Soft play - too young?

[LotteryWinnersOnAcid]

Is DS too young for soft play centres? He's 9 1/2 months. Crawling commando style and cruising. Bit of a dare devil. Only reason I ask is that we have moved where there is a centre locally and thought it might make for a change of scenery, plus under 1s play free.

[snice]

at that age I would go to a Tumbletots type class if there's one locally-less likely to be flattenened by a galumphing 3 tear old there!

[cece]

I would say no child is the right age for soft play

Honestly put them off as long as you can. Awful places.

[ChippingInNeedsSleep]

No, he's not.

Soft play gets a bad rap on here. It's a lot of BS. You get shitty, smelly, grotty soft play places and you get clean, bright, fun lovely ones. You have to go to know which are which.

Most of them do great coffee and it can be a good place to meet other people.

9 1/2 months crawling commando should have a good time, once again, depending on the place. Some are better than others. Some have lots of foamy things, tunnels, slide, ball pit - lots of stuff.

If it's not good, try another one :)

[tigerlillyd02]

I'd say so. You'll need to be watching him though (as I'm sure you will).

I took my ds from the moment he could sit up unaided (about 6 months) and he sat infront of a big mirror there playing with the balls. I sat with him and it was all padded so quite a safe place for him to completely master the balancing skill :)

It's a bit of a pain if there's older ones around as the risk of injury is higher with them all jumping around. But if you go in the day times there shouldn't really be any over 3's around.

Even at 2, I never leave my little ones side when we're there so don't encounter any problems. With him getting that bit older I attempted to go and sit down more recently and within a few mins some bigger kid was trying to pull him across the floor by his neck and then kicked him. I won't leave him again. The trouble seems to occur from the children whose parents aren't anywhere to be seen!

Some of them have a seperate under 1's area which would be more beneficial (providing other parents keep their over 1's out!)

[piprabbit]

It depends on the venue.

A small, clean venue with plenty of baby/toddler space should be lots of fun for your DS.

A large, noisy venue targeted at older children, with minimal separate toddler space, will probably be a bit boring and intimidating for you both.

[LotteryWinnersOnAcid]

Yes, I would watch him. They have toddler only groups in the mornings so I would take him to that one. To be honest the whole idea sounds like hell with older kids (as I'm sure I'll be party to as DS grows) but a toddler session seems harmless? Famous last words I'm sure.

[MrsDobalina]

DD has been tagging along to soft play since she was 3 weeks old (yeah, before you ask, I did regret that ) as DS loves it. She thinks it's brilliant and she's 10 months now. There's usually other small babies there too. I love it, super cheap and wears them out (but I don't really mind them licking all the germs off the mats and I've never found a poo in the ball pit )

[LotteryWinnersOnAcid]

Oh mine will lick anything, including the dog. Doesn't bother me. :)

[wigglesrock]

I have an almost 9 month old who is crawling and pulling herself up. Went to soft play with the older two during the week and the baby had the best time in the toddler section, crawled about, pulled herself about on the soft blocks, it was lovely, thoroughly recommend it , words I never thought I'd say.

Our local one does a parent and baby session in the mornings for £1 and free toast!

[Ozziegirly]

DS LOVED it when he was about that age. The one near us had a baby area which was like a giant padded cell, with a bouncy castle and a small ball/germ pit, and DS would just crawl around, pull up, fall painlessly over while I sat and drank a free cup of tea.

He would be asleep before we even left the carpark.

[AKMD]

Take him! It guarantees a long lunchtime nap - what's not to like?

[MrsDobalina]

Lol at licking the dog

[whoopeecushion]

Both my kids love soft play. I don't go much because I hate it.

Pros
Fun
Exercise
Possible social interaction

Cons
People take ill children to softplay without a thought for others.
Both my children have been bitten at softplay on separate occasions by other children.
Children poo/vomit etc and so even a "clean" softplay can be pretty gross.
Risk of injury.

[notcitrus]

If they've got a space for under-2s/crawlers and some toys for them, should be fine. If it's one that throws everyone under 9 into a huge spongy pit, then no!

There's a 'play cafe' near me (small soft play bit but also all the toys you'd get in a nursery type place) that was great from that age as I could sit back and have a coffee, but I've gone to others which are great now I can abandon 3yos in them but would have been useles then.

[circlehead]

I took DS to one at about 10.5 months, just as he was beginning to take steps. He was so excited by it, he was basically walking by the end!! (And if he fell, he was very unlikely to injure himself). So I thought it was great for him at that stage. We stayed in the u-5's bit and were there on a schoolday, so only a couple of other tots around.