Tumble tots vs Gymboree

[JessM]

I'm looking at booking my almost-1-year-old into some sort of active classes next term. Does anyone have any advice or comments about Tumble Tots, Gymboree or similar?

Cheers

[SBot]

Gymboree - fixed play equipment

Tumble tots- packed away into a van after each day

I have experienced both, gymboree a lot more expensive, but if money wasn't a worry I'd do gymboree over tumble tots.

First went to tumble tots in 1999 at my first London nanny job, then went to a class earlier this year and it had not changed at all. Same songs sung!

Both a lot of fun!

[HollieES]

I've taken my 20 month old to Tumble Tots since he was 6 months and he's really enjoyed it, although more so when he became more active and started walking. If you start with their gymbabes class there's song/circle time at the beginning at end of the class which is really nice, then free play on all the equipment in between. The staff are really enthusiastic and encouraging of the children and there are lots of hoops, beanbags, sticks to play with as well as climbing stuff. If your little one is walking then they'll probably get more out of I'd say. Plus I think it's pretty good value for money compared to Gymboree which seems a bit pricey.

[bumpy]

Think it all depends on personality of child. My boy loves Tumble Tots, it's taught him to climb safely and be adventurous yet safe on park equipment that's possibly for kids above his age. Yet a friend's boy who was much more in to climbing than mine at a younger age found it all too easy and therefore wasn't all that interested.

[dulwichgirl2]

We found with TT that you got hardly any goes on the equipment at all.

They pack the class and you need to move quietly and calmly around as it is quite a small hall.

Fair enough and a good discipline to learn but we found other classes or park open spaces more fun.

[scareyt]

I'd vote Gymboree any time - the equipment is lovely and all the toys get cleaned after every class, classes are small and friendly and it's not too noisy. It's also a bit more structured than Tumble Tots and the class leaders are a lot more involved, with parachute games and bubbles and games which they can join in with, or ignore and carry on playing on the equipment if they prefer. We've been going for over a year now from when my son was about 12 months and will probably quit soon as he's not getting as much out of it as he did, but I'll be very sad to leave! We did Tumble Tots for a while first, when he was around 10 months and found it a bit overwhelming. I think it does depend on personality though - my little boy was very small and shy at that age so the free-for-all style of Tumble Tots didn't suit him and he ended up waiting for goes on stuff a lot. It felt too crowded to me. Gymboree is expensive but I'd say especially over the winter months with a 12-18 month old/new walker/shy child it's really worth it.