50 Fun Facts

To celebrate our 50th birthday we’ve pulled together 50 fun facts about Gymboree Play & Music which you may or may not know!

1. Once upon a time, Gymboree Play & Music came to be when a woman named Joan Barnes drove across the country with her family in a VW Bus to Marin County, California and began her quest to meet other families.
2. With her entrepreneurial spirit and background in dance, Joan created mum and baby classes at a local community centre, which grew to be what it is today called Gymboree Play & Music.
3. Gymboree Play & Music is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary this year and, much like they did 50 years ago, our classes still create special moments that help kids and parents learn, grow and share time together.
4. Our earliest classes were taught in church halls and community buildings.
5. Our beloved mascot, Gymbo the Clown, was introduced in 1985 and has had three “glow up’s” in the past four decades.
6. Gymboree Play & Music offers safe, non-judgmental spaces for children and parents to thrive, providing a welcome respite from the challenges of busy lives.
7. Every detail of our playfloor is designed to engage your child’s senses & learning.  For example, our textured surfaces awaken the 250K nerve endings in a child’s foot.
8. Your child’s first play milestones will happen here, and you will most likely meet your new besties on our playfloor.  Over the past five decades, thousands of lifelong friendships have started at a Gymboree Play & Music class.
9. In 1998, our curriculum was expanded to include music, and we changed our name to Gymboree Play & Music.
10. Our innovative play equipment was designed by Jay Beckwith, considered one of the “fathers of the modern playground”, and incorporates research and learning aesthetics from different historical periods, cultures and educational schools of thought to deliver a universal and timeless play experience.
11. Quality play value increases the engagement of the player and supports long duration & beneficial play episodes.” — JAY BECKWITH, Gymboree Play & Music Designer, Inventor and nationally recognised Playground Developer.
12. Our community of play pioneers provide families with the opportunity to explore learning through play together in a way that strengthens the whole child: body, mind and emotion.
13. Our classes provide safe trial and error learning through appropriately challenging activities. Even when a child is introduced to the simplest of things, (ball, slide or new play set-up), great learning occurs through:
    1. DISCOVERY (what is this?)
    2. PLAY (what else can I do with it?)
    3. PRACTICE (how can I use this skillfully?)
    4. MASTERY (developing consistent execution)
14. Gymboree Play & Music provides a variety of physical, social, pretend, problem solving and constructive types of play in each class to maximize parent & child time spent together.
15. Starting as young as 6 months, little ones are introduced to a variety of musical styles from around the world in our Music classes, learning the building blocks of rhythm and melody.
16. “Children participating in Gymboree Play & Music’s programme are more likely to enter kindergarten with the social, emotional, physical, and academic skills needed for early and ongoing success.” — DR. JENNAE BULAT, Director of Teaching & Learning at RTI International.
17. Babies as young as a few months are introduced to activities to stimulate their senses and early learning, supporting their brain development.
18. Our programmes are recognised for their unique approach to parent involvement—which encourages participation in, and understanding of, each child’s development. Parents are given the opportunity to connect with their child without distractions, entering their world of play and imagination.
19. With incredibly high brand recognition, Gymboree Play & Music classes have a history of being referenced in pop culture, including in episodes of TV’s most popular shows like “Friends”, “Modern Family” and “The Simpsons”.
20. Remember your favourite childhood activities, like parachute-play and bubbles? Gymboree Play & Music blends contemporary cutting-edge activities with childhood classics to relate to the different generations and global partners that love Gymboree.
21. All class teachers are certified play professionals, and bring with them diverse experiences from education, music, fitness, creative arts and early childhood disciplines. Gymboree Play & Music requires completion of an intensive training programme for all teachers.
22. Our innovation in play has established a worldwide movement that now knows the inextricable link between play and learning for young children.
23. “Without knowing how to play, you will never have those peak experiences. Deny children play and the world loses its humanity.”— JAY BECKWITH, Gymboree Play & Music Designer, Inventor and nationally recognized Playground Developer.
24. Gymboree Play & Music’s selection of purposefully designed toys provide fun and learning for all ages. For example, our Play Balls have strategically placed holes for tiny fingers to more easily grasp.
25. Our unique indoor climbing structures are rearranged every three weeks, with corresponding lesson focuses and themes, offering children new choices and challenges.
