When enrolling in my free trial class at My Gym in Exton, I thought, "how much different from Gymboree can it be?" The answer: COMPLETELY different.
The set up of My Gym looks like an actual gym, but miniaturized. There are padded floor mats, miniture basketball nets with tiny basketballs, a balance beam, slides, a trampoline, ladders to climb and even a rock wall. Not that I expected my baby to do a spiderman routine...at least I hoped that wasn't on the agenda. I can't imagine another toddler belaying with their short attention spans. My Gym impressed me with its dedication to being a gym and not just a romper room for babies. They appeared serious about fitness.
We started the class with the usual circle time but instead of just silly songs, there were actual stretches for the baby. The gym instructor taught us how to flip our babies in the air, and we had the babies walking and jumping too. It was very labor intensive.
After circle time, the gym instructor created an obstacle course of tunnels, spring boards, padded stairs, ramps, and balance beams for the babies to explore. This was again, a lot of activity for the baby, but she made it around the circuit twice.
I was expecting this to be it, but then the instructor brought out a long knotted rope attached to the ceiling for babies to swing from like Tarzan. I honestly couldn't believe any 9 month old would be capable of doing this. Heck, I could never climb a rope in gym class myself, but some babies actually did it! I was more than a little impressed.
The next activity was practicing handstands while grasping these push-up bars. My daughter really loved this and flexed her biceps and triceps while upside down and impressed the hell out of the instructor. That's our girl!
As if this wasn't enough, The instructors then brought out six swings and connected them to chains extending from the ceiling (I had wondered what the chains were about, but seeing that they looked like the set from a horror movie, I didn't have the nerve to ask). Babies got into the swings and had a blast!
Finally, after an hour of activity, it was circle time again. They sang songs and played with a puppet, but we left early. Our child was exhausted. Ifyou have a kid that won't nap...I strongly suggest My Gym therapy. We were n the Tiny Tikes class (if you click on the link, you can see a video...but it doesn't do the class justice.)
Now the bad part: the price. If you go to their Fall Enrollment Night, they'll waive the $75 Lifetime New Member fee and get $10 off the first month of classes. I'm not sure if it's $72 per class...I hope not, I'll have to get back to you on that. The website isn't the clearest about the price, and I didn't stick around to get the sales pitch. However, even if it's that expensive, you do get your money's worth!
I'm going to check out Gymboree in Collegeville to see what they have to offer next. Until then, happy exercising!
Showing posts with label baby gyms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby gyms. Show all posts
Friday, August 5, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Babies Need to Work Out Too: Gymboree Review
I happen to hang out with a lot of moms either online or in person and that's how I discovered that babies can get their own gym memberships. I'm not talking about at the YMCA; I mean they have gyms specifically for babies. I tried to imagine my tiny tot lifting foam weights and doing squats for a pacifier. What the heck do they do at a baby gym?
I went about investigating. I was stunned to find there were THREE different baby gyms in the area: Gymboree, The Little Gym, and My Gym. I've heard varying reports about each, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and go undercover to discover which baby gym offers the best bang for your buck. This will be a three part expose!
Today, I visited the King of Prussia Gymboree location for my free "Play and Learn 2" class for babies 6-10 nonths old. First, the location is a bit confusing to find, I'm very glad I took extra time to find it. Look for signs because the building is set way back off the street.
Once I get there, I'm greeted by an overworked woman who explains that she's trying desperately to get her lunch in between her five classes of toddlers. Someone called in sick. Still, despite the exhaustion she must have felt, she kept it upbeat and cheery. I appreciate that.
I'm told that the babies can go into the gym barefoot, but parents have to wear socks. I look down at my sandels. Who wears socks with sandels in the summer? Not me. Fortunately, they have a basket of loaner socks for parents. Seems like this faux paus is common enough to require a back up system. If they had mentioned it on the web site, I might have come prepared.
The gym itself is a huge padded room with huge padded jungle gym toys. There's tiny slides, a wooden train to ride in, stuff to crawl over and around. It really does look like nirvana for babies.
The class of about 14 babies starts with circle time and songs. We stretch the babies out while singing songs. My baby absolutely loved seeing so many babies doing "airplanes" on their mommy's shins. Then the babies played with balls, while the mommies went around the circle and discussed child care options we've tried. That was a nice touch, because I got some really valuable info.
Afterwards, our teacher brings out little scooters and explains that the week's theme is "riding." Hence, riding a scooter will help with balance. My child really hated this part, but a lot of babies loved it. I have to admit they looked really cute on scooters.
