ClassesS

[twogirlsmommy]

Don't know where to post so feel free to move if needed. 

My dd just turned a year this month and I was thinking about the fall and how I would love to get her involved in some sort of class/story time one day a week.  Right now I belong to a moms group and we do somethings with them but to be honest it gets ridiculouse because they tend to schedule things all in one week and I get tired of trying to be out of the house at a certain time.    I am also not looking to pay hundreds of dollars for a class yet because I realize she is still young.  I found a gym class that is about $100 bucks a month for a class a week from like Sept to Dec.  I also found to library programs that are free that do story time, activity, singing songs, games and a snack.  My question after this long drawn out story is what do you do or did you do with your toddler at this stage?

Any advice would be helpful

[Mum-of-Two]

My DD was first and I worked part time so we went to a lot of library story times.  We also found through our local hosptial affiliate a $25 gym type class (she was 2 then).  My son, we do nothing the poor guy.  Mostly because I work more now.  But he has his sister when she had nothing and he gets exposed to more play dates then she ever had.

[We Three]

We joined a mommy & me playgroup when dd was 10 months...sit in a circle, sing songs, do a craft, have a snack, have some free play, blow some bubbles, go home!  45 minutes, and it was so sweet...!  Met alot of other Moms that way too.

I tried Musical Munchkins when dd was 17 months...she hated it, too noisy for her sensitive soul...it was a fortune, though.   

Libraries have some great programs...maybe also check for baby yoga, which I can't seem to locate anywhere near me, but would love to!

[*Becky*]

we do tumble tots which is a physical activity session which ds does with his dad when i am at work. it is about £5.50 a session and i think def worth the money.

i used to take Henry swimming to a class which was expensive i.e. about £12 a class. I gave up recently as he was not enjoying it and tbh i am quite relieved as far as the money goes.

we also used to do music classes which he really enjoyed to start with at about 10 months but at about 18 months he was far too spirited to sit still for long enough and was more interested in watching the tractors outside. also his dad is a musician so he gets lots of music at home!

then we do a mums group which is free and which i am really liking at the moment. He can choose which toys to play with and they do a story and song time which is v sweet.
bx

[~*Nicole*~]

I did find a group in my area of other moms using meetup.com but then never had time to meet up with them and sort of fell out of looking at their planned activities, but it could be useful to you. Often they already know of places in the area to go and meet up at them or do their own playdates, etc.

The library has great story times and crafts, etc.

I REALLY wanted to take DD to The Little Gym or Gymboree but it was SO expensive. I am going to look into joining a YMCA swim class perhaps. I keep putting that off but I really want to have something lined up for fall and winter as we don't get out as much in the cold and she gets bored.

[Mashi]

When DS turned one I started taking him to a parent and child playgroup. It's 2hours one morning a week and free.  I didn't sign up for any of the 8-10 week long "programs" at that age because they were always at inconvenient times around naps and meals and I didn't want to commit to a place and take it from someone else (the good ones in our city are limited to 8-12 children and spots go quickly) and I didn't want to pay for something and then end up only going to 3/10 classes due to naps or meals (a lot of them seem to be from 330pm - 530 pm which really seems strange to me- you get home at 6pm and have to make and feed dinner, get LO into bed all in an hour, that's a rush for me!)

Also I found that from about 14/15-18/19 months, going through the 2-1 switch led to a lot of uncertainty with what time nap would be so that was another reason I didn't want to sign up for anything and commit/pay for it.  As it was with my 930-1130 playgroup we only made it half of the time.

This spring when DS was about 19 or 20 months I started going to one of the 330-530 playgroups (3.50 Euro a session but you don't sign up and commit, you just pay on the days you go) and it is a huge rush to get home and have dinner but we manage it most weeks now though I probably won't take him in winter when it will be a longer trip home (I don't drive here so it's bike or bus).

I did take him to lots of activities but just on my own - we have an indoor soft play center (though it's not a very good one esp compared to some I have seen in England!) and a really good water park (like big tube slides, lazy river, wave pool, kids water garden, etc) and at least then I could come and go on my own time but I still felt he got just as much out of it as he would have if it had been an organised class...there would be other kids there and he could choose to interact or not (though there is not really that much interaction until closer to 2yo and even then it is parallel play and not so much "playing together") and still see other kids playing, and so on. I didn't meet many moms that way (made one good friend that I met at the swimming pool once) but that's also because I'm an expat here and don't speak the language

[grace annes mommy]

My DD was about 1 when we started doing things like this.  She was moving to 1 nap by then, and it was easier to get out at a scheduled time.  I was also desperate for the socializing.  We do the library storytimes. They are really fantastic. We actually rotate a couple libraries depending on what we've got going on for the week.  We did/do Music Together which is not cheap but I really love.  We are taking a bit of a break, bc my DD is also a sensitive soul, and is in a super touchy phase right now.  When she's into it she loves it. If anything else is bugging her, it becomes too loud and too much.  Recently we did a toddler class at a nature center which we really loved.  Story, craft, meet and pet an animal! So fun!  And very casual. Also very affordable.  I'd love to try one of they Gym-type classes but have been reluctant bc I'm honestly not sure if DD will like them.  It could go either way - her spirited/touchy soul keeps me guessing.
My advice would be to try something free - like the library - just to see how it goes.  As a rule of thumb here, we only commit to one paid for class at a time.  I find that feeling like I HAVE to be somewhere once a week is enough at this point.  The rest of the days we fill with free, more casual activities.