Postby kcai » Sun Jan 19, 2014 10:09 pm
Earlsfield library has a few things during the week - rhyme time, and (I think) a quick, informal storytime on Mondays around 9:30ish.
There's a good 1 o'clock club in Garratt Park, but check times/days because I get the impression the council's trying to find excuses to further cut their funding, and some days are limited now. Use it or lose it. Their sensory room is especially great.
There was a good playgroup running at St. Andrews church on Garratt Lane, from around 10-11:30ish on Mondays/Thursdays. You'll want to double check the times, but that was a hit with my two when they were younger.
Another playgroup runs (or used to) at the Baptist Church on the corner of Magdalen and Garratt - again, double check.
There's a cafe, Belle Amie, on Garratt with good loose leaf tea (can't speak to the coffee, I'm more of a tea person) and a few odd toys in boxes in the back room. Thought I heard of them hosting a class once a week, but I could be wrong.
It's A Kids Thing at the bottom of Magdalen has various morning classes and is nice to have around, esp on a rainy day. Tends to be slightly more useful when the kids are older, I'd say 20 odd months+, or whenever they can navigate at least the 1st level on their own.
At 2+, check out Playball at the Spencer Club on Fieldview. Wonderful teachers, really good classes and exercises for the kids.
At 18+ months, Playhouse Playgroup on Lyford rd (get on the waiting list soon). Also check out Jumping Beans, can't remember if they're 18+ or 2+. They're run out of the 1 o'clock club in Garratt Park.
There was a nice cafe/soft play combo in Wimbledon, can't remember what it's called now, but it had a nice train track table and a climbing structure that wasn't too daunting for the littlies. Think it's called (or used to be) Jitterbugs. Not sure if still in existence, maybe it's changed hands. Pretty sure they ran some gymnastic type classes out of their back room.
Wandsworth Common Cafe runs some music type classes in the mornings. Personally I found them a bit on the expensive side but on a rainy day with nothing else to do, it might appeal.
I would personally love to see some sort of scaled down Crumpet style cafe around here with decent tea and scones and a train table/wooden play kitchen in the corner. Nothing too fancy, no soft play, just something to occupy the toddler for half an hour. Southside mall's been revamped so maybe we'll be lucky and they'll open a place like that.
Anyhow, my youngest is 3, so I haven't done the baby stuff for quite some time - do check times/places etc before you go. Hope this helps a bit. I didn't touch upon any outdoor places because I figured that'd jinx us into another 6 months of winter.
