by on 01/06/2020 1918
Enjoyable. Transformative. Uplifting. These are just a few words to describe Babytots@Play. Each week, babies and toddlers, aged 6 months – 4 years, and the parents gather to have lots of fun together. It is the perfect environment to build on your child’s development through a plethora of musical, sensorial and interactive activities. And the grownups get to enjoy some much needed social interaction with each other too.
Babytots@Play touches many important early childhood developmental factors all at once: meets developmental milestones, whole-child development, social skills, pre-reading skills, school readiness, parent-child relationships and builds a strong foundation for life.
Classes are categorised into three different programmes: Baby Boost (6 – 18 months); Happy Tots (1.5 – 2.5 years); Boogie Tots (2.5 – 4 years). They are designed to teach children in ways that children naturally learn. We know that children instinctively teach themselves through play, imitation, and through interaction with other children and adults. And this is exactly the kind of environment that Babytots has created to support a child’s overall development.
These parent-participated classes, except for Boogie Tots, are unlike other baby classes out there. They introduce children to music, delightful rhymes and lullabies, creative movement, as well as games, art and craft, sensorial play, baking, and many more other developmentally appropriate activities. Learning is based on different themes, such as sea life, farm animals and outer space. A wide variety of sensory props, percussion instruments and educational toys are used to enhance the experience.
It’s so much fun, it’s easy to forget how much learning is actually taking place. Parents may not be able to see the benefits right away. But over time, we will come to discover that early music learning is not only about developing music skills. There’s so much more that comes with it. It nurtures self-expression, creativity, confidence, and social and motor skills. It also improves communication skills and language development. In a nutshell, these classes support children’s overall development and lay the groundwork for formal school settings in kindergarten and beyond.
Teachers are trained to nurture each child’s strengths in different areas in a non-formal way. They use positive words of encouragement to stimulate learning. Everyone in the class get to participate and grow at their own pace, which are all very much inspired by the Montessori method of education.
Babytots@Play welcomes children of all abilities, regardless of stage of development. Families with children who have mild special needs, such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and speech delay, are highly encouraged to partake in early music and movement lessons as a tool to help the child make much needed progress. And as s/he interacts with other individuals in the class, it helps him/her build a normalised relationship with them.
“In addition, we make our classes affordable so that every child has the opportunity to learn and experience the full benefits of our programmes,” adds Ms. Erin, founder of Babytots@Play.
Right now, although we are stumped by the unpredictability of the Corona virus outbreak but nothing can stop Babytots@Play from helping children learn. They will introduce virtual lessons for families to participate at the comfort of their own homes. Lessons are paired with video instructions and common household materials to make it easy for home learning. For more details, click here.
If you are reading this as a music- and early-childhood-education-loving entrepreneur, consider bringing Babytots@Play to your community. No formal credentials are needed and you will be provided with all the help and support needed to get started. Read more about it here or contact Erin (017-210 6112) / Tony (012-305 8977) for more info. In fact, some of the existing licensees are parents who fell in love with Babytots@Play while taking classes with their own children.
