It's an exciting week here at Tots Play as we celebrate our 15th Anniversary and Totsy's 15th birthday! Our first classes launched in March 2009, and since then we have welcomed thousands of families along to enjoy our unique, multi activity sessions, delivered each week by our amazing team of dedicated franchisees and class leaders across the UK and beyond. One of the things our customers have continued to love about our classes over the years, are the simple sensory play ideas we include as part of each session. Sensory play doesn’t need to be complicated, in fact simpler is almost always be ..read more

At Tots Play we've been supporting parents and babies for 15 years, and while many of the joys and challenges of the early days with a little one remain universal, over that time the pressures and expectations on new parents have grown and grown, at the same time as they are often be becoming more and more isolated from others and from a wider support system. Making sure you feel supported as a parent, while offering lots of developmental opportunities for your little one, has always been a big part of our ethos at Tots Play, but recognising the changing pressures on new parents, we wanted to ..read more

Christmas is a magical time and your little one will be mesmerised with the visual delights. This festive time of year provides so many Yule tide opportunities for you to play learn and grow together. Below you will find 2 jolly activities to do with your little one this Christmas that will help you utilise the sparkle and glitter for the benefit of your child’s development. The season is such a landmark in the calendar, an opportunity to reflect on the previous year and look ahead to the future. When you have small children the changes you see in them from year to year are so dramatic that t ..read more

There are many expensive toys you can buy for your little one and many that claim to have great educational benefits. Although there are some fantastic resources on the market you don’t actually need the latest and priciest plaything available. Simple objects can be just as effective to engage and educate little minds. At Tots Play we know that it’s the way that you play with your child, and the way your child choses to play that is inevitably more important than what you play with, so we love to use simple, inexpensive, hand held equipment in our classes that our Tots can explore, use and pl ..read more

Every year in March we celebrate Tots Play's Anniversary week, by giving back to the community and fundraising for charity. Tots Play classes were started way back in 2009, making this year our 14th Anniversary! 14 years of bringing Tots Play to families, from those first parents and children in South Wales, to now extending over the seas in Dubai. back to the north of Scotland to the Isle of Wight, from North Wales across to Essex, and lots more in between. The focus of our celebrations through the month were special jungle themed classes, in honour of our lovable class mascot, Totsy Monkey ..read more

Babies cannot recognise colours at birth; in fact despite the amount of colourful baby toys on the market, children only start to distinguish colours properly when they are around 18 months old. Interestingly this is the same time that their ability to differentiate between sizes and shapes also develops. Young babies respond particularly well to strong, bold colours and shapes especially black and white. Understand the challenge Just because your toddler reaches 18 months it doesn’t mean they can suddenly competently see the difference between objects yet or use the correct adjectives to des ..read more

Your toddler’s brain has been through huge physical and psychological changes in its short little life span. The first three years are vital in brain development, during this time narrow pathways are constantly connecting in the brain. These connections carry electrical impulses between the brain cells; this is the process of wiring the brain, the results of which will influence your child’s entire life. The brain never stops changing but it is in these formative years that skills like language, problem solving, reasoning and even a sense of moral value is developed. As your child experiences ..read more

YOU are NOT alone. We are here for you! How are you doing today? Feeling a bit tired or fed up? Wishing you could get out to a class with your little one? Worried about stepping through that door? What if nobody talks to you? What if you don't know what to do or baby cries when they're meant to be quiet? There are a few things that might be stopping you from getting through that door and in this post we hope to alleviate some of these concerns, reassure you that they are very normal, and give you the confidence to take that first step. 1) What if I can't get out the door on time to make the cl ..read more

As you hold your new-born baby, you probably find it hard to imagine them chatting away but it isn’t long before they are forming words and then sentences, in fact soon you will look back and wonder what it was like when they were quiet! Even though their language development might not be the first mile stone you see, it does begin long before they actually start talking and as a parent you can do so much to help them from day one. Here are our 5 top tips for helping your child’s language development. 1) Read Your baby may not be able to read yet, but they are learning so much from the experie ..read more

Babies are fascinated by light, colour and pattern and will watch and follow the edges of shapes and patterns very closely. Try some of these simple activities to make the most of this interest and help your baby develop his or her focus and sense of sight. Change the Light Gather a small selection of brightly coloured or reflective objects and let your baby look at and examine the objects in turn taking as much time as he or she wants. Now change the light in the room, either by moving towards or away from a window or adjusting a dimmer switch or switching a lamp on or off, then offer the ite ..read more