She sings songs and nursery rhymes to the children, using no props whatsoever during the first and main part of the session (no CD player, etc), yet still manages to capture the attention of all throughout the forty-five minute session.

The middle part of the session involves Helen bringing out a large crate of instruments, a vast array for all ages, even my daughter can join in with the mini-maracas.  My son invariably goes for the castanets which are fascinating to him.  Every week a big, silver star on a stick is brought out for a different child to hold while ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ is sang.

In comparison, when my son was little (and before he became a big brother), we went to Toddler Tunes, Sing and Sign, and Wiggles and Giggles but to be quite honest he was never particularly keen on going to such groups and spent much of the time trying to escape (a trait I do believe is innate;-).

He is much better now though, he sits through Toddler Tunes quite happily but his favourite bit of it, above all, is near the end when Helen brings out the puppets.  He goes WILD for this part of the session, running straight to the front and can hardly wait to see which puppet she brings out next.  Helen also has a box and all the kids take turns tapping on the lid before she brings out various creatures (the toy variety, of course).

Because it was to be my daughter’s first birthday on Monday everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her which was lovely and I will remember in future years.

Toddler Tunes is £3 a pop, per child, however, for a second child over one, it is an extra £1.50 which is obviously quite expensive for 45 minutes.  To be honest there are cheaper groups and classes in the area to be spending such a short amount of time with two kids (though Toddler Tunes does have the advantage of being a drop-in class, therefore requiring no pre-payment or pre-booking).

Nevertheless, my children both gain much enjoyment from Toddler Tunes Music Group and I will have many happy (and funny) memories of seeing them enjoying the classes in years to come.

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