Gymboree of Queens

This Gymboree is awesome. They moved across the street to a more brightly lit and larger location. The teachers are so sweet and caring. They engage the children and my son just glows at the sight of them! I was so sad to see Ms. Leah leave– she was an incredible talent who was able to make each and every baby smile– but the other instructors are wonderful and the classes are interesting and fun.
My son (16 months) is in Music II, which encourages toddlers to play with real instruments, and provides them exposure to written music, as well as experimentation with different rhythms and volumes. It is delightful, and there is obvious care into what is being taught (there is a method behind the lessons). I also love that there is a theme each week (ex: African music, Elvis Presley, Queen, Samba, Broadway Tunes, etc) as this gets me shaking my bum as well!
The one drawback is the scarcity of open gym time. It would be fine if the gym were only open to members, but since it is open to the public (a person can pay a one-​time fee to attend the open gym) it gets PACKED– even on weekdays! I mean, toddlers running into each other, parents tripping over each other packed. And… because there are some people who come here and there and have no real loyalty to the business, they can be quite rude and obnoxious during open gym. For instance, one mother sat on the floor with her legs spread out, texting, not watching her child, consequently making children and parents have to climb over her to get to the play station she was blocking. Ugh! This type of thing is not uncommon, but only during open gym (baby gym is much more peaceful).
I would definitely suggest that there be 1 or 2 open gym sessions per week that are JUST for gymboree members, so that we can get our $ 102/month’s worth. Other than that, this place is awesome, and provides great educational entertainment to my little guy.