple. Um, I think I I was a young entrepreneur. Um, so I think that was difficult. I started my first business in my early 20s, and I don't think I was taken seriously. And then I'm a girl of a pretty small stature. I stand about four, ten and a half at my tallest day. So I think there was a little bit of an underdog, kind of had to learn how to be secure in myself and push forward without throwing my weight around, you know. So I tend to be of the mindset that you get more bees with honey. So I think it has made me softer, you know, learning how to kind of work that. Um, and then unfortunately, in 2019, um, we had a very planned, very exciting pregnancy. Um, and I, right when we got our nursery set up and we were pretty much ready to go, I went into a routine doctor's appointment pretty close to delivery date and found out that my daughter had suffered from a cord accident. Um, so my daughter was stillborn in 2019. Um taking a lot of therapy, obviously, to get through that story okay without bursting into tears. Um, but it changes your perspective. Um, at that time we were a pretty large, pretty successful event business. Um, and I had to take a step back, you know, realize that family, I've always known that family was more important than anything, but also I was important, you know, I mattered. My emotional and mental health, it mattered. Um, so it changed my perspective. And I think that now I do tend to slow down, you know, even in our event business, I pulled our phone number off of our website. I don't want to be called when I'm with my kid, you know, and that's just I'll I'll trade the money for the freedom, you know. And I never thought I would say that. I've always been a type A Leo go-getter, you know, crush it. But now I definitely take the time to appreciate what I have and not take it for granted.

SPEAKER_02:

So what are thank you, Gina? Um, I'm not gonna ask you for a phone number now, but what are all of the other ways that people can get in touch with Little Hands Play Studio online, social media?

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. Um, so easiest way to get a hold of us is probably through our website, very long name. So um Nick will probably have to put it down somewhere for you, but it's www.littlehandsplaystudio.com. And we stay pretty up to date on that website, so you can check out all of our local um activities that we're a part of. We're sponsoring the pumpkin decorating um out at FOCO Fall Fest in Old Town Town Square in Fort Collins. We're the sponsor of that, so it's free to the public. We have about 500 pumpkins that have been donated by Fort Collins Nursery that we'll be doing some really fun stuff with, not just painting. Um, and then yeah, we have our camps on there. We have some camps coming up on Children's Day off um in October and November. You can check out our classes there, check out our birthday parties and book from there. So I'd say that's the best one. You can pop on Facebook or Instagram, but like I said, I'm a I'm an old millennial, so I'm not as good at those avenues as I am the website.

SPEAKER_02:

So understood. Well, Gina, we really appreciate you being on our show, and we wish you and Little Hands Play Studio the very best moving forward.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much, Nick. I really appreciate your time today, and thank you, everyone, who tuned in. Have a great weekend, everyone.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gmpfortcollins.com. That's gmpfortcollins.com or call nine seven zero four three eight zero eight two five.