Tag: child development

Summer

Keep Your Young Child Busy in The Summer

Your memories of summer camp probably include making lanyards and archery. But, let’s be honest, no one wants to see a two-year old with a bow and arrow!

At Gymboree Play & Music, you can build your child’s own “summer camp” experience – “hiking” across a variety of playscapes, exploring our Gymcushion tent, doing craft projects, or singing songs with friends – with a variety of programs that are sure to delight you and your child:

  • Play & Learn: our original, and signature, program that grows with your child from birth to kindergarten
  • Music: get your little Swiftie moving and grooving to a variety of musical styles from around the world
  • Art: every child has creativity just waiting to be unleashed. But how much better is it when the accompanying mess is somewhere other than your house!
  • Preschool prep: we offer a fun, no stress way to gently introduce your child to independent learning, with parent/child play time followed by a gentle separation time
  • Preschool: our School Skills program is an easy transition to fully independent learning, preparing them for kindergarten

As always, all our play-based programs support your child’s physical, cognitive and social-emotional development.

Pick your favorite, or combine a few, for a fun summer at your local Gymboree Play & Music location that will keep your child busy, happy and learning.

Child Development

Achievement Can Be Measured In So Many Ways

Achievement can be measured in so many ways in a young child’s life:

  • for young babies, it could be turning their head in the direction of an auditory stimulus
  • for older babies, it could be progressing from rocking back and forth on all fours to crawling forward
  • for young toddlers, it could be taking first steps without holding a grownup’s hand
  • for older toddlers, it could be joining a group activity or engaging in “parallel play” with another child
  • for preschoolers, it could be going into a classroom without their adult for the first time

At Gymboree Play & Music, we have had the great honor of being there to support the development of young children for over four decades, witnessing these achievements and many others.

We recognize that children do not all develop at the same pace, or even hit all the same “goals”, which is why we take a child-centered approach and follow their lead.

With programs that grow with your child from birth to kindergarten, we are the perfect partner to foster your child’s growth and independence.

Find a Gymboree Play & Music location near you, and start celebrating your child’s achievements with us!

Child Development

Unlock Your Child’s Potential Through Play

Why is play-based learning so important? It has been linked to 21st century learning skills, fostering:

🌟 Collaboration: working in collaboration with other children can build confidence and build an understanding of others’ diverse perspectives.

🌟 Communication: skills essential for learning, helping children express their thoughts, feelings and ideas

🌟 Critical thinking: helping children make good decisions, understand the consequence of their actions and solve problems

🌟 Creative innovation: using their natural inquisitiveness and imagination, exploring new ideas

🌟 Confidence: play empowers children to make their own choices, cultivate skills through trial and error, and discover what fulfills them

🌟 Social-emotional development: through play, children are able to freely express their emotions, helping them to understand and manage their feelings

🌟 Language development: through play, children learn to use language to express their thoughts and ideas, and they also learn to listen and respond to others

Kind of makes it obvious why Gymboree Play & Music‘s programs have been based on play-based learning for over four decades!

Find a Gymboree Play & Music location near you today, to enter your child’s world of play and support their physical, cognitive and social-emotional development.

Child Development

Support Your Toddler’s Development

Toddlers are magical!

Everything in their world is new and exciting. Their physical and language skills are expanding daily. They are fascinated by every new object and experience they encounter. And they are BUSY!

It can be hard to keep up with all that toddler energy, day in and day out. They need a release, and you need a fun outlet for them.

That’s why Gymboree Play & Music is here! We give toddlers a safe place to run, climb, slide and explore. We foster their development where they are, giving them just enough challenge to inspire, but not frustrate. We introduce them to language concepts, supported by physical activities that reinforce them. All this in a colorful, engaging landscape that beckons them to try something new and spread their wings.

Child Development, Play & Learn Classes

Check Out the Handleball!

I’m just one of the many pieces of equipment that your child will use during their class at Gymboree Play & Music, from our youngest members in the Babies class all the way up to our “big kids” in our preschool classes!

