We turn everyday caregiving into a professional practice that optimizes safety, growth, and daily joy. Our curriculum is designed to transform supervision into active facilitation, ensuring every moment at home is an opportunity for development.
By emphasizing expert-led training, understanding around developmental milestones, and a shared language between parents and caregivers, we establish a gold standard for the modern household where excellence is expected and delivered.
Our Mission: Training caregivers to be the best they can be.
The Core Curriculum: Pillars of Excellence.
Certification That Means Something.
The completion of our intensive training curriculum earns caregivers a recognized credential that reflects mastery in developmental facilitation, safety standards, and linguistic enrichment.
Verification is central to our promise; families can confirm the certification status of any practitioner through the Union Square Play educational registry.
Meet Our Experts
Jennie Monness
Jennie is an early childhood educator, parenting expert, and co-founder of Union Square Play. With more than 20 years of experience and a Master’s degree in Psychology in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, Jennie has dedicated her career to helping families better understand children through the lens of development rather than behavior. As a RIE® Educaring Approach Associate, her work is grounded in respect, connection, and trust in children's competence.
Michelle Tiflinsky, MS, OTR/L
Michelle is a pediatric occupational therapist and founder of Purposeful Play NYC. With over 10 years of experience, she supports little ones from birth through school age in areas like sensory integration, motor skills, and daily routines. Michelle believes therapy should feel like play, and that building a child’s confidence and self-esteem is the most important part of the work.
Dionne Kamara
Dionne specializes in conceptual-based dance pedagogy and neurodevelopmental patterning for infants and toddlers, and serves as the Director of Movement at USP and a long-time professional dancer and educator. Her work is heavily grounded in the principles of Brain-Compatible Dance Education and Anne Green Gilbert’s sequential "BrainDance" methodology. She is passionate about equipping caregivers with the tools to turn simple supervision into active facilitation, fostering presence-driven connection between caregivers and children.
Anya Pierre, MS, OTR/L
Anya is a licensed occupational therapist and certified American Red Cross instructor with extensive experience supporting both pediatric development and clinical care. Anya is dedicated to empowering caregivers with critical safety foundations, ensuring they possess the life-saving technical mastery and confidence required for pediatric first aid and CPR.
Brandie Rubinstein, M.S., CCC-SLP
Brandie is a New York State licensed and ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and co-founder of Look Who’s Talking. She specializes in early language development, social communication, articulation, early literacy, and supporting children with ASD and hearing loss. Brandie is passionate about helping little ones find their voices and build functional communication skills that support them socially and academically.
Ali Bandier, MS, RD, CDN
Ali is a Registered Dietitian, mom of two, and founder of Senta Health, specializing in pediatric and maternal nutrition. She earned her Master's in Nutrition from Columbia University and trained at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, including in its Feeding Clinic. Ali is also a certified Maternal and Child Health Leader and serves on the Children’s Health Council at Weill Cornell Medicine. Through her private practice she combines evidence-based nutrition with practical strategies to help families thrive.
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