Parents of newborns to pre schoolers urgent advice please

[Hh123]

Hi,

1st post so apologies for any errors!!

I'd really appreciate as much feedback and brutal honesty as possible on the following start up I am planning with my friend.

I have a ds age 3 and dd 6 months and am passionate about starting up a family friendly business which will provide enjoyment to other parents and their dc's.

We are planning on starting up a class which children can start as babies and will develop with them right through to starting school.

The basis for our classes will be imaginative play and will offer a variety of activities such as; sensory play, stories, arts and crafts, singing, dancing etc each week will have a different theme and our aim is to take both children and parents on an imaginative journey through each theme providing a fun filled hour of entertainment as well as lots of ideas which can be used at home.

We plan on charging £6 per hour for our class which will also include a 15 minute refreshment slot where parents get the opportunity to chat and make new friends.

We are in the process of setting up a website www.laughtertots.co.uk which although live is by no means finalised.

I would be really grateful for any feedback you have at all but particularly on the following areas;

1. Do you think the concept is a good one and would be popular?
2. What do you think of the website? does it work? What needs adding?
3. Do you think the price is ok?
4. What do you think of the name?? The other name idea we had was 'Make Believe Kingdom' which possibly describes the concept better than laughtertots but we thought may be a bit too long and not catchy enough??

Thank you so much in advance for your opinions and feedback. x

Sounds like what we do at playgroup for 50p!

I think the concept is unclear and I can't work out what the benefits to the DC are. It sounds vaguely like nursery with themes etc

I would not want a refreshment break. I have a 1 year old and a 2 year old and don't want to supervise to make sure drinks aren't knocked over etc. I have made friends from groups before. We just talk before and after the classes

I think the price is far to expensive for a class with no clear outcomes or USP. I am pregnant with DC3 and it would cost me £18 a week to attend. What benefit wpuld the DCs get? They go to music with mummy and french classes and DS goes to rugby tots. I value these classes as they teach a skill and/or are clear in their purpose. I don't see that here

£6

Hi,

Thanks for replying, I attend lots of playgroups too but feel we are offering something slightly different. Not sure obviously what your play group offers so I may be wrong but the ones I go to are predominantly free play for the dc whereas we would be offering 45 mins of guided activities for example...

Under the sea theme for babies - sensory treasure basket where we tell a fun interactive story to go alongside the items used i.e. We're bobbing along in our boat when "whoosh" we dive into the sea and through the crashing waves whilst babies explore crinkly foil, then as we meet an octopus babies explore dangly tassels etc. Obviously the story is more detailed etc as I've just used this as a short example but hope it explains my concept a bit better.

There are lots of these sort of paid classes running and I've attended a few myself so they do seem viable. Just wanting to provide one that's slightly different. x

I think you need to explain why yours is slightly different on the website. At the moment, I would say that you don't seem entirely clear.

Plus, you should also set out clearly and in some detail what would happen at a session.

I'm afraid I agree with timefor - it sounds a bit vague and very play based. Play is fantastic of course, but I don't want to pay for it - children can and do play all the time, if I'm going to pay then I expect to get something different for that.

I want to know what I'm getting for my £6 that I couldn't do at home myself or access at a bog standard playgroup (e.g. Sure Start messy play sessions).

If you look at other paid classes you'll see what I mean - is it teaching something (to the parents is fine - Sing and Sign for example)? Do I get access to equipment I'm unlikely to have at home? (Tumble tots, dance class, swimming). Do the instructors have insights that I perhaps don't have? - e.g. Forest school, montessori, waldorf. Am I going to meet people in a hard to find group - e.g. a group which caters for my non-native culture or language, people who are interested in a more ecologically sound lifestyle, artists, etc. One small business that opened up near us was a "member's club" basically set up for children but you could go and meet other parents there for coffee, it was open after school and at times that other playgroups weren't, which was an absolute godsend when I was a single parent and quite bored stuck at home. They had lots of activities for different age groups (which cost more) - unfortunately, it was a bit out of my price range, so I only went as a guest sometimes but it was a really lovely place.

I really like the idea of the themes. I wonder if you could appeal to parents and emphasise what they're actually "buying" with their money by looking at EYFS guidelines and having an educational spin on the whole thing. Not being pushy or promising lots of learning of numbers, colours, shapes etc - that would put me off. But just things like exploring bigger/smaller, language - talking about different kinds of animals and where they live, incorporating that kind of support for learning in a play based environment, with the tasks to continue supporting development at home, that would suddenly make it seem quite different and definitely worth the cost.

I think from looking at your site you have this kind of thing in mind, but the website (and your blurb here) really doesn't get that across at all. What you're saying and advertising is really a standard playgroup, perhaps with a hint of exclusivity and slightly better quality toys, as the price will cut off parents on lower incomes. And yes of course children will learn co-ordination and memory and such through play - they do that anyway. I think I'd want a bit more effort on the part of the organisers to encourage exploration and development in things like fine and gross motor control, physics, mathematical concepts, language, history, geography, but without it being a mini school.

I would concentrate on the under-threes as most older ones will be going to pre-school and getting this sort of play there. I think £4 would be more reasonable especially as 15 of the 60 mins are a break time. In fact I would not have the break at all, no need when it's only an hour.

