Does your toddler enjoy classes?

[Purplelemon7]

Hi
I’ve taken my toddler to a few classes since lockdown ended and he seems pretty bored and becomes quite serious when attending which is quite unlike him. He goes to nursery part time
so is used to being around other children. The classes involve a mixture of music, bubbles, parachutes, puppets, maracas etc. Don’t know if they are too baby-ish now and maybe should stick to playgroups once they open up instead. The classes are for babies- 5 years so they are apparently suitable for a 2 year old. There aren’t many others attending at the moment so hard to know if other kids his age enjoy these sorts of things or not.

My DC always went one of two ways in these classes. Either they got over-excited and spent the entire class running around the room in circles (and encouraging the other toddlers to do the same, much to their parents' chagrin at their children being corrupted ). Or they joined in with huge enthusiasm and were at the front leading the jumping, singing and clapping. So they loved them but I didn't (I was secretly relieved when Covid put a stop to them)...I never knew whether I was going to have the rebel of the class or the teacher's pet.

My friend's DC was similar to yours... sat on her lap and watched. He is a very bright little boy and takes everything in but just enjoys it in his own quiet way.

At that age mine preferred the sort of groups they could potter about in playing with different toys, going on the ride-on toys in the yard, groups that were free play not structured.

They also came to toddler then family yoga with me, and tagged onto my keep fit classes (playing or copying the class).

By 2 I think stuff like baby sensory and craft groups can get a bit boring for them, and not all kids are into maracas and parachute games. Especially when they go to nursery and get lots of structured activities there.

@Purplelemon7

Yes my son won’t participate in songs even though he knows all the actions at home and loves doing them.

I used to run a toddler group and this is quite common - I've seen it with several children, including my own DD. Her pre-school were really surprised when I asked for the rest of the words to a new song they'd been singing (she'd been singing a couple of lines at home), as she'd not joined in at all there either. I'm not sure if it's a case of wanting to be 100% confident before joining in in public.

Dc1 loved baby sensory, but that was when she was under 12 months. I think we switched to baby groups in church halls etc after that, which she also liked.

Dc2 did a dance class and HATED it with the fire of a thousand suns.

Both DCs and I despised Tumble Tots. I have no idea how they get people to pay for that torture