Kayden's first activity - Hit or Miss?

Hey guys,

In september we enrolled Kayden into his first activity. I know what you are thinking.... But he is 3 years old? Yes i know. Timing is everything.

Kayden has always been shy but over the past 6 months he has really started to come out of his shell and was interacting with other children more. I always see parents complaining about spending money and their kid didnt participate. I didnt want that to happen. I wanted kayden to figure out what he enjoyed before enrolling him.

The activity we enrolled Kayden in, is for 2-4 year olds. Every class they get free play and circle time. Circle time is done twice, at the beginning and at the end. They sing a hello song, a goodbye song and always do an activity as a group.

We have been to 5 classes so far, and I have mixed thoughts on it. Kayden loves the activity, and looks forward to it every week. I thought there would be more kids thst he could bounce off of. Kids that could learn from him and vice versa. Most of the kids dont interact, which makes it hard for kids to work on their social skills. The gym is big so it isn't often that there is more then one kid at an activity. When it does happen, it is only for a minute or two. Social interraction isn't promoted.

Kayden has learned a lot about sharing, since he cant just take a toy he likes, and has followed tasks through the first time.  It is nice to get some insight as to how he would do in school. He follows instructions great and follows the crowd. He has even warmed up to singing the songs, and his favorite thing is the 'sleeping bunnies' song and the parachute games.

Curtis and i thought about pulling him out if the class. It is a 1 hour class and atleast 45 minutes is free play, not much structure. We decided not to because i believed this was a good introductory class for him. It got him use to playing with a big group of kids, and having to listen/follow directions from another adult.

The best part.... It tires him out. It is such a great morning activity that he almost falls asleep in the car on the way home. With fall here, we do not spend a lot of time outside, so burning off Kayden's extra energy has been a challenge.

Going forward we going to put Kayden in more structured activites.