Perform Party

Isla and I were recently invited by Energy PR to a Perform Party. We had no idea what it was about before we went but from the blurb it sounded like it would be right up Isla's street as she loves singing and dancing:

"Perform is a unique drama school for children, using a mix of drama, dance and singing specially formulated with a focus on child development to bring out every child's true potential, so we would love you to come along and see what Perform is all about. The Perform Parties are high energy, fun and totally infectious, children just can't resist joining in all the activities"

The parties will cover two age groups, so the whole family can come along and join in the fun

Mini Ps 1-3 year olds

Perform Parties 4-8 year olds"

Isla is 2 so she went to the Mini P's party. We were told that obviously the age ranges had to be a bit broader than usual for the purposes of the day, so the Mini P's party included things that were directed at young babies too. The theme for this party was 'Under the Sea' and the actress who ran the session was dressed as a mermaid, which I think Isla loved as it tied in with her current new obsession with The Little Mermaid!

The activities are used to promote the 4 C's - Confidence, Concentration, Communication and Coordination. The teachers use a unique mix of Drama, Dance and Singing to bring out every child's true potential.

What did Isla think of it? Well I think she enjoyed herself, she was a little bit tired during the session which was making her at times a bit 'free' and doing her own thing and I didn't feel like that was encouraged and the kids were expected to fall in line which doesn't always happen with 2 year olds. Isla was her usual friendly self and went off to hold the actresses hand who was leading the session so she obviously felt comfortable with her. Isla loves parachutes (this is a regular part of Gymboree and MAD Academy - classes that Isla has also loved) and so enjoyed this bit of it, she liked the instruments and the dancing. We didn't recognise the songs in the class but I guess with regular attendance then the kids would learn them. Unfortunately we also missed a bit of the session due to a toilet trip (grrr potty training!) but on the whole she had a good time.

Perform parties come in all different themes so you can pick one that fits in with your child's interests/ imagination:

Mini P’s

-          Fairies and Elves

-          Peppa Pig

-          The Night Garden

-          Teddy Bear Picnic

Perform parties:

-          Fairytale Forest

-          Popstarz

-          Superhero school

-          Ghost hunters

-          Magician’s Chamber

-          High School Musical

-          Peter Pan

-          Chocolate Adventure

Perform are not only about parties, they also run weekly classes and holiday courses. Go to Perform for more details and to see if there are classes near you. they are currently offering every child the first Perform session free here

All in all we had a fun mummy and daughter day in London, we received a delicious lunch and a goodie bag with T-shirt and CD on the day.

Galt Toys Review - Peepo Puppet!

We were recently sent a Lion Peepo Puppet by Galt Toys to try out. It's a really cute push-up puppet that you can play peepo with by pushing the soft pole up and down to reveal and hide the lion inside. He's really bright and colourful and the puppet contains a jingle bell and crinkle.

The day we got it in the post I waited until Isla had woken up from her afternoon nap to get it out and surprise her with something new. Sometimes she takes a little while to warm up from waking from a nap and so I thought this would help to get some smiles and it did. She was giggling away as we made the lion disappear and appear. She had a go at doing it herself as well and it was really good fun.

There were also puppets at Gymboree when we used to go to her weekly class there too. As we have another baby on the way I'm keen to keep up the tradition and I think that the Peepo Puppet will be brilliant as well for young babies and this time around Big Sister can also do some of the puppeteering for her baby brother! This puppet will really appeal to young babies as it's lovely and bright, jingles and makes crinkley noises. These toys help to encourage little ones to touch, explore, build and play.

The Galt Toys website is excellent because as well as having the entire range of their brilliant toys on there, it also has a great Activity Zone Page, giving ideas of creative and crafty things to do with the kids and it has games kids can play on the computer.

The Peepo Puppets come either as a Lion, Dog or Cow and they retail at £7.99

In order to review this toy we were sent a Peepo Puppet by Galt Toys.

GYMBOREE!

Once Isla was 8 weeks old I decided that we needed to start doing an organised activity together and on the recommendation of one of my best friends I took Isla for a trial at Gymboree for a Baby Play class. Gymboree is designed to introduce your baby to new sights, sounds and sensory experiences. It's all bright colours, fun music, puppets and best of all as far as most of the babies were concerned lots of BUBBLES!

The one I went to is in Croydon and run by the lovely Emma. She adores all the babies that come her way and she was always able to give you the benefit of her opinion re anything kid related as at the time I joined she had 2 under 3's herself (mad, lovely woman!). The sessions are once a week and last 45 minutes. There is generally always a theme, so I think one week was disco and we all had to dance with our babies, it was really fun and when I came away it gave me ideas for when I was at home with Isla.

One of our best moments at Gymboree, and this is going to sound incredibly mummish (I know this isn't a word!), was when Isla had only just learned to roll over and she did it in front of the whole class and everyone cheered. I couldn't imagine being so excited over such things when I was pre-family but once you've had children, every milestone they reach feels like such an achievement.

I soon persuaded my NCT friends to join Gymboree, which was great as I got £5 per head referral fee and we used this as the start of our kitty for a mum's night out! It was brilliant getting together with my mummy friends on a weekly basis at Gymbo, as apart from the babies playing we all got to have a catch up too.

Gymboree is a brilliant way to have fun with your baby and also to make new friends. The web address is below, hopefully you will be able to find one somewhere near you!

http://www.gymboree-uk.com/baby_play.html