You ask for them so we delivered!
The new EVOLVEkids Toddler Open Gym Punch Cards are now available. The Toddler Open Gym Punch Cards are $25 which allow you to pre-pay for 5 Toddler Open Gym sessions plus a free bonus 6th session.
The easiest way to purchase a punch card is to come attend a Toddler Open Gym session. We have a new time on Tuesdays from 9AM till 10AM or you can attend during our regular Toddler Open Gym on Fridays from 10AM to 11:30AM.
If you haven’t been to Toddler Open Gym at EVOLVEkids (and why not?), here’s a quick overview of what you and your toddler can expect.
During Toddler Open Gym (and during our FREE Crawler Open Gym on Fridays, as well), our entire gym space is setup for you and your toddler. By creating this “toddler only time”, it eliminates the distraction of older children (toddlers get distracted enough on their own!) and it allows us to utilize all our gym equipment for your toddler.
In addition to mats and soft-play skill shapes that are specifically sized for toddler and preschool age children, we have low balance beams, preschool sized uneven bars and single rail, inflatable fitness wheel, plus our 50’ TumblTrak, rod floor, and gymnastics floor exercise space.
Recently, we published two articles about why toddler gymnastic classes are a must for your child.
In Part 1 of that series, we discussed the physical benefits of toddler gymnastics, starting out specifically with developing your child’s vestibular and proprioception systems:
The proprioception system, or our intuitive sense of space and position, goes hand in hand with the vestibular system. The vestibular keeps us upright, and the proprioception acts as our navigation system.
I can think of no better place than a professional gymnastics facility, with a designated area for toddlers with colorful soft-play skill shapes, and specifically designed toddler gymnastic equipment, for a toddler to start safely developing their sense of balance and their ability to navigate their world.
We then went on to discuss safely building your toddler’s strength:
What’s great about a Parent/Tot class or a Crawler Open Gym that we offer at EVOLVEkids, is that we not only have a space that is safe and supervised, but it’s a space that has been DESIGNED to be a safe environment to develop the muscle strength that your toddler or crawler needs.
And as your child moves thru the gross motor developmental milestones of standing, walking, running, and jumping, a toddler gymnastic class or toddler open gym continues to be the perfect environment for them to safely take those first steps & falls, first runs & tumbles.
We finished with the physical benefits in Part 1 of why toddler gymnastic classes are a must for your child by discussing flexibility:
Flexibility, though, is not a physical benefit that accrues with age. The average child is not going to be just naturally flexible. Actually, with kids growing up in a world where more time is being spent immobile in front of electronic screens, I would say that the average kid is probably rather inflexible (and that’s been my practical experience as well).
You can think of flexibility as kind of like the body’s 401K account. The more time that is spent early on gaining flexibility, the greater the benefit the child will reap as their body grows.
And the value of active play:
One of the great things about a Parent/Tot class or a Toddler Open Gym is that you get to participate in active play with your child. You are starting to create a positive habit of treating exercise as fun, but you are also telling your child that you value playing with them as well.
In Part 2 of why toddler gymnastic classes are a must for your child, we covered the mental, social, and emotional benefits starting with social skills and classroom skills:
…the experiences of being in a toddler gymnastic class or a toddler open gym, are foundational in how a child develops in their social environment. Now when you consider that these experiences can be a child’s initial social experience, you can see it’s a profound leap from not just learning how to be social but the actual CREATION of a child’s social personality.
Classroom skills, or better yet, classroom structure is kind of a rule book for social skills. If interacting with other children is the game, then classroom structure is the “rules of the game” that all children are learning to follow.
We then went on to discuss building courage and confidence:
…a gymnastic class in the appropriate setting provides a safe and nurturing environment for a child to take a risk and try something new. Our gym at EVOLVEkids offers graduated challenges, and we encourage toddlers while providing them the security to act on that encouragement.
And providing the proper environment to allow a toddler to develop courage puts them on the path to building confidence.
And we finished with foundation and how “Gymnastics is a foundation for physical fitness as well as mental, social, and emotional well-being. Frankly, it’s the foundation for a healthy life.”
If you haven’t yet, I strongly encourage you to read both articles, 10 Reasons Why Toddler Gymnastics Is A MUST for Your Child, Part 1 and 10 Reasons Why Toddler Gymnastics Is A MUST for Your Child, Part 2. We really dive deep into the benefits of toddler gymnastics.
But more than anything, I suggest that you and your toddler just show up at either our Tuesday or Friday morning Toddler Open Gym sessions and see for yourself the amazing benefits of gymnastics for toddlers. And for those of you with crawlers and not yet toddlers, we also offer a FREE Crawler Open Gym on Friday mornings from 9AM to 10AM.
If you’d like a little more information before stopping in, be it about toddler gymnastics or gymnastics, tumbling, and/or cheer, in general, I encourage you to give me, Heidi Lawless, Owner & Lead Instructor at EVOLVEkids, a call at (815) 416-9580. I love talking with parents about their kids, and how important it is for their development to get active.
I hope to see you soon, and hope you take advantage of our new EVOLVEkids Toddler Open Gym Punch Cards.
EVOLVEkids is a USA Gymnastics Member Gym, USTA Club Member, and USASF Member Club located in Morris, IL. Heidi Lawless is the Owner & Lead Instructor at EVOLVEkids, and has been teaching children gymnastics, tumbling, and cheer for 40 years.