What we're doing this week

Little Bean is still interested in our previous fine motor skill activities so we have been continuing those tasks. He's getting the hang of putting the lids on and off his milk cans and milk bottle. He hasn't had much progress with the snap on lids though. They're a tighter fit and may be too difficult for him at the moment. The zippers are a work in progress. He can move it a little way but not the whole length yet.

I have some flash cards on a ring that I use with my ESL (English as a Second Language) students. During a tutoring session last week, Little Bean decided that he liked them. He's been playing with them heaps this week, and occasionally chewing on them too. I really hope he stops chewing on everything soon.





At Little Bean's Gymboree class, they have a piano toy that he adores. He saw one in the baby shop last week and wouldn't leave without it. He can either play the keyboard or use the stick to strike the xylophone.

 We had some leftover foam alphabet mats from Little Bean's bed makeover that he has been playing with. He's good at pulling the letters out but getting them back is a bit harder. He can do the simpler letters like I and L, but needs help with ones that are trickier to line up.

 This beach ball was a free gift when we joined Gymboree. It's much lighter than his other balls so he can toss it quite far and high.

Little Bean loves playing with the clothes pegs when I hang out the washing. I peg some on to his t-shirt that he can pull off. I also peg some around the rim of the bowl. Sometimes we makes chains of them. But mostly, he loves just putting them in and out of the ball, especially this week.

This month, Little Bean has started to play make-believe. It's so cute. He'll climb into my bed, hug a pillow and pretend to sleep. Then he'll suddenly jump up, race to the next pillow and do it all again. In his room, he uses his old nappy change mat as a pretend bed. He has had this red pillow for ages but has never shown any interest in it until now. It's filled with tiny polystyrene beads and is super squishy and soft. He loves snuggling up with it when he pretends to sleep.

What we're doing this week

This week we've been doing a lot of fine motor skill activities.

This bead maze was a great buy in Australia on my last trip. It has wooden beads that slide along the wires. It also has wooden toys that can be pushed along channels in the base.

I made these sorting toys from recycled baby milk cans, wooden blocks, plastic lids and chew toys. Go here for instructions on how to make your own milk can sorting toys. Little Bean quickly got the hang of it.

This week's "Opening & Closing" discovery basket has practical life items that will help develop fine motor skills. Go here to more details.

 

After Little Bean became very stubborn about pulling tissues and baby wipes from any box he could find, I gave him a box of his own. I filled the box with small muslin clothes that he can pull out and put back in at his leisure.

 We taped some toilet roll tubes to the side of his drawers and taped a bowl to the bottom. He drops the ball in the top and it falls into the bowl. The angled tubes make the ball spin around the bowl as they land.

 We bought this toy from Gymboree. Peek-a-boo is Little Bean's favourite game. It's a sure-fire way to cheer him up and keep him amused.

Gymboree Play & Music update

Little Bean and I finally attended our free introductory Play & Learn class and it was great. We are definitely becoming members. I'm not sure who had more fun out of the two of us. I had such a blast jumping around, dancing and singing. It's all good because a dozen other Mums were doing it too. Little Bean loves music and dancing so mat time was his favourite part. All the staff seem to really love kids and to love their job, which is the most important thing to me. They just oozed joy and enthusiasm, which rubbed off on the kids and had them feeling great too.

I would have loved to get some photos but I was so busy having fun, I forgot all about it. The equipment was set up completely differently to the last time we were there. The big inflatable tubes were set up as swings and as tunnels. They added a net that the kids could walk or climb up. There was a little gang plank for the kids to walk along or bounce on.

To see my previous post and photos from our first visit to Gymboree, go here.

Each class has a theme. Our theme was "Side by side". It was all about promoting co-operation and socialisation. Most activities were done in pairs or groups, and the kids were encouraged to wave to each other and say hi at each step of the activity. Little Bean amazed me by doing so many things that I didn't think possible for him. The main thing I learnt from the class was to stop underestimating Little Bean's abilities. He is so much more able than I ever gave him credit for.


In my previous post, I forgot to mention that Gymboree Play and Music has locations in 33 countries.

The Vietnamese locations can be viewed here.

In Australia, they only have locations in Queensland so far. See here.

International locations can be found here.

Gymboree Play & Music

I've been searching for a playgroup for Little Bean, so I took him to Gymboree Play & Music in District 1 yesterday for a free trial class. We got stuck in bad traffic so we were too late to join the class though. However, this gave us plenty of time to talk to the staff about schedules, fees and the like. We did get to watch a Play & Learn class and a Music class in progress. There was a Free Play session after that, so Little Bean got to have a play anyway and he loved it. It's baby heaven. They've rescheduled our free class for Thursday, even though I was late, which was lovely of them. We can't wait.

Gymboree offers classes designed to aid the  physical and cognitive development of children aged 0-5 years old. They offer Play & Learn, Music and Art classes. For older kids, there are also Sports and School Skills classes.

Little Bean went straight for the various balls on offer and ignored the playground equipment for the first 10 minutes. The playground equipment is awesome. Little Bean might have been hesitant, but I was dying to check it all out. Everything is very high quality and surrounded by safety mats. There was such a wide range that I think there would be something to keep even the fussiest child amused.

Little Bean had fun going up and down the steps and he tried out the ramp. But he kept trying to get off the ramp by swinging his legs over the side. Not a good move when your feet aren't even close to touching the floor. The red climbing steps caught his interest but were a little beyond his ability yet.




He liked the ramp with the wooden knobs on it. It was a little tricky to navigate but he did really well.

These little cubbyhole boxes were great. He wasn't really into them until I put a ball inside a box for him to get. Then he cruised around in there quite happily. The boxes have interesting shaped holes cut out of the sides which he could look through and poke his arm out of.





I was very surprised when he crawled up the green foam wedge. I thought that it would be too steep but he made it look easy. Once he was on top of the boxes, that was where he stayed. There are cool pegs in the box walls that he could move through slots in the wood. There is also a steering wheel and that was his firm favourite.

Overall, I think Gymboree Play and Music is definitely a place we'll be returning to. The fees are on the high side as far as kid's activities go in Vietnam but considering the location and high quality, I'm happy to pay it. You pay a small membership fee and then purchase a class package deal. The bigger the package, the better the deal. For example, if you buy the 45 class package with 5 free classes, the class fees drops to around 320,000 VND (AU $15) and you get 20 Free Play sessions that you can share with friends.