daycare, playgroups, baby gym etc...what have you tried and recommend?

[Nikita]

Has anyone found any daycare centres, playgroups or other early childhood activities outside the home that have incorporated true early learning activities? I find playgroups good for socialising baby with babies, and with adults and older kids, and also for learning to enjoy nursery rhymes and song actions.  One playgroup I go to is for under 2s specifically, so there's a lot of toys and I dont have to do pasting, cutting etc activities. I think eating together is good for teaching baby about what is expected of them, and they get to see what they need to learn to do, like eating by themselves, using a spoon, drinking from a cup.  Monkey see, monkey do...

Another playgroup I go to is for age birth to 5, but associated with it is a program of simple daily activities for us to take home and do For $1 a week that is age-relevant, helping improve fine and gross motor skills, listening, speech etc.

Years ago I did a church-run playgroup, which involved memorising bible verses.  That was good for learning to read as each week the kids would get a sticker for their book with a verse on it, the idea being to fill up a book with stickers. They also memorised a psalm, by doing actions with the words.

I dont think daycare is conducive to early potty training... I just cant think of any centre I know of that would let babies run around naked and pop them on potties all day... that'd probably violated health regulations and be too much like hard work. Apparently kids many years ago were toilet trained by 18 months but it's got later and later. That probably has a lot to do with daycare and mothers working... the parents arent around all day to do the potty-training and the caregivers aren't going to do it.

I did do a YMCA toddler gym and a kiddie music thing years back but didn't find them worth the money.  Might try again, and also look into baby sign classes. Anyone heard of Makaton sign? Thats something speech pathologists are using now for developmentally delayed kids to get them communicating. Might be good for clever kids too...

[Redheaded1]

Matteson has been going to Gymboree since she was 3 weeks old on the advice of my wonderful sisters.  It's been excellent for her learning physical skills and I find that she has been ready to move up to the next level about a month earlier than normallly suggested.  I attribute this to starting so early (gee sounds like a familiar principal huh? )  We've also started going to their music class and she seems to like that as well.  Like it sounds, focus is more on music and rhythm, shaking noise makers in time and beating on drums and such.  If you are unfamiliar with Gymboree, here is a blurb from thier website

Why Gymboree?
We're the Global Leader in Classes for Kids
Gymboree Play & Music has been fostering creativity and confidence in children ages 0-5 for over 30 years. Today there are over 550 locations in 30 countries, making us the global leader in early childhood development programs. Designed by experts, our age-appropriate activities help develop the cognitive, physical and social skills of children as they play. Our programs are also recognized for their unique approach to parent involvement—which encourages participation in and understanding of each child’s development.

I have absolutly no connection to Gymboree, just a satisfied mommy who has fun watching her baby learn and develop both mentally and physically!   

[nhockaday]

How much do the classes cost?

[Redheaded1]

I belive that they start at $65/month for a once a week class and you can also go to what they call "open gym" which is where there is no structured class, kids can just come in and play with all the great "stuff" they have (tunnels,bridges,steps,parachutes,balls) and then you can add classes for additional costs. 

[nhockaday]

I was just looking at their site, and there is only one in my area, and it is not close! 

[Redheaded1]

That's unfortunate!     I know there are other "kiddie gyms" like Gymboree, but my feeling is with an independantly owned gym, you never know what you will get, they might be great, they might not be.   

[Nikita]

I noticed another gymnastics centre near me has kinder gym/kiddie gym. I recommend contact YMCA and gymnastic centres as they often run these sorts of things, and who better to teach gymnastic movement type things than ex-gymnasts and gymnastics coaches.  If they show skill they might want to continue in gymnastics at that centre.  I tend to put my money into brain-building items and not on the body-focussed activities, although it all works together to increase brain neuron connections, as it's all about learning new things.

[linzy]

We do a gymnastics class once a week.  My soon loves it.  He works on hanging on the bars, jumping on the trampoline, sommersaulting, walking the balance beam and many other activities.  I like that the activities align well with what doman suggests.  Also Blaise can play with some other kids, work on following directions and just get out of the house a bit. 

[NBailey]

We go to Gymbaroo (I think it's the Australian version of Gymbaree) once a week http://www.gymbaroo.com.au/. My son is 6 months old and loves it. I started taking him at 4 months after my sister in law recommended it and I think it has played a part in his physical develpment. He was quite slow in lifting his head as a young baby and didn't really like to be on his belly (I have since read the Doman book on being physically superb and now know that I didn't really allow enough time on the floor early on). Since taking him to Gymbaroo he became really interested in the activities and made an effort to lift his head to see what was going on. He also really enjoys interacting with other children. You can't wipe the smile off his face.
We use different types of equipment in the class to encourage movement and rolling, slides, tunnels, trampolines, fit balls, ball pits etc... The older kids use monkey bars.
We get together as a group and sing songs and use actions to encourage vestibular development. We do eye tracking exercises (bubbles, feathers). We do massage using different textures and look at flash words with matching pictures on the other side and a toy relating to the subject as well. (different topic each week). As an example, this week we did fox so we looked at the word fox, a picture of a fox and a toy fox.
I think that by doing Doman activities at home and Gymbaroo and swimming classes (we do heaps of fun songs and activities at swimming too) has really helped my son.
He went from not really being able to lift his head to commando crawling everywhere at 5 1/2 months (started doman activities at 5 months, although not perfectly). He has just turned 6 months and is getting up on his hands and knees so I am sure it wont be too long before he starts creeping!

[Grover]

All my children have tried the play schools at a young age. I found it very useful as it helped their fine motor schools, imagination, and most importantly their social interation! I truly recommend it, especially to mothers who have children with ASD.

[ksomom]

I was just looking at their site, and there is only one in my area, and it is not close! 

There is also My Gym and Little Gym, both are like Gymboree.  There is a place by us called Rollie Pollies gym and they do similar stuff... I like them much more than gymboree for what we want out of the program- but it's just a personal preference.  I know that some "big kid" gymnastics schools have little kid and mommy & me programs too.  And there are other "mom and pop" gyms just like gymboree but are smaller businesses and run locally- you may be able to find one by searching for baby or toddler gym classes or something like that.

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