My Gym - Great Classes, Instructors, Facility

We have a great group of moms who review all things family for us - this month our mom reviewer and her kids tried out My Gym.  Check out their fun findings on our FAMILY Magazine website!

My Gym:  a Great Time with the Kids !

Winter is the busiest season at My Gym because it is a great indoor location for children to get exercise when the weather outside is often frightful. Recently, my three children and I previewed two of the many different classes My Gym offers at their Potomac, MD location.

When selecting classes, I appreciated the wide variety and times available. I wanted one for my three year old who hasn’t done any type of preschool or class before and one where we could all attend, and I was pleased to find that there were classes just right for those requirements.

The day we went to the class for my three year old there were several other families having a preview class as well, so there were 16 children between the ages of three and four in the class! It was noisy and busy, but an extra instructor was on the floor with the children to keep the teacher/student ration down.

I liked that the class included whole group instruction and activity, times when the kids could choose what they wanted to do in the room full of fun equipment, and small group instruction where one teacher was working with five or six students (this ratio would normally be a little smaller, but we were there on an unusually busy day.)

My three year old loved the activities, especially standing on a low trapeze and swinging. When the children had free play I noticed that the ball pit was a popular area, as was the trampoline. I loved watching my daughter’s face as she raced around and played.

The one thing I would change was the amount of sitting time the children had while the teachers worked with one child at a time, although I imagine on a normal class day with a smaller class this sitting time would be shorter.

The My Gym facilities are not huge, but full of great equipment. A back room stores more equipment and hands-on items which the teachers brought out, used with the children and rotated several times with the students.

There are two bathrooms (and the one we entered had a changing table too). The lobby where students remove their shoes is separated from the gym floor by a short wall so parents can stay and watch their older children. Classes for younger children are designed for parents and children to participate together.


One big draw for me as a parent of multiple children whose ages cover several years was the sibling/multi-age class. This class is designed with two teachers who do whole group activities and also activities for the older kids and ones for the younger children. In the class we attended there were two crawling babies, so the instructors brought out walking and baby toys.

Some activities were perfect for everyone, a favorite being swing time. My Gym has many ropes securely attached to the ceiling where the instructors can hang equipment like a trapeze, rings, and swings. For our class they had baby swings for the little ones, flat swings and ones with seatbelts for the older kids and even a doughnut swing.

The instructors did a good job of keeping things moving, changing activities frequently and having fun with the children. One thing I loved was that there are male and female instructors. This was important to me because I want my son to have positive male role models outside of our family, and I could tell that he immediately connected with the male instructor who made my son laugh and feel comfortable in class.

I would definitely recommend My Gym to friends, and may sign my own children up for classes in the future. My Gym offers sibling discounts and does birthday parties (starting from $89 - a great deal!). I know my kids would love a party at My Gym…they keep talking about all of the fun things they did there.



Go towww.mygym.com for locations and details.



Ratings:

Updated Facility/Equipment	5
Cleanliness	5
Instructor	5
Appropriate Safety Procedures	5
Appropriate Class Size/Ratio	4
Convenient Parking	5
Affordable	4
I would take another class	yes
I would recommend to a friend	yes
Overall Rating	5

All ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Meet the Reviewer!



Janice Richardson is an elementary
school teacher turned stay-at-home
mom of three energetic little ones,
ages 4, 3 and 10 months. She enjoys
playing with her family, being outdoors,
and eating chocolate. Janice runs an etsy
shop, www.etsy.com/shop/feltyfun,
where she makes and sells preschool
activities made from felt. One of her
goals is to someday visit each of the
50 states and each continent.