I look really big to your little one but – SURPRISE – I’m full of air, so I’m not heavy at all! And whether they are sitting on top, rocking, bouncing, rolling or pushing me, there’s a whole lotta learning going on:

  • Being up high when they sit or lie on top helps build confidence
  • Rocking helps build core strength, and bouncing helps promote coordination
  • Rolling or pushing me across the floor promotes motor planning, problem solving and coordination; plus teamwork, cooperation and turn-taking are all supported
  • Talk about imagination: I can be a boulder they push up a hill, or a tree to pick apples from!

All of my equipment friends and I are specially designed to challenge and support the development of children from newborns to preschoolers. Best of all, we make learning fun! Find a Gymboree Play & Music location near you.

Child Development, Community, Play & Learn Classes

First Friends

There’s something about watching your little one recognize and connect with another one that just makes you feel all warm and gooey inside.

Those first “friends” are so important. While babies don’t “play” with each other, they may stare, babble, or scream excitedly back and forth. They may also ignore each other at times, which is ok too!

At Gymboree Play & Music, we give you and your little one ample opportunities to connect with other children, adults and families in a warm, inviting space.

It’s never too early, or too late, for your family to join our family at Gymboree Play & Music.

Child Development, Music Classes, Play & Learn Classes

Growing Young Minds: Music

“Music is life. That’s why our hearts have beats.”

Cecily Morgan

From the youngest age, children are inspired by music. A baby will turn their head in the direction of the sound. Young toddlers will wiggle, bounce and shimmy along to the beat. And preschoolers will move with defined purpose, even following simple choreography!

The importance of music in early education is clearly documented:

  • Music supports sensory development: exposing your child to different types of music can help create more pathways between the cells in their brains.
  • Music can improve literacy and numeracy: from an early age, babies can hear the difference between different types of sounds. Exposure to music enhances a child’s natural ability to decode sounds and words, and helps them anticipate what is coming next in a song and how to put these sounds in a sequence.
  • Music helps build coordination: music encourages your child to move, developing their fine and gross motor skills.
  • Music helps develop vocabulary: even if your child doesn’t understand the words to a song at first, they develop their understanding by identifying the storytelling within it.
  • Music supports social-emotional development: nothing sparks more joy that a group of little ones all moving to the beat together!

That’s why music is an important part of all our classes at Gymboree Play & Music. Find a location near you.

Child Development, Play, Play & Learn Classes

Learning Through Play

Children of every culture use play to communicate, create and express their thoughts and feelings.

Entering your child’s world and “speaking their language” is what makes learning-through-play so powerful.

Play-based learning has been the foundation of Gymboree Play & Music‘s programs for over 45 years, supporting the physical, cognitive and social-emotional development of children from birth to kindergarten. Children are given the physical and emotional space to explore and learn at their own pace, with a variety of programs that grow with your child.

Find a Gymboree Play & Music location near you, and immerse yourself in your child’s world of play today!

Child Development, Preschool

Get Ready for Preschool!

There comes a time in every little one’s life when they have to transition from having their grownup by their side to facing the world on their own. Some move on with a smile on their face, never looking back. Others have a hard time, with lots of tears. Meanwhile, the grownup is dealing with all of the emotion around their “baby” no longer being one.

We understand how difficult that transition can sometimes be. That’s why, at Gymboree Play & Music, our programs grow with your child – from adult/child for our younger ones, to classes that include a parent-separation time, to our fully-independent School Skills preschool program – supporting their development from birth to kindergarten.

Our programs help foster the self-reliance your little one needs to brave their new world of independent learning with minimal tears and lots of smiles.

Find a Gymboree Play & Music location near you.

Child Development

Growing Young Minds

As a parent, you know what your child’s body needs to grow up strong and healthy: nutritious food (when they’ll eat it), plenty of rest (when they don’t fight it), and fresh air and sunshine (weather permitting).

But your little one’s brain also needs nourishment. While they are young, they need to be exposed to a variety of experiences, and allowed to experiment, investigate, make mistakes and try again. Play-based learning, music and art all support your child’s cognitive development, with their physical and social-emotional development as an added bonus!

It’s why we do what we do. Gymboree Play & Music has been supporting the development of young children for over 45 years, with a variety of engaging programs that grow with your child from birth to kindergarten.