This week Martha went to gym play at Wye Gymnastics. The gymnastics club offers a wide variety of classes including acrobatic gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, and tumbling to name a few. For little ones of pre-school age, they offer preschool gymnastics which includes Gymplay for children aged 0+ It is an informal, hour long, stay and play session, where parents can supervise their children exploring the apparatus and toys. They also offer Gymtots for older children aged 3-4 years. This is more guided with termly themes and some independence from parents.
Martha is one at the moment, so I booked her in to go to gymplay. There are three sessions per week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 11am – 12pm. We went to the Tuesday session and it cost £5 for Martha to go. I used the online booking system to book her session with an app called Love Admin. The club explain how to use it when you message them about the classes. It is fairly easy to use and nice to know that you have booked and will get a place when you get there as for many parents, getting out of the house to a class, is a big deal!
Baby gymnastics Caldicot
For those less familiar with the area, the gymnastics club is situated in Portskewett, a stones throw from Babi Bw’s workshop. Both businesses are based on the Severn Bridge Industrial Estate and are easy to walk to from Caldicot. Caldicot is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located between Chepstow and the city of Newport. The town boasts Caldicot Castle and Country Park, which is in a beautiful setting of tranquil gardens and a forest. Portskewett is a village and community a mile from Caldicot.
I drove to the class and parked outside in their car park which was free. There are a fair number of spaces but being on the industrial estate, there are plenty of other places to park if there is not a space directly outside, if you don’t get a space, which I think would be unlikely. It is also easy to walk to with a buggy or pram either from Portskewett or Caldicot.
When you arrive at the club, two girls greet you at reception and check your name off on their list. The reception area has a place for shoes to go and there are a number of plastic boxes which possessions can be put in. As a mum with lots of things I carry around, this was really handy. I put all of mine and Martha’s things in a box and carried it through to the main gym room. It could then be left at the side out of the way of the children playing.
The gym room was huge and full of gymnastics equipment and toys for the children to play with. The floors were all sprung as you would expect and where needed there were extra mats so that the children could toddle or crawl around and go on things without worry of them falling on the ground. As the parents are with their children, the little ones can have the freedom to explore without restrictions, which I thought was really nice. There was a long trampoline, presumably used for tumbling for the older classes, that could be used. Martha was a bit scared of it but I managed to get her to go on with me. She soon wanted to come off but I was glad she gave it a go and encouraged her to be positive about it. On the floor were all sorts of things from baby push alongs, hoops, bean bags, trampolines, soft play shapes, slides – the list is endless.
Martha really enjoyed playing with the ball and spent a lot of time carrying it around and kicking it. It was apt as I had dressed her in her Welsh football print Babi Bw top. I love it as it is made from 100% organic cotton and long sleeved so it keeps her warm but is extremely soft and comfy for her to play in. She had a go on the slide and on some of the bigger equipment but along with some lego that she played with, it was largely the ball that won her over. In fact, a few of the little ones wanted the ball and knowing Martha, that helped increase her love of it and determination to keep hold of it!
There were probably around 10 toddlers with their parent’s so it wasn’t too full and there was plenty for all of the children to do. The staff didn’t involve themselves with the toddlers but were there at the back should anyone need them. It felt very free and it was lovely to let Martha run around, chose what she wanted to do and try new things. It was a really nice time for bonding with her and helping her to learn new skills and gain confidence. She did interact with the other children but on the whole was happy doing her own things and exploring.
At the end of the session, a song played and everyone was asked to help tidy up and encourage their little ones to do the same. Despite the huge amount of toys in the room, this didn’t take long at all. Imagine if tidying up toys at home was so quick and easy! By this point Martha was really tired and so getting her to put her shoes on and leave was pretty simple. She was asleep before we left the car park!
It was a really good session with lots packed into the hour. It is lovely to have somewhere warm to take the children, especially during winter, where they can be active and have some freedom. Even for shy or less confident children, with their parents support, it will be a great experience for them.
If you want to find out more about Wye Gymnastics you can find them here: Wye Gymnastics & Galaxy Cheerleading – Creating friends through fun & fitness (wyeandgalaxy.co.uk) If you want to find out more about Babi Bw and the baby clothes we sell, take a look at our website which you can find here: www.babibw.co.uk