Tumbletots or Kindermusik, which is better

[Lisa229]

Now my DD1 is at school, I have a bit more time with DD2 and want to take her to a class, either tumbletots or kindermusik. Can't really afford both so wanted opinions on both. Tried Tumbletots with DD1 but she wasn't that keen and it seemed a bit cliquely as I went mid-term.

DD2 is 14 months and has been walking for a while so if she did tumbletots should she go in gymbabes or the class with the older kis.

The only thing that puts me off kindermusik is I have to buy a home pack for £20 on top of the termly costs.

Any expriences, would be appreciated.

save your money - they are both shite

go to the park and try wriggly readers at the library

Can you explain why you think they are not very good ?

tumbletots is expensive and they try to flog you the merchandise on top

all it is is structured soft play with a song at the end

kindermusik is same but with singing

having done various pre-school classes i say they are all expensive and a waste of time money. You can find much better thngs to do that are free/ cheaper, less structured and more fun

I go to kindermusik, I didn't have to buy a homepack. I really enjoy it, ds likes to run about. I think it depends on the teacher. Our teacher is fab.

Gymbabes is for 6 months up but must be able to sit up, Tumbletots is for 12 months up but must be walking - if you have a confident walker of 14 months you should be in Tumbletots.

We liked Gymbabes - I didn't know what to do with quite a physical little boy before he was crawling and it really helped. But once he was able to walk and climb by himself we stopped going because I didn't feel we were getting enough out of it to justify the cost. Our local council runs a soft play session at the same leisure centre where tumbletots is run, which is much cheaper. See if you have the same in your area.

I tried Kindermusik but found it to be a bit 'earnest' - it had a very structured curriculum and was run by a teacher with a music degree who took it very seriously. We prefer a different music franchise which is a bit more fun and run by stage school person who likes to show off and interact with the kids. I think it depends on the teacher in your area. Look at whether there are other music groups locally - things like Monkey Music or MiniStages.

Any of these groups should let you do a free trial (although Tumbletots makes a small charge) before you sign up so take advantage of that.

Local authority sports centres usually do gym classes for toddlers and up that are better value for money than Tumbletots. I've tried both. My eldest son hated Gymbabes and didn't like Tumbletots much, my younger one loved Tumbletots (it was opposite ds1's pre-school, which is why I gave it another go). But I prefer the local sports centre gym classes, as there is definitely a horrible cliquey feel to our local Tumbletots and both my boys ADORE their gym class - they've learnt all sorts of things they probably wouldn't try without the (limited) structure that a special class brings. And the local sports centre also doesn't send annoying e-mails advertising things it wants to flog you... Local sports centres also usually do things like "Bounce & Roll", where they have bouncy castles, tricycles and other fun things out each week for the kids to play on, which are also great fun.

As for music, I've never tried any of those, but local church run playgroups usually end with lots of singing and only cost a pound or two, and local libraries often do singing and reading sessions that are fun and free.

All of which you probably know, given that you have several other kids! But I thought I'd give my views, anyway!... (Do you know how to suck eggs, yet?...).