Welcome to our Mom Around Town Blog series! I will try to post them every other Friday this year if I can. Last time I posted an interview with Kim Schaf of Sleep Training Solutions. This week I’ll be sharing some information about The Little Gym in Glenview.
Since many of the businesses I visit work directly with children and expecting parents, I think it is important to get to know them well. Our Mom Around Town feature will help you do that! Make sure you check out our other Mom Around Town posts!
Business Name: The Little Gym
Website: www.thelittlegym.com
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The Little Gym in Glenview is located near The Glen but there are over 300 locations now worldwide. It is a large gym that is available for children of all ages. I visit their Glenview location when they had a small class of preschoolers in the gym and they were so cute to watch. The Little Gym offers so many options for both parents and children. I love that they pay attention to details and get the kids involved. They had a nice size room for parties in the back and had the kids names all over the walls as well. I loved that they had a parent wall with their events, including a parent’s night out. We all need those from time to time, right?
In the mid-1970s, The Little Gym was founded by Robin Wes. “An innovative educator, musician and kinesiologist, Robin envisioned a nurturing place where children could explore their physical development, while also growing socially, emotionally and intellectually. Although teaching physical education in a competitive setting was the accepted norm at the time, Robin believed there was a better approach. Instead, he created an environment filled with the spirit to achieve rather than the pressure to win. Robinʼs non-competitive approach was unheard of back then. Revolutionary, even.”
The Little Gym was opened in 1976 in Bellevue, Washington. “Since then, they have honed the teaching methods he set into motion, structuring them into an expanded curriculum, with each class building on lessons learned in previous ones. And while Robin continues to create original music for each lesson, his inspiring vision has evolved into something bigger than he ever could have imagined. In 1992, under the leadership of Bob Bingham, the concept was franchised, spreading The Little Gymʼs methods and results across the globe.”
Starting with babies age 4 months through 3 years old, they have parent and child classes. These classes will promote early development and provide a strong foundation for children during the first 3 years. Weekly classes allow children to achieve new milestones and prepare for more advanced challenges during each stage of growth. The next step in classes go from 3 to 6 years old for the Pre-K and Kindergarteners. These classes are set up to learn many skills such as sharing, taking turns, listening, and following instructions all while having fun! The Little Gym also offers girls gymnastics classes for ages 6-12 which focuses on developing solid gymnastic skills on the mat, vault, bar and beam. The classes combine balance, agility, poise and core strength. The Little Gym also focuses on individual accomplishments instead of competition, which allows the girls to be positively motivated to achieve their best!
Besides gymnastics, The Little Gym offers Karate classes for both boys and girls ages 4-12. These strive to teach self confidence and the combination of karate and gymnastics adds a fun twist to the ancient martial art. The classes help children improve their coordination, balance and agility while focusing on self control and concentration. There are also classes that work with children on their sports skills taught through drills and simulated games for sports such as soccer, baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and golf. The children also gain an understanding of teamwork and sportsmanship. The sports skills classes are available for ages 3-6 for both boys and girls.
If you are like me and already wondering what to do with your children this summer, The Little Gym offers a whole bunch of week long summer camps with unique themes. Some of these themes are Green Beard’s Pirate Ship, The Super Grown-Ups, The Neat Ninja League, The Treasures of Magical Mountain and more! You can view the information on these camps on their website. They start on June 6th and go through August 15th. They are offered to children ages 3-10 and are very flexible. You can go one day or all 5 and there is a family flex camp pass too that you can look into if you think you want to do a lot of them!
Here are a few more photos of The Little Gym:
Go visit them on their website and let them know you read this post on Just Peachy Photography’s Mom Around Town series. If you are a local business owner that would like to be featured on our Mom Around Town blog series, contact Erika at Erika@justpeachyphotog.com or use the Contact link above.
