blog: Together time at babyballet
Each month we’ll be focusing on a different aspect of the health and well-being babyballet can bring to your life – and the life of your little stars too. At babyballet, we know better than most how busy life can be for parents and their little ones. Many of our babyballet parents are in similar situations – racing from work to home, to school or nursery. Not to mention any extra curricular activities that have to be fitted in. But we also know that spending time with your little ones doing a shared activity, really does bring its own rewards.
83% of our parents told us they choose to take their child to activities that they can do together as a family.
Quality time together
In an age of social media and constant demands on our time, we can lose sight of what it means to just focus on our little ones. Going to the park or having a play date is a lovely thing to do but does it provide a real opportunity to be truly together? We all want quality time with our children – bedtime stories, cuddles after bath time – these are all important. But sharing in an activity and actually being in the room with your little one as they learn new skills, make friends and have fun – well, at babyballet we believe this is priceless.
Lily Johnson dances at babyballet in Halifax
“Lily has totally fallen in love with babyballet. Already I can see the classes are bringing her on with her development. Her motor skills are getting better every week and she’s making lots of new friends. We both look forward to babyballet, it’s our favourite day of the week!”
Hayley Johnson, babyballet mummy
The whole experience
At babyballet, we take our responsibility as dance teachers very seriously. But unlike the stereotypes of the ballet world, where ballet classes are known to be overly competitive and isolating for many children, we’re very much about the whole experience. The babyballet ethos is to ensure every class is inclusive, non-competitive and fun – for all our little ones to feel part of the babyballet family.
It is important to us to make sure that everyone has fun and learns to dance and play together. Plus there’s the whole musical element. The songs and stories we use bring a real magic to the classes. Twinkle and Teddy are the babyballet characters your little ones will learn to know and love so that even when you’re not in class, you can still dance and play together at home, using the songs, steps and stories you’ve learned together.
Early years development
The babyballet programme has been carefully designed to follow the government’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, which encourages babies and young children to learn and develop key skills in a healthy, safe environment. If your little one already goes to a nursery or pre-school then they may well be getting the benefits of exercise and learning. They may even have babyballet classes as part of their week. As parents, you may not always be aware that what you do with our children has a direct effect on their growth, development and abilities. By being at babyballet with your little one, you’ll get to experience first hand the difference taking part in a group activity like this can really make.
Daddy time
And, with Father’s Day just gone, we couldn’t not mention all the daddies that come to our babyballet classes. Much as we’d love to have the whole family involved, due to health and safety, we can only have one parent from each family in class at the same time, but this doesn’t always have to be mummy. Daddy and daughter or Daddy and son time is just as important and, by being in a babyballet class together, can bring little ones and their daddies even closer.
Don’t forget it’s not just little girls that love babyballet. At babyballet we encourage boys and girls to dance and have fun together. So there’s plenty of opportunity for mummy and son time or daddy and son time. At babyballet, we really do want to share the magic of dance, music and storytelling with everyone.
Michelle loves the 35 minutes each week she spends with Isaak at babyballet. 
“He adores Miss Jayne, dancing with his Teddy bear and when we get home, he can’t wait to show Daddy his dancing too”
Isaak (pictured, right) listening intently to Miss Jayne at babyballet Bury and Bolton.
“My daughter just adores her babyballet class with Miss Emma. Not only does she teach songs and dance moves to encourage coordination but she also teaches patience and the importance of sharing. She has learned all the routines and practices at home as much as she can. babyballet is a wonderful investment in her future.”
Join a babyballet class today!
If you’d like to find out more about babyballet classes in your area, please look on our find a class page. We run classes across the UK in England, Wales and Scotland so you’re bound to find a dance school that’s near to where you live. We can’t wait to meet you and your little star!