My 13 month old daughter and I have been going to the Play and Learn and Music classes at Gymboree since she was six months old, and she loves it.

Our first class was a free trial, and we were very impressed with the friendly outgoing class leader. Wee Beastie was one of the smaller kids in the class, with some of the others already mobile, but the leader made sure she got musical instruments when the other kids were crawling over to take them out of the box and she now has a wonderful appreciation of music and will dance and "sing" along to whatever music she hears. Very useful when someone on a bus or a train has their headphones too loud!

The play and learn class is more about developing mobility and learning through activity. Wee Beastie also enjoys this class and has gone from Class I (6-10 months) to Class II (10-16 months) during her time at Gymboree. I felt the early class was a bit of a waste of time, to be honest, except for the chance to interact with other mummies and see how other babies of a similar age are doing, but Class II for crawlers and walkers is wonderful, plenty of high-energy activity going on and lots of fun all round.

They also have free play times where you can go and use their equipment for a few hours a week, which is free if you take a class and that Wee Beastie loves, and also Art, Dance and other cool stuff for babies right up to five years old.

I think the cost of classes varies with location so I don't want to give numbers in case they're wrong, but the list of Gymboree locations is here:

http://www.gymboree-uk.com/find.php

Be warned about the homepage though - it plays a song and I've never yet been able to find the button to turn it off!

Highly recommended for people who want their kids to enjoy themselves and learn at the same time.