Mini-Engineers club or Little House of Science

[BowlOfCereals]

Hello
Has anyone taken their children to Mini-Engineers (LEGO) classes, or the Little House of Science classes in London?

They look very impressive but also very expensive so I'm wondering if it's worth it for a 3 yr old.

I've never heard of either, but then we are in Devon!

But I think there is plenty that can stimulate/educate/entertain a 3yr old without spending much.

I'll look them up, and come back sometime.

Over 30 quid a "class" to play with Lego!!! Just buy some yourself...

Yes that's what I was thinking!!

I'm worried my dd is missing out on something by not attending a class. Her nursery sort of implied that the other kids in the nursery attend classes, and I've heard a couple of other mums talking about ballet and art classes. But everything seems expensive very for a 3 yr old.

How much time does she spend at nursery, how is she getting on, and is it a nursery connected with the school she may go to?

As long as children that age are getting some social interaction with other children of a similar age, and parents take them to the park, or shopping, or library etc, they don't really need much more.

Many parents probably do these expensive or 'posh' activities for their OWN satisfaction, not really for the children at all.

I often tell parents music is a good activity, and if they can afford a Keyboard (at least 61 full size keys, £80 to £150) then three is a good age to start experiencing making music. Self-teaching books are quite sufficient at first, as long as parent helps a bit.

Thank you, this is very reassuring! My dd attends nursery five mornings a week and loves it. She's become bored at home since starting nursery. I think she needs more stimulation in the afternoons and at weekends. We used to do loads of interesting things just the two of us, but since she started nursery I've lost momentum.
We have a full size keyboard and I was thinking of teaching her the piano. Perhaps I'll give that a go! Thank you

josephjames Are you on commission, by any chance?

I went for a little house of science class trial class yesterday and whilst it was fun, I felt the money would be better spent on an older kid. I have an 11 month old - so it was basic discovery - theme was winter. But I peeped into the older class on my way out and they had a lot of colorful props to teach on numbers I think. The kids were really engaged. Will certainly be registering my child for the age 2-3 classes when its time.

there is loads of stuff you can do yourselves without having to join a group or spend lots.

mess around making your own play dough. you can mix paints, bake bread and cakes, potato stamping, put white flowers in a vase of water and add food colouring to the water, see what happens, grow broad beans, get a hyacinth bulb vase and watch how the bulb actually grows, put dots of ink on to coffee filter paper with water and see the colours spread out. keep a weather diary, measure the temperatures outside. go on a regular walk then try to do a map from memory of where you go.

You would be better off spending £5 on a nice science things to do with children book than wasting money on these sessions.

And don't feel your child is missing out because they aren't going to all these groups, they don't need to. lots of children actually really need the down time and not being around other children all the time. time to explore things themselves, time to play with their own toys, perhaps the toys you have need refreshing a little, the next stage of jigsaws or games, orchard toys are great ones. no harm in starting to do phonics or form letters either.