This one's for the kids

CRESTVIEW — In a span of three to four weeks, Michael King, his wife Ruth, and their daughter Monnie Villanea transformed a former church building into a colorful play arena for children from crawlers to 12-year-olds.

Jumpin Beans Playzone has a variety of options for kids at reasonable prices. Children younger than 4 years old with the ability to walk or crawl can spend all day at the play zone for $8 and the all-day price for children 4 to 12 years old is $10.

King, an Army veteran, said they chose these prices knowing the military presence in Crestview.

“I’m retired military, and I want to keep it reasonable for the military families,” King said.

Inside the main area, the room is filled with bouncy castles and inflatable slides. Children can also meander their way through the inflatable obstacle course.

For those not interested in the inflatable options, the main area also has games like foosball and “Connect Four” and a giant projector screen where kids can watch movies. The day of the grand opening, the 2016 Dreamworks animated film “Trolls" was playing.

Outside the main area, the play zone features a toddler room, and a room for teenagers who are looking to play air hockey or videogames.

King said they felt something like this was needed in the Crestview community because the closest play zone was at least a 30 minute drive.

“We did some research, and there’s nothing like this in Crestview,” King said. “We have four grandkids located here, and we always had to take them down to Niceville, Fort Walton, Panama, or Pensacola for something like this.”

It was a quick turn around from the moment they found the building to the grand opening. Villanea said they spent all hours of the day painting and setting up the play areas. The inflatable slides and bouncy houses came from California.

“It was very stressful,” Villanea said. “I’m hoping after today the stress calms down, but the most stressful part about opening a business like this is finding a building big enough.”

The play zone offers birthday party packages for up to 30 kids.

Villanea said they provide whatever party theme is requested on the package form. The party rooms are upstairs with one toddler room downstairs.

The King family hopes to eventually expand their business if the community reaction is good.

“We anticipate doing really, really well. If we do, maybe we can go into a bigger building,” Villanea said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: This one's for the kids