Music for Ardvarks Manhattan - 270 West 84th Street (Ohav Sholom); 263 West 87th Street (NY Kids Club)
Music for Aardvarks and Other Mammals is a class geared toward children aged 3 months thru 5 years that incorporates a wide variety of musical activities, including singing, dancing, musical story telling, instrumental jam sessions and musical. The original material used in class uniquely reflects and celebrates the lives of children growing up in an urban environment, as well as more traditional themes universal to all children. Music for Aardvarks and Other Mammals class is a place where children can experience music in a rich variety of ways. Whether actively participating or simply listening and watching, children are learning in ways that are right for them as individuals, and at their own pace. A more instructional approach, with a focus on specific results, is not only age inappropriate, but totally unnecessary for their musical development. Exposure to musical experiences, guidance and parental modeling allows young children to explore and learn on their own without the anxiety of others expectations.
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Bright Steps - Languages for Little Ones -131 West 86th Street, 5th Floor
BrightSteps is an engaging language program designed for children 6 months to 6 years of age. Combining active learning with individualized attention and cultural themes, dedicated native speaking instructors ensure that the program entertains and educates young children in a fun setting. Rather than teach languages in a typical classroom setting, instructors make learning come alive through games, art, dance, music, drama, and other exciting activities. Classes run for 50 minutes for 9 weeks and cost $360 for babies 6 months - 1.5 years.
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Just Wee Two - 270 W. 84th Street
Just Wee Two®, created by Helen Beck and Ruth Broitman in 1982, is a fun-filled program for young children ages 8 months to 3 1/2 years and their mommies (daddies, nannies, grandparents...). Through activities such as music, arts and crafts, playtime, stories and snack, children are encouraged to explore, discover, interact and enjoy this special time in their lives. This program provides a unique opportunity for grownups to share this magical experience. There are three 11 week sessions - a fall, winter, and spring - and a six week mini-camp summer session.
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Creative Play for Kids - 212 - 729-1667 - Church of St. Paul/Andrew (86th Street and West End Avenue on the 2nd Floor)
Creative Play For Kids is a developmentally based program focused on music, movement and play for babies 3 months through 3 years. Classes feature singing, musical instruments, dancing, moving and open play time. Little ones participate based on their own developmental readiness, either through watching, listening, moving and playing and adults are encouraged to aid participation and join in the fun. Classes are held throughout the city and drop ins are permitted with no prior registration at $20 per class.
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Arts in Action Visual Arts Program - 711 Amsterdam Avenue (Corner of 94th and Amsterdam)
The Artsy Toddler classes are designed to expose your toddler, ages 2 to 4, to a variety of fun art materials, and the many exciting ideas and concepts that artist have employed while of create their own art. We will tell our own visual stories through art based activities that foster fun, and a understanding of concepts of line shape form, and colors in a fun filled way that will surely light up your toddler, and the toddler in you!
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Yogi Beans - A Chidren's Yoga Experience - 131 West 86th Street (Between Columbus and Amsterdam)
Once you are done taking baby along with you to Mommy and Me Yoga classes, you can sign them up to Yogi Beans, a yoga program for little ones ages 2-10 which incorporates music and excercise in a noncompetitive environment throughout the city. Yogi Beans also has classes which include babies as young as 6 months providing both baby and parent with a zen like experience.
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Hands On! A Musical Experience - 529 Columbus Avenue
Hands On! A Musical Experience, Inc offers age-appropriate children's music classes to infants, toddlers and pre-school children using a specially formatted, instrument-based music curriculum that introduces Hands On! students to popular folk tunes, lullabies, nursery rhymes, in addition to well-known classical excerpts. Hands On! classes are designed to include music, story, movement, and the exploration of various musical instruments, which children can see and touch. Each class is led by a trained teacher who sings songs and plays the instruments of the orchestra. A pianist accompanies the instructor at all times.
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Jewish Community Center - JCC - 334 Amsterdam Avenue
With classes like Bubbling Babies and Starfish (swimming classes for babies) to gymnastics classes to pre-nursery year round drop off programs, the JCC on the Upper West Side comes through time and time again for new families. There are cooking classes and art classes (Mini-Monet and Abrakadoodle) that run all throughout the year. For a full listing of current offerings and updated schedule and registration, visit the JCC's website. Many existing and established programs and organizations hold classes at the JCC on the West Side, so chances are if you register your little one in a baby or toddler class on the West Side, you will experience the JCC.
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Discovery Programs - 251 WEST 100th Street (WEST END AVENUE)
From Mommy support groups to gymnastics, music and free to play sessions, Discovery Programs has a very broad range of activities and classes for infants and toddlers. Baby Fingers is a great program based on baby sign language and singing, and I Hear Music is a great class for babes 6-12 months and their caregivers.
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Eastside Westside Music Together - 102 WEST 75TH STREET
Music Together® began in 1987 as an educational project of the Center for Music and Young Children of Princeton, NJ. The program, which is designed for children birth to four years, is based on the premise that all children are musical and have the same innate ability to learn music as language. Music Together believes that music ability is as much a basic life skill as walking and talking and that all children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and participate with pleasure and confidence in the music of their culture. They nurture the child's natural enthusiasm for music and movement as we sing, dance, chant, and play instruments in an informal setting that will enrich their musical environment and guide them towards a lifetime of music making enjoyment. Music Together came to the eastside of Manhattan in 1992, and to the westside shortly thereafter, in the spring of 1993. Over the years, they have grown primarily through word of mouth and since inception have brought music into the lives of tens of thousands of families on the upper west and upper east sides. Once recognized solely in the tri-state area as a research-based, grassroots music program for young children and their parents and caregivers, Music Together is now well-known throughout America and has centers across the globe in over 22 other countries.
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