Toddler Sense is an established franchise that delivers a fun and stimulating environment to children aged 13 months to 5 years. Through weekly themed sessions, a combination of exciting soft play and engaging group sensory elements allow children to freely explore, learn and develop. Having taken Emily to Baby Sensory when she was younger, I knew roughly what to expect and was keen to see what exactly the Toddler Sense classes had to offer.
Lou has recently taken over the franchise and runs the classes across three venues in North Leeds during the week. We opted for the Roundhay venue where sessions run Friday mornings at St. Edmunds Church Hall and were warmly greeted by Lou. The theme of the week was trains, and the hall was displayed with lots of soft play equipment including 2x bouncy castles, climbing apparatus, push-bikes, and a ball pool. This was interspersed with on-theme accessories such as wooden trains, foam train tracks, and a giant blow-up Thomas The Tank Engine and friends!
The class began with 20minutes of free play where the children were free to explore the array of apparatus and accessories. Emily delved straight in! She was intrigued by Thomas but favoured the bouncy castles and ‘Rody’ the hopping horse. We were then invited to sit on mats for the structured play section of the class. This started with the ‘How do you do?’ song where everyone had a pair of sticks to tap to the beat, followed by the introduction of Tod; the Toddler Sense mascot, which was a big hit with Emily.
The activities then explored the Train theme using a range of sensory experiences, from shaking rattles and looking at train imagery alongside a runaway train song, to threading ‘carriages’ along the track, as well as a trip on the night time express train, and going to ‘train land’ crawling through train tunnels and walking along train tracks. Emily loved exchanging her pennies for a train ticket and held on tight to her light tube whilst we bounced up and down and swayed left and right on the night time express! The class then finished off with a cheery ‘Wave Goodbye’ song, where we all waved, clapped and stomped goodbye.
These classes are great if you’re looking for a good mix of free-play and structured learning in a safe environment. Lou is very good at explaining the benefits of the different activities and how they help aid in development and learning through exploration and play. So, it also provides adults with a lot of inspiration for at-home play, with a lot of the equipment available to purchase to continue the fun outside of the classes.
Toddler Sense classes last 50 minutes, and take place as follows:
Monday. 9.30am & 10.30am. Moortown RUFC, Far Moss Sports Ground, Moss Valley, LS17 7NT.
Wednesday. 9.30am & 10.30am. Robert Craven Hall, Old Lane Bramhope, LS16 9AZ.
Friday. 9.30am, 10.30am & 11.30am. St Edmund’s Church Hall, Lidgett Park Road Roundhay, LS8 1JN.
Class cost £8 per session when you book a full term, and Lou is currently offering 3 for 2 taster sessions when you sign up, giving you a chance to decide whether this is the class for you. There is also a half price discount for siblings.
The classes are also broken down into different age ranges:
Toddler Sense are also available for parties with lots of different themes to choose from, exciting soft play elements teamed with fun activities to get the party in full swing!
To get in touch, contact Lou on 07870275916 or email at northleeds@toddlersense.co.uk or for more information visit their Website or Facebook page.
*Mumbler did receive a complimentary class but all of the comments in this review are our open and honest opinion.