I think the refreshment break in the middle is a good idea as it allows parents to mix - I have been to some groups, eg music groups, where some parents just rush in and out and it's really difficult for any sort of chat. Part of why I go to these groups is to get some adult company. I do wonder what you are offering that is different to baby sensory though? It sounds pretty similar. You'd just need to watch that you're not setting up where they are running too as it is the same price and I doubt many parents would want to pay that for two classes a week!

DrinkenedUp

Thanks so much, agree with all your feedback and will make the amendments you've suggested.

Thanks!!

Anyone with access to a Children's Centre can have all that for free!

I xposted as there was only one reply when I started writing. But my point stands. As others say, you really need to be shouting about what makes your classes/sessions different from other playgroups - the initial explanation and the website really don't make this clear at all. The description of the under sea session with crinkly paper etc is better, but I'd expect to get an immediate feel for that on the first page of the website, and have descriptions of the aims/an example session for each age group.

Can people attend a trial session? If so you should shout this loud on the website, even if it's one "open session" every six months or so, or they have to phone and book into an already running session. If not, you should explain why, but yes put more detail about how the sessions work on the site.

Gobbolinothewitchscat

Thanks, will definitely take that on board.

That opening-page introduction is all one sentence. It shouldn't be.

To be honest from the website it does not sound as if you are offering anything that you can't get from the children's centres.

So I certainly would not pay £6 for something I could get for free, you have to remember that either people are on maternity leave, work part time or are sahm in order to bring their child so you really have to justify the cost.

I would make the website clearer, what exactly will they be doing for that hour.

BertieBotts

Thanks for taking the time to provide such detailed feedback, very useful and much appreciated.

Also, I can't see anything about class sizes which would be nice to know
And the age groups are a bit off putting in the sense that, if I have a nearly 5month old do I book them on an 8 week baby course or wait for them to reach the next age group.

I think it would be nice to tag the refreshment session onto the end.

What's your sibling policy? Obviously small babies could presumably sit in on an older class without much bother, but what about a family with a 4 year old, 2.5 year old and a 3 month old? Or 18 month old twins and a 3.2 year old? What would the parent do with the other two children while she took one to their age appropriate class? Do the different age classes run alongside each other, or are they at separate times? Would parents be expected to find alternative childcare for other children for one hour? I think this needs looking at or you'll alienate a large proportion of your market.

Good luck! It actually sounds nice. I think if you iron out the humps it will be a really lovely addition to parent-child activities.

Sorry, I agree with pp. I don't get what's different about your classes, from the blurbs on the website I can't see what your class plans are based on in terms of development - are any of the staff qualified in child development? I haven't read the staff blurb, I shouldn't have to delve that deep to find out what my child is getting from your classes. It sounds fairly similar to the baby sensory classes I go to, those are all themed but each activity is explained in terms of how its helping your baby develop. I pay around £6 for those but wouldn't for yours based on the top level description. It sounds like a bunch of parents setting up a paid playgroup, as others have said you can get that for free on minimal costs in children's centres and the like.

Yikes!! Messages coming in so fast I can't reply to each one quick enough (which is fantastic and exactly what I was hoping for so THANKS)

It's coming through loud and clear that our concept is just not explained clear enough on our website which is an extremely good point. I think it was hard for us to see this as we know what it is, so very useful to see it through fresh eyes. We definitely have some work to do here.

To try to explain what our usp is there are a number of paid classes available in our area covering;

Sensory
music
baby signing
arts and crafts
baby bonding
etc etc

What we're hoping to do is set up a class which covers aspects of all these things within a different fun make-believe theme each week as well as offering parents the opportunity to provide support and friendship to each other.

I myself did attend some paid groups with my dc but felt I either had to choose between which of the above we did or end up paying too much attending more than one class.

We do intend to offer free taster sessions, and discounts for group bookings, siblings, advanced bookings for the following term etc. so thanks for mentioning that too.

The 15 minute refreshment break seems to be a love or hate aspect so may need to get more feedback on this, feedback we'd had previously is that some mums felt if they chatted to each other during the class they would be told off so liked the chance to do this??

Thanks so much to everyone who has posted so far!! x

In my sensory class there is a 10/15 min break in the middle for free play. There are some toys/mats etc set up that you can use if you like, or you can stay where you are. This time in generally used for play/chat/changing/feeding so you can go and chat to other parents if you want or you can keep yourself to yourself - seems to work! I've chatted to other parents at times and sat on my own feeding my baby at others.

Just to add - I suppose it depends on class size. I also did a massage course and there were only 6 of us. About 30mins was set aside at the end for tea, biccies and chat which was lovely. We've continued meeting for coffee/play meets ever since so that was really great. I think that would only work with small groups though to avoid small cliques developing. HTH.

What's your venue like? The reason I choose Gymbouree over Tumbletots (both £6 a class) is that Gymbouree is in a lovely dedicated building, clean and colourful, with parking. Nice baby change, snack room with hot drinks and high chairs.
Tumbletots was set up each time in a big church hall with too many stairs, toilets miles away and dirty floor that had had guides and Cubs running about the night before in outdoor shoes.