As I mentioned in my earlier post, Cravendale have launched a new rewards scheme called Love Cravendale. Collect codes from bottles to collect hearts on the website, then you get to spend these hearts on experience vouchers & tickets for weekly raffles.
For 15 hearts on the Love Cravendale website, you can bag yourself a 2 for 1 voucher for Performing Arts. These can be used at a number of classes, one of which being the Jo Jingles chain of children’s “music, singing & movement” classes.
On Tuesday last week, I took my two girls to the Jo Jingles class over in Solihull, to see what it was all about. Run by the lovely Lucy, we went to a “Jingle Toddlers” class, aimed at children from walking age to 2 years. The class is held in the scout hut, which is a nice size and was easy to find.
The class was great fun, with 45 minutes of music, dancing & a nice variety of instruments. There was even a bubble machine that Georgie wasn’t afraid of – unheard of! There was a lovely selection of songs, some of which were familiar to us and some that are special Jo Jingles songs. I loved the use of props for some of the songs – a frisbee was a steering wheel and a pop pop became a funny wig.
Although she started off shyly, just watching what was going on, Georgie did join in a little bit with the class and definitely enjoyed herself. She was happy going to collect instruments and playing them to her own little tunes (rather than joining in with the actual songs!), and then taking them back when asked.
Georgie got up to join in with the dancing once or twice and despite it all being a bit overwhelming for her, she did have fun and I could see regular attendance of something like this being really enjoyable for her – after one or two sessions she would be over her initial shyness and really love the music and get involved. When I asked her if she had fun she did some extremely emphatic nodding and declared “yea!” so I think that it was a success in her eyes.
Lucy, who ran the class, was fantastic. She really threw herself into it and despite the boiling heat she was incredibly enthusiastic, energetic and spent the 45 minutes of the class pulling silly faces, singing, dancing, kicking her legs in the air and generally acting like a slight loon. Naturally, the kids loved it.
Lucy was fantastic with the children, talking to each of them as they came to collect instruments, and making sure that none of them were missed out when it was time for Jo to hug everyone during the welcome & goodbye songs. Even Lydia and another baby who was there got a gentle stroke on the cheek from Jo when it was their turn. She encouraged the children to join in, but without too much pressure, and praised them when they did.
Lydia enjoyed watching the other children play & seemed to like the music – she loves it when I sing to her so this was right up her street. Here is a video I shot during the session – slightly out focus at times because the camera kept getting confused, sorry!
We had a great time, and it was lovely to see what goes on at a Jo Jingles class. The Love Cravendale scheme is a great way to try these sorts of things out at bargain prices, and you can find out what your child might enjoy before committing to buying a term subscription.
It’s a shame that the Jo Jingles class is so far from where we live, otherwise I would be very tempted to sign Georgie up! It took a 1.6 mile walk with Lydia strapped to me, followed by two trains and a lift from my husband to get home, and I don’t really fancy that on a regular basis. As it is, I highly recommend that you give it a go if you have a nearby class and a music loving toddler!
Glad you had a nice time ! next time you are in Solihull pop in and see us it would be lovely to see you again big hugs from Jo jingles x
Lucy Tonnero liked this on Facebook.