We recently welcomed Katie to our Jo Jingles Head Office team. As a brand new and uninitiated member of the children’s activity club, we sent her along to experience Jo Jingles classes first-hand.

Here she shares her insight on what you can expect if you’re new to music and movement classes or are just looking to try a new activity with your child.

What is Jo Jingles all about?

As part of my introduction to the world of Jo Jingles I went along to baby, toddler and pre-school music classes to see what Jo Jingles is all about. What struck me the most? The sheer joy in the room. From the giggling, curious babies, the bubbly excitement of the ‘just walking’ crowd, and the calm confidence of the pre-schoolers, it’s impossible not to leave a Jo Jingles class smiling and uplifted when surrounded by happy and engaged young children.

From my experience, If you’re looking for a fun and inclusive, structured and educational activity for your child, that can also hold your attention and keep you engaged, then there is a place for everyone, and everyone has a place at Jo Jingles music and movement classes.

For those of you who are new to Jo Jingles – this video will give you a flavour of the class set up and below I’ll take you through each class that I attended - suitable for children from 3 months to five years old.

Welcome to Jo Jingles

As soon as you walk into a Jo Jingles class, you are met with a warm welcome and greeted by name. Children and their parents or carers are invited to find a spot in the circle around Jo Jingles and the class teacher before the fun begins. Familiarity and structure is a great format for learning, and this is plain to see in all of the Jo Jingles music classes for children.

If you attend regularly you will quickly become familiar with Jo Jingles’ themes, room set up and regular songs such as hello, tidy up, sleeping bunnies, goodbye and thank you which form the structural pillars of the class. That’s before we even get to exploring new sounds, senses, instruments and concepts through themes like transport, colour, space and animals each week. All of this is so cleverly put together into a fun musical package that you almost forget your child is constantly learning and achieving the fundamental early years milestones that will set them up for school life and beyond.

Baby music classes at Jo Jingles

What is not to love about a room full of babies with wonder in their eyes as they explore new sights, textures and sounds and movements for the first time? Jo Jingles baby classes are calming, cosy and focused on the partnership between child and carer. Accompanying adults know their baby best so are encouraged to go at their babies’ pace and spot signs of baby’s enjoyment and milestones such as following sights & sounds with their eyes, rolling over, sitting unaided, picking up instruments and crawling towards exciting props. Simple, clear instructions combined with baby safe instruments and props such as bells, bubbles and balls create half an hour of pure miniature magic!

Toddler music classes at Jo Jingles

Walking to 2s classes

This was a brilliant class to attend. Full of excitement, chatter, friendship bonds and activity. The sheer joy on the children’s faces as they approached and rattled Jo’s box of instruments to guess what was inside was infectious. These walking to 2s classes provide a good mix of instrument playing, circle and walking songs that keep newly wandering babies and active toddlers engaged. Children are given lots of praise and encouragement as they start to explore the world independently of their adults to join in with the songs and actions.

2+ Classes

The 2+ class brings another whole new dynamic as at this age, children have really started to develop their own personalities and characteristics. In fact, in the class that I attended, one little girl was very happy to take control saying, “Sit down mummy, follow me, it goes like this!”. This age group have developed control over their bodies and can sing back songs and copy movements so teachers are able to address the children directly rather than their parents as they introduce a wider range of instruments such as triangles and cymbals along with lots of props such as scarfs and parachutes.

Pre-school music classes at Jo Jingles

3-5 classes

Here, children attending the 3-5 classes are encouraged to delve deeper into the world of music as they’re introduced to the musical theory of playing in time, understanding loud and quiet, high, low, fast and slow through interactive themes, story boards and the full range of instruments and props. They’re invited to consider their emotions and ideas with Q&As and action-packed activities setting them up for school environments. At this stage the adults can take more of a back seat in classes as their children are encouraged to move and think independently and for those who want to continue their musical fun outside of class, takeaway activities and sheets are available.

Adults love Jo Jingles too!

I fully expected the classes to be great fun for the children but what surprised me was how much I enjoyed them as an adult too. I think it’s safe to say the mums, dads and carers that arrive early for a catch up, tag on play dates after class, make new friends and find support amongst parents with similar aged children to keep their sanity in check, are getting just as much out of Jo Jingles as their children.

In summary, If you’re looking for a fun and inclusive, structured and educational activity for your child, that can also hold your attention and keep you engaged, then from my experience, there is a place for everyone, and everyone has a place at Jo Jingles music and movement classes.

Category: Children's Activities

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Find out more about Jo Jingles

Jo Jingles provides music, singing and movement classes for children aged 3 months to five years across the UK. Our fun, interactive and educational classes are run by experienced class teachers at more than 700 centres nationwide.

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