Meet The Member - The Little Gym Harpenden
The Little Gym, Harpenden
We had the pleasure of talking to Lauren from our member The Little Gym Harpenden, to find out more about them and what they offer!
Hi! It would be great if you could tell us all a bit about the history of The Little Gym in Harpenden.
The Little Gym was founded in 1976 by Robin Wes, an innovative educator, musician and kinesiologist who had a passion for gymnastics and bringing gymnastics to everyone! Growing up in a competitive gymnastics’ environment, Robin was committed to change and make the sport, fun, inclusive and accessible to all. Now over 40 years later his same philosophy is taught in over 400 The Little Gym locations worldwide, 14 of which are here in England. That’s a lot of Serious Fun!
That’s amazing, and how long has the Harpenden branch been open for?
We've been here for 13 Years this March!
Why would children benefit from coming to any of the classes at The Little Gym and what would they learn?
The Little Gym uses gymnastics as a tool to promote child development, not only physically, but socially, cognitively and emotionally. Your child will learn awesome gymnastics skills while building their strength, coordination, fine and gross motor skills from as young as 4 months old up to 12 years old. The Little Gym is more than just a gymnastics programme, we are a home from home and care about your little one’s development as much as you do. We'd love for you to come and see why over 900 local children attend our classes every week plus all our parties and holiday camps!
What can families expect to see when arriving?
Lots of colour! We have a wonderful, clean facility with a large lobby for watching classes and a kitchen area where you can relax with free tea and coffee or feed your children before or after class. We have free parking, with 13 spaces out front and a further 200 a 3-minute walk away at the conference centre. Our gym also benefits from lots of Covid Safe measures such as antibacterial door handles, hand sanitiser stations, mini children's sinks and HEPA Hospital Grade Air Filtration system which kills 99.96% of airborne germs including Covid.
What are some of your favourite things about working at The Little Gym?
I myself have been working for The Little Gym Harpenden for 10 years. Over the past decade I have seen children go from our Bugs (4-10 months) programme to our advanced primary school classes. It is amazing to see the children develop in such a way in their journey with us. The Little Gym network are a big family and we have regular trainings with The Little Gym teams from other locations keeping everything fun and fresh. My absolute favourite memories are seeing all the 'firsts' that happen like little ones doing their first steps. It was also very special to me to be able to bring my children for their first classes and see them progress through the stages too. I currently have a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old and they're very much typical active toddlers so The Little Gym is perfect for them!
Can you tell us a bit more about the weekly classes that you offer along with your camps?
Our classes start at 4 months old with beginning weight bearing, rotations like forward and backward rolls as well as strength building activities to promote children's fine and gross motor skills. Child development is key for us and we use gymnastics as a tool to achieve this.
A child's coordination doesn't fully develop until they are 7 so with our help we can build little one’s coordination early meaning they have the foundation for later skills in life like reading and writing. Our classes have fun weekly themes that feed into a monthly learning unit, for example 'which muscle for the hussle' for our pre-schoolers where we talked about body part awareness through imagining we were different animals. Did you know that bear walking builds the core? Our primary school programme is divided into four stages from beginners through to advanced so we have something for everyone from your little 5-year-old dreaming of cartwheels to our advanced gymnasts who are literally flipping off the walls!
Our camps are available for 3 - 12-year olds with age appropriate activities for all. Fun gymnastics skills, arts and crafts, games and more! Children can attend for a half or full day of fun and we are Ofsted registered too. Camps are available to members and non-members so they're a great place to bring friends.
Harpenden is such a wonderful town with a strong community feel. What do you love about working here and what are your favourite things to do in town when you’re not working.
I love Harpenden, there are so many families and everyone is always very friendly. As a team we love to go for lunches at the local pubs, The George is one of our favourites and the White Horse right around the corner. We've been known to order our fair share of fish and chips from Godfreys too! Grabbing a coffee and strolling through Rothamsted Park is a lovely way to spend a break between classes and we are very lucky to have it on our doorstep.