what would your ideal kid's group be like?

[freshlysharpenedpencils]

I currently attend two children's groups.

One is a very relaxed informal group where parents drink tea and the kids run about in a large room. £2

The other is 'mini movers' where an instructor has music and props and dances about with the kids. £4

I would love to start a group in the area and want to offer something really different / educational. (as I am an ex teacher) - Just wondering what you would like from a kid's group? What would your kids love?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Hmm well my main priority are the ones that are free so that doesn't help you much! I go to three a week with my 8mo dd and am only now considering paying for a group now she's a little more mobile.

There certainly seems to be a market for the sensory, singing groups. I doubt there is much profit in the £2 groups.

I've been to awful music groups and fab ones.... Great £2 toddler groups and dreadful ones.

What I would want is something multi sensory which kept DC and I constantly engaged, then maybe time for a bit of socialising afterwards.

Dd loved baby sensory when she wasbtiny, loads of reqllt stimulating and varied aactivities to music and a less structured playtime with a range of equipment (ball pool, bouncy thjngs , toys, puppetd , books etc) in the middle. Our venue had a really lovely v cheap community cafe on site and we regularly sat and socialised for an hour or so after. I think baby sensory is a franchise if you wwanted to buy into something.

Cost under 2.50 otherwise with two kids it adds up . I like the groups strictly for under 1s or non walkers. Also toddler groups where the non walker area is properly separated from those bloody big cars and scooters

I have two kids by the way and I don't want to have to worry about the small one being run down or stood on while I chase the older one

I have a LO of 8months and haven't been to a group costing over £3 that I feel is worth it and what annoys me is the 'free play' in the second half that is basically what I can do at home!

Our favourites are the quite active ones with music and dancing and shaking musical instruments. She loves watching other kids and bouncing up and down. Particularly like songs where I dance with her and she gets jigged and Twirled around!

I think I would pay £4-£5 for a really good hour class that is packed with stuff, as I say all the ones for that price I've been to I don't feel are worth the money and don't fill the hour. My favourite is the library bounce and rhyme, and not just because it's free it's the one she enjoys the most too!

Good luck!

The best group I go to has about 1/2hr free play to start great because is doesn't matter if you are late with 2 little ones! Then singing time followed by a simple craft. It's £3.50 per family which is great because when you have 2 kids it can get very expensive paying for both for a couple of hours activity. Tea and toast provided is also very popular!

I used to go to an amazing baby sensory class - the instructor was so enthusiastic the babies adored her.

Went to an awful music class. Far too strict. Two year old DD was ticked off every time she moved off the carpet spot she was meant to be sitting on, by the passive aggressive teacher.

One where I know no-one will sing "I'm a Dingle Dangle Sodding Scarecrow' or "Row Row Row Your Arsing Boat" or that ghastly dirge with the sleeping bunnies.

we really enjoy the Creation Station. messy arts and crafts, and i don't have to clean up afterwards

I have fond memories of sleeping bunnies

The best one I went to was just a large room with lots of space, toys and couches for the mums, with tea, coffee and cakes. They did, once it became regularly busy, corner off one area for the small babies so they didn't get trampled. It was free (church community outreach thing), but I would have happily paid a few pounds to it every week.

I hated all the ones with organised activities and singing. My DC would never sit for them and I always was left feeling incompetent and unwelcome because they'd either be running around distracting the other DC or screaming and fighting if I tried to make them sit.

I do have two DC only a year apart, so one that catered to both, where I didn't need to hover over them, was wonderful. Because they never stayed near each other for long. Most groups were of the "this is time to bond with your pfb." For me, it was time to get out of the house to a place where they were safe and I could just stop for a minute.

I'd like activities that I can't (or won't!) do at home. So, soft play equipment, craft activities, messy play, painting, sand etc. tea and biscuits for parents. A healthy snack for children. One I go to has a nice structure - they have the stations of activities set up round the room for an hour, then clear away and children sit at a table and have a snack, then a story and songs.

Actually, what I'd really like is an outdoor-based toddler group. Something like - they go on a nature walk and collect sticks and then come inside and paint them and stick them on a picture. That kind of thing. Or growing plants and then eating what they've grown. Or using balance bikes/scooters around an obstacle course. Or an outdoors treasure hunt, maybe linked to letter sounds or on a certain theme according to the season or special occasions! Basically all those things that I would do myself if I were one of those wholesome wonder mums.

I wrote a great big long reply but bastard app is crap! Anyway, in a nutshell - thanks so much for all your replies. Very interesting.