The Little Gym

My little girl LOVES LOVES LOVES the little gym.
My sitter has her three kids enrolled (various ages) and she is the one who got us hooked on little gym.
I have a 3year old and at first I just used the little gym for their birthday parties. Little Gym is hands down the best place to have a toddler birthday party. I almost lost my sanity when my little girl had her first birthday party at Chucky Cheese… it’s the place for parents souls to die. Back to little gym, the staff is simply wonderful with the kids yet professional with the parents thought the whole process. When you have a party at little gym you have to put down a $ 100 deposit and pay the unpaid balance the day of the party which I think is 200something (don’t quote me) DEFINATLY worth it. They do EVERYTHING for you… they plan everything for the kids. They organize and triumph over the kids well during gym time. After the gym time they give you 30min or so for food, cake and ice cream. You have to bring all of the supplies (goodie bags, cake, food and decoration if you have a theme) but they provide juice boxes for each kid. For an extra 10 bucks they provide all of the paper products. There is a dominos in the same shopping center which makes it easy to feed your guests… You call them and tell them when you need the pizza at the little gym and they walk it over for you. The ultimate best part: after all the fun and games are over you can leave… you stare that atomic bomb of a mess the kids left and prance out the doors. My little girl enjoyed two birthday parties at little gym and looks forward to her 4^th birthday party at little gym.
Now she is in their «funny bug» class (ages 3 – 4) *pause* lol funny bug. The staff is friendly and they know my little girl by name and treat her as one of their own. The staff is on top of their game when it comes to your children… they keep you updated on their classes, struggles and progress.
The only downfall, it’s expensive. Also, the timing of paying for the classes is tight. For example; I paid for my little girls summer classes in April and then I see a sign in their viewing area to sign up for the fall semester. I literally thought «wait didn’t I just pay hundreds of dollars for summer? Looks like I’m ziplocking dirt for my lunch.» The good part; you get 10% your whole bill if you sign up with in their designated time frame for early enrollment. The best part? You can do it all online… if you computer literate you can call the office and they can do everything over the phone.
**UPDATE 5÷22÷14:
An example of their price breakdown for the fall semester with the 10% discount: Since I just paid for Summer classes in April the best option for fall was paying monthly. With the 10% discount I’m paying 85 dollars a month for Sept 2014 to June 2015 that’s $ 21.25 for one class. I know I would save some money if I paid all upfront but after I did the math it’s only 100 more to do it this way.**
They also have dance classes and karate classes. When my bank account recovers from enrolling her for the fall I plan on signing her up for their karate or dance classes… I haven’t decided which one yet but probably karate since it runs in our family.
Overall, I would highly recommend the little gym of Potomac.

Our family loves The little Gym. We have been coming here with our boys since it opened almost ten years ago. The location is very convenient and because it’s in a shopping center, you can drop kids off and run a few errands or get some coffee!
The classes have always been structured fun and taught the littlest up to the grade schooler skills and confidence. I currently have a 2 year old and a ten year old taking classes and both are learning and getting better all the time. They love it!
The teachers are all good, the facility clean, and the best part for me is the glass viewing area with the kids play area with coloring or Legos to keep my other boys entertained when it’s not their turn.
We have done summer camps on a day to day basis which is always good to fill some gaps in the summer. And although we have never held a birthday party here, we’ve attended too many to count and they have all been seamless for the parents and fun for the kids.
All in all I gave the highest rating because other than paying a high price, there is nothing I can complain about.

My daughter has been attending here for a couple months. The location is great for us and I love the ample parking and easy in and out. The staff is very pleasant and the families who attend are friendly. The facility always looks clean even with the high volume of people. I give 4 stars because I think the price is a bit high but I plan to continue bringing my daughter.

The positive:
First impressions were good. My phone conversations with one of the instructors about the facility, curriculum, etc., were very helpful. She was very responsive and professional. When we walked in for our first class, reception was very friendly.
My toddler son really enjoyed The Little Gym. He was a little shy at first, but within the first 15 minutes, he was up and running — literally. He, along with four other children, rotated among the apparatus, jumped, tumbled and danced throughout the hour-​long class.
At the end of class, I was asked by the instructor if I would like to sign my son up for another class later that week (part two of our introductory class deal). I agreed and she added us to an 11 a.m. class on Thursday. She let me know that currently only one other child was enrolled and further gave me a heads-​up that they eventually might cancel this class because of low attendance. I replied that we’d re-​review the schedule, but in the meantime, if this particular class wasn’t cancelled yet, it would be great to try it. She agreed and confirmed that my son was signed up to attend.
The negative:
The instructor left me a voice mail informing me that class was cancelled… just two hours before class. It was not due to an emergency. I can understand the need to consolidate resources, streamline classes, etc., but parents deserve more than two hours’ notice. My feeling is that the Little Gym, in this situation, should have committed to teaching the class even if only one child was enrolled. I rearranged appointments and another class so that my son could make this activity.
I can’t believe that the instructor or the folks involved in managing the schedules at The Little Gym of Potomac have children of their own; otherwise, they would never have been so thoughtless and disrespectful to cancel class mere hours before a class is set to start.
We parents work very hard to research and find activities that are safe, fun and engaging for our children… and what’s more it’s very challenging managing multiple schedules. I prioritized this activity and was left scrambling.
Management must give more thought to how extremely last-​minute cancellations can disrupt a family’s schedule /​overall day. My only other thought is perhaps I was treated this way because I was not yet a paying client (which is unfortunate because I was thrilled to have found an additional activity for my son and was ready to hand over my credit card).
If you are considering The Little Gym of Potomac or are currently enrolled, seek written assurances that your child’s class will not be cancelled at the very last minute due to low enrollment. Request at least 24 or 48 hours’ notice for rescheduling or cancellations!