Best Class for 16-Month-old

We love Gymboree. I have a 16-month-old and a 3-year-old and they love it! Also, we love to go to the Phoenix Children's Museum.

We don't have access to those things where I live but if we did I would do some of them. I have a 3-1/2 year old boy but if I had a daughter I would check out those places for arts and crafts. One of my neices loved it. She made all sorts of stuff. Let her get her hands dirty with clay and it doesn't matter what it looks like. THe same place also hade ceramic that she could paint on and they seal it with laquer. This way she feels like she's accomplished something that is special to her and you. And no, she isn't too young for those places. You'd be amazed at what a 16 month year old could do! The other options sound good too, especially for interaction around other children- make sure she's active like the little gym. Maybe you can do two things a week=)

We absolutely love the Little Gym. I've been taking my son there for over 2 1/2 yrs. The instructors are great about teaching why they are doing what they are doing. There are specific development things they are working on and the kids just look at it as a great place to go play! I've gotten to know the staff there really well and talked with them a lot about the classes and it is amazing how much training goes in to being an instructor, they really care about the kids.
Good luck with your choice!

Hi M.,

How nice of your momma to offer such a great present. One thing I'm looking foward to is being able to do these types of things for my girls and their families. I have a ways to go since they are only 3 1/2 and 19 months.

My 3 1/2 year old goes to gold cup gymnastics and we love love love it. Alena, the preschool director and also her teacher is awesome and so fun. They have a mommy and me class on Thursdays and Fridays in the mornings. Alena also teaches this. I am considering putting my 19 month old in the mommy and me program. It is $45 dollars a year for registration and $55 a month.

The Taylor Ranch community center also has some neat classes. They have a class for young toddlers, it is a movement class. you can look up the info at cabq.gov and go to community centers. I believe that particular class is only $20 month.

Have fun!!!

The best class/activity is Gymboree! It's so fun and you can do it forever, they even have music and art, my 22 month old and I love it and do it every week. We just brought my one month old son with us today to play, and if your in Chandler theres one really close to you.

I'm in Albuquerque, but I'm sure that you have this in Arizona as well. My kids and I absolutely LOVED Kindermusik. if you go to Kindermusik.com I'm sure you can find a teacher through there. Really... It was soooo much fun and very different from the typical gym time stuff. I'm sure whatever you choose to do will be a great growing time for you and your daughter. God bless!

My 9-month-old daughter and I are doing "the rounds," too. We've tried Gymboree and The Little Gym. Personally, I liked Gymboree better (and they have more "open dates" options--more bang for you buck). I'm also planning to spend my "one free class" tickets for "Joyful Noise Arts Academy" and "Junior Jumps/Bonce n' Boogie." All of these places let you do one free trial. I'd suggest you do "the rounds" before you make a decision. I'm a full-time working mom, looking for something fun to do with baby on the weekend. She's already socialized (in daycare), so it was more for me & her (not for her to meet other kids). Good luck!

I've taken classes from all of those places when my oldest was newborn, up until he was 3 and Gymboree (in my opinion) was the BEST! We had so much fun together. It's so cute and fun to meet other moms! You'll love whatever you choose to do together!

My advice would be to find one you can stomach, um, I mean enjoy. ;) Most of the places like gymboree offer trial lessons. Go and try one and see how you both do. I think that's going to be the best way to determine what works best. I made the mistake of signing my son up for a kindermusic class and it was the most annoying (for me) thing ever. Had I tried a class, I think I would have been able to find something better such as a gymboree or Little Gym class. My guy was just too active to sit through all the songs.

You may want to consider swim classes together. That would be great fun and learn a lifelong safety skill at the same time. I know Hubbard Family Swim School does a great job. They have 2 locations that I know of (32nd St. & T-bird and also one at T-bird and loop 101). There are great mom and me gymnastics classes at Oasis gymnastics (NW valley). It's great to have them learn coordination skills. A lot of the moms do other play dates afterwards too. The instructors are great with the kids too. The little kids classes have their own room with equiptment their size separate from the older kids who take gymnastics there. Have fun!

Hi M.!
My son and daughter did Gymboree for a few years each. They loved it! I found that they became much more agile than other kids their age. We also made new friendships to do other activities with, ex. the zoo, etc. In fact the biggest bonus is that we still keep in touch with one family from when their daughter and our son were 3! They are now sophomores in college! We have kept in touch with them, as they moved out of state several years ago, and we even travel together some summers! I think your daughter will love it as we did! Good luck!

Hi M.,
This is great, so many moms can't afford The Gym or even Music Together, but in my opinion mommy and me classes are so important. Yay Grandma! :-) My daughter is almost 2 and we have done several different types of classes together. I would say besides mommy n me yoga, Music Together is by far my daughter's favorite. We never did a gym membership probably because the yoga was more fun for me, and less expensive. But if I had to cut anything back, there would be no way it would be Music Together. She loves music. Val Jahn is great at desertmountainmusic.com
Tell her L. sent you. We did baby signs too, and Amie does the sign for music. When we have a hiatus during semesters she asks for music, and just lights up on days I tell her we are going to music. It's very cute, and is great for cognitive development. If they don't use what they are born with, they lose it. I have met great moms in this class, and it is very mommy and me oriented. They learn by role modeling and it is amazing how much they learn! Let me know if you have any questions for me, and you can send me an email. Enjoy!

I know you are not concerned with price, since you have received this wonderful gift from your mom, but...
The Phoenix public libraries offer a fun weekly class called Babytime for Walkers. I have been taking my son (starting in Babytime for Crawlers) since he was 8 months, he is now 21 months. It's a lot of fun, and it is FREE!! I would check out the other classes, find one that is different from Babytime, and do them both :)
I also wanted to say that I have really enjoyed going to this class. It gave us some great bonding time!! So, even though you may feel a little silly at first, just relax and enjoy whatever class you choose.

Music Together. My boys got a lot of enjoyment out of it. It was also the only mommy and me class that I also enjoyed as much as they did.

M.,

I am a SAHM to an adorable 14 month old boy. I signed up for The Little Gym and LOVED it! I took my son there for 10 weeks of classes and I believe it helped him in so many ways. Before we went there, he hadn't been around kids really, and he wasn't walking yet (he was only 11 months at the time). He was also very clingy, because he loves his mama:) After the second time, he was walking and exploring, having a great time. He actually left my side to play with the balls and bubbles. He learned how to do front rolls, crawl up the wedge, stand on the balance beam (w/ help), and so much more. I also made a great mom friend there with a son the same age as mine. We get together for playdates outside of class now. I would still be going there but I am watching a two year old now. As soon as I get a chance I will go back. The teachers are so wonderful there! I would strongly suggest Little Gym to anyone! I hope this helps!

J.