Little Gym, Kindermusik or Gymboree? A Personal Assessment

I've often wondered what the difference was between Little Gym, Kindermusik and Gymboree. Luckily, we've tried them all one time or another and here's my assessment:

When Ava was about 8 months old, we signed her up for Gymboree classes.  She really liked Gymbo the clown (though I couldn't understand why). One of her first words was actually "Gymbo."  At home, we have the Gymbo that laughs, the Gymbo hand puppet and the Gymbo peek-a-boo toy.  And I think it did help her learn cause and effect and object permanence.  She also loved popping the bubbles (mental note: we can make glycerin bubbles tomorrow!). I can honestly say she learned to pack away because of this class.

I especially like the free Gymplay passes that came with the membership too. Even now, it helps  a lot that I have a safe place for them to play while I go to the grocery. 

I stopped taking her to Gymboree when the teachers kept changing and we had a couple of classes with a new teacher who really wasn't really good yet. Also, it was so frustrating because they'd have classes posted in the board but we would be informed that it was closed or not running when we came.  I couldn't blame them entirely though because the schedule I'd have on hand would often be outdated because we weren't very consistent in going.

When she was about 2 years old, a Kindermusik class opened near us. We gave it a try as it was nearer than Gymboree.  It was ok but I found personally found the class a little too noisy and the pace was way too fast.  I felt like even the book reading was rushed and class was going on fast forward mode. Even yaya remarked, "Mam parang napagod ako para sa teacher."

Ava likes going to class though she actually just lays on my lap and watches the whole class whizz by.  In a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, I'd rank it 7.

This summer, we gave Little Gym a try as I had heard that their teachers were better.  The place really impressed me because it was bigger and super clean and nice.  We've just been to a couple of classes but I do find it better than Gymboree because it teaches more gymnastics basics and some pre-school concepts (for Ava's age) too. The pace is just right, not too fast nor too slow. It is slightly more expensive though.

If we judge by Ava's rating though, she's equally excited for any of the 3 classes so I think they are all pretty much ok. As a mom though, I do like Little Gym, I only wish they had a branch near us. But when I watch Ava doing the balance beam or the uneven bars, I sometimes wish I was young enough to play on them again.