26. All our age-appropriate curriculum and activities are designed by early childhood experts, in collaboration with national child development experts like Zero to Three, with the purpose of helping develop the cognitive, physical and social skills of children as they play.
27. Our continuous soft playfloor is made from recycled foam products with ramps to allow for wheelchair accessibility. It is padded for safety and allows for dynamic movement and freedom of motion.
28. 80% of a child’s brain develops during the first 3 years of life, reaching 90% by age 5. Our classes grow with children from birth to school, supporting these critical years for a young child’s cognitive development.
29. Each lesson plan in our Play & Learn curriculum focuses on a different domain of childhood development outlined by the CA-DRDP, California’s formative assessment tool for early childhood education: Cognition, Physical Development, Approaches to Learning/Self Regulation, Language & Literacy, Visual & Performing Arts, Social Science, and Social Emotional Development.
30. Our Bubble Ooodles is made from a secret, proprietary recipe that was revised and tested to create extra lustre & lasting power for the best of bubble-blowing experience!
31. In 1984, Ontario, Canada became home to the first Gymboree Play Programme venture outside of the U.S.
32. Gymboree Play & Music’s programmes help children gain movement confidence through safe experimentation and practice.
33. Babies love listening to speaking voices and take special notice when they hear a singing voice and a melody instrument.
34. Our locations are safe places to play & learn, so that children are free to move and explore safely.
35. Our signature equipment pieces are used across all age groups, adapting to where the children are developmentally. Our Airlog, for instance, is used to gently rock our littles babies, bounce our toddlers and become an apple tree to climb for our pre-schoolers.
36. The “play village” you might find in your Gymboree Play & Music class today is a diverse co-mingling of mums, doting grandparents, and an increasing number of hands-on dads who “wouldn’t miss this for the world”. For many families, it’s the one time of the week to connect with each other and the local community.
37. We meet each child where they are developmentally, giving parents and children a personalised experience that celebrates each child’s strengths and unique play preferences without judgement, assessment or pressure to compete or perform.
38. We promote early literacy, with storytime as a component of many of our classes.
39. We partnered with Homer to introduce Pre-school Prep with Homer, encouraging pre-school readiness by supporting early literacy and maths skills with engaging themes.
40. We offer Art classes starting as young as 18 months, focused on the process over the finished product to allow little ones to express themselves creatively while developing fine and gross motor and problem-solving skills, and building self-confidence
41. Although indoors, our play equipment mirrors natural elements found outdoors in nature—a perfect space to explore on a rainy day!
42. Our programmes have evolved over the decades from strictly “mummy & me” to introducing independent learning in our pre-school readiness and School Skills pre-school programmes, allowing children to experience their first “drop-off” class in a familiar setting with teachers they already know and love.
43. We have parents who attended as a child now bringing their own children to Gymboree Play & Music, and former Gymboree parents now bringing their grandchildren.
44. Gymboree Play & Music has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs find meaningful careers in a business opportunity that allows for greater work-life balance, while bringing a legacy brand to their local community.  Our most tenured owner has been with the brand for over four decades and now has her daughter working with her.
45. In addition to meeting the needs of the whole child, Gymboree Play & Music also works to address the “whole parent,” who is so eager for the validation and elation that a play class can bring to their week.  It’s a “play as you are” environment, free of the judgments and expectations parents have become all too familiar with in so many other learning spaces.
46. All our classes have a musical playlist designed to accompany the learning theme in each class.  We also provide the soundtrack for childhood learning and to continue the fun on our Spotify page: Gymbo Corp!
47. Today, there are over 300 locations in 24 countries/regions, making us the global leader in early childhood development programmes.
48. Through pretend play, children are able to work on their social skills, learning to interact with their peers through watching each other during group play.
49. We bring the best of sensory exploration to baby classes and playful problem-solving to our toddler classes. Emerging pre-schoolers find games, storytelling and peer-based play to stretch the body and mind. For every age and stage, it all happens at Gymboree Play & Music.
50. On any given day at Gymboree Play & Music centres around the world, thousands of families can be found sitting atop a parachute, talking intimately about the joys and struggles of modern parenting while helping their child learn to clap or crawl.  The banter about everything from careers to car seats can be heard cascading in the air along with floating bubbles as children confidently play below. And we can only imagine and dream what the next 50 years will look like…