Kiel's Playtime at Gymboree

Wednesday, August 03, 2016

I've known Gymboree through a blog post of Patty Laurel whom I've been stalking lately. She has a son named Theo (the same age as my Kiel) who celebrated his 1st birthday at Gymboree Alabang.

I've been curious since then after reading that her son basically learned how to walk through Gymboree. So I've researched about this gym play for kids and suggested it to my partner. He was interested as well so we headed out to Robinsons Magnolia last Sunday.

We were not yet sure if we wanted to avail the membership that day. Upon inquiry with the pretty teacher who was in charge of the reception desk, she told us that we can let Kiel experience playing on their play area for 5 minutes free of charge. Then if he wants it, we could extend for 30 mins or an hour and pay the non membership price.

As expected Kiel enjoyed it there. Everything was new to him so he was curious at almost anything. A guardian is required by the way to be with the child inside the play area so me and DJ (my partner) accompanied him. Socks is required for the guardians to wear when inside the play area.

Kiel was hesitant at first trying the different play equipments. I noticed during the early minutes that he was afraid of getting into a tube like equipment that he has to come in from one side then crawl out on the other side. He was probably afraid of getting stuck in the middle so he tends to crawl back after going in. After a few tries of encouraging him to crawl all the way to the end, he was able to do it. Later on, he already knew what to do and no more need to urge him. He was already fast crawling inside with a smile on his face with me waiting for him at the other end. He was also able to climb up an inclined plane which looks like an inclined wall climbing platform. It was fun cheering him and seeing him with a 'fighting' look on his face.

Kiel played there for an hour. What we liked with the experience is that he was able to interact with other children. At first he stops on his tracks if there is someone approaching him, or sometimes he gets shy and crawls back to us. But later on, it was him whose been approaching other people in the play area. It helps him socialize with other people aside from us whom he sees everyday.

Gymboree also offers classes for children. There are options based on their age. Since we aren't decided yet on what class to put him or if he's gonna like it, the teacher offered us to try joining their trial classes first with a fee of P600. The amount is deductible once you opt to enroll within 2 weeks after the trial class.
We have agreed to take the trial class first so we will be coming back next time. Hopefully Kiel likes it. I think he will benefit a lot from it.

After that one hour of him playing, he was so tired when we reached home. He just laid lazily on his playpen unable to move actively as what he used to do...HAHA...my poor baby Kiel...

P.S. We first decided to check out the Megamall branch. However, their branch there closed just a few days after we found out about Gymboree Megamall. Their facebook page has also been offering a promo for their membership wherein you can avail the lifetime membership for just P2,400 instead of P4,000. It was so sayang since we found out about it one day after the promo duration. We hope there's another chance.