After scooter time, they "rode" the slide (with parental support) and other movable objects like big wheels and trains. While my little girl liked this, it took us out of the circle where the babies could play and crawl together, and forced us to interact with our babies alone again. The whole reason I go to these things is so Callie can play with other babies, so this was a minus for me.
We did get back into a circle for bubbles and parachute time. Once again, we sang songs and then it was over. The babies all looked a little worn by this time. A little over stimulated to say the least. I know babies don't have the longest attention spans, but you really do move through activities kind of fast and furious. I felt tired afterwards too!
However, if you are going for a trial run, be prepared to get the sales pitch afterwards. Classes are fairly expensive at $71 a month and that includes 4 classes (1 a week) and free "open gym" times. However, for my girl's age bracket that would be twice a week. If you took advantage of ALL the "open gym" times and the four classes, it amounts to about $6 a visit. But if you are only going to the classes it's about $18 per visit. There's also $45 new member fee too to take into consideration.
There is a $10/month discount for buying a four-month subscription membership. So you'd pay $61 a month. But I can't even get my own ass to a gym for four months in a row...I'm not sure I can manage that for my daughter either. And in all honesty, MOST of the activities we did at Gymboree, we also did at the Phoenixville Library's Baby Story Time, and that was FREE. Just saying.
Meet me back here for Part 2 of our exploration of baby gyms when I visit the Collegeville Gymboree and The Little Gym in Exton.
I went about investigating. I was stunned to find there were THREE different baby gyms in the area: Gymboree, The Little Gym, and My Gym. I've heard varying reports about each, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and go undercover to discover which baby gym offers the best bang for your buck. This will be a three part expose!
Today, I visited the King of Prussia Gymboree location for my free "Play and Learn 2" class for babies 6-10 nonths old. First, the location is a bit confusing to find, I'm very glad I took extra time to find it. Look for signs because the building is set way back off the street.
Once I get there, I'm greeted by an overworked woman who explains that she's trying desperately to get her lunch in between her five classes of toddlers. Someone called in sick. Still, despite the exhaustion she must have felt, she kept it upbeat and cheery. I appreciate that.
I'm told that the babies can go into the gym barefoot, but parents have to wear socks. I look down at my sandels. Who wears socks with sandels in the summer? Not me. Fortunately, they have a basket of loaner socks for parents. Seems like this faux paus is common enough to require a back up system. If they had mentioned it on the web site, I might have come prepared.
The gym itself is a huge padded room with huge padded jungle gym toys. There's tiny slides, a wooden train to ride in, stuff to crawl over and around. It really does look like nirvana for babies.
The class of about 14 babies starts with circle time and songs. We stretch the babies out while singing songs. My baby absolutely loved seeing so many babies doing "airplanes" on their mommy's shins. Then the babies played with balls, while the mommies went around the circle and discussed child care options we've tried. That was a nice touch, because I got some really valuable info.
Afterwards, our teacher brings out little scooters and explains that the week's theme is "riding." Hence, riding a scooter will help with balance. My child really hated this part, but a lot of babies loved it. I have to admit they looked really cute on scooters.
After scooter time, they "rode" the slide (with parental support) and other movable objects like big wheels and trains. While my little girl liked this, it took us out of the circle where the babies could play and crawl together, and forced us to interact with our babies alone again. The whole reason I go to these things is so Callie can play with other babies, so this was a minus for me.
We did get back into a circle for bubbles and parachute time. Once again, we sang songs and then it was over. The babies all looked a little worn by this time. A little over stimulated to say the least. I know babies don't have the longest attention spans, but you really do move through activities kind of fast and furious. I felt tired afterwards too!
However, if you are going for a trial run, be prepared to get the sales pitch afterwards. Classes are fairly expensive at $71 a month and that includes 4 classes (1 a week) and free "open gym" times. However, for my girl's age bracket that would be twice a week. If you took advantage of ALL the "open gym" times and the four classes, it amounts to about $6 a visit. But if you are only going to the classes it's about $18 per visit. There's also $45 new member fee too to take into consideration.
There is a $10/month discount for buying a four-month subscription membership. So you'd pay $61 a month. But I can't even get my own ass to a gym for four months in a row...I'm not sure I can manage that for my daughter either. And in all honesty, MOST of the activities we did at Gymboree, we also did at the Phoenixville Library's Baby Story Time, and that was FREE. Just saying.
Meet me back here for Part 2 of our exploration of baby gyms when I visit the Collegeville Gymboree and The Little Gym in Exton.
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