What's the difference between You & Me and Baby Ninja?!

What's the difference between You & Me and Baby Ninja?!

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Often we have this conversation with people in a few scenarios… You have gone through all the steps: made an account, signed the waivers, added your child’s information, and now it’s time to pick a class. And you have no idea which one to pick! Then there’s also our little friends that started You & Me just when they started walking, they’ve really gotten the hang of it, but they’re not old enough for an independent class but maybe looking for more of a challenge. So what do you do? What’s the difference between You & Me and Baby Ninja?! Most of the similarities are obvious, but the differences are a bit more subtle! 

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The most obvious similarity is that both classes are parent participation. Now where they begin to differ is in our major goals. For our You & Me classes we really lean into that exploratory learning for this age group. While the Baby Ninja classes are introducing a bit more structure from walking in line to color/matching games and more. 

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Starting age is another obvious example of the difference between these classes. As soon as a little one begins walking they are welcome to join a You & Me class! For a Baby Ninja class the Ninja must be at least 2 years old. This starting age difference lends itself to our main goals for each class. The littles that are just starting to walk are just getting used to different surfaces, textures, movements, people, controlling their body, figuring out their strength, sounds… all of it! For our You & Me classes, we really lean into exploratory learning. There is so much growth and progress in a short amount of time, so by time a little one is two they are starting to get ready to follow 2-step directions, sorting by color, running, and so much more. We love to take advantage of that time and introduce them to activities that are going to feed that interest. 

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That may lend itself to another question: does my two year old or three year old have to do Baby Ninja? Nope! We love having a mix of ages in our You & Me classes. Exploratory learning is great for every age – even for ourselves! They will still make leaps and bounds in either class. Plus our parent participation coaches love to be able to personalize stations for your little one’s specific ability. They love to meet the little ones where they are at finding ways to get them involved in things that may be scary to them or to find a way to challenge them so they can find that zone of proximal development. 

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The last difference I’ll talk about today is our warm up routine! Our You & Me classes always start at the parachute and we do different songs and activities to get them familiar with the environment and get them moving their bodies. In our Baby Ninja classes we start with a game or activity that introduces directions, ideas like color matching, or a specific movement or skill. For example, for sideways weeks we worked on knocking barrels over with a side kick. This introduced a ton of important skills like the starfish/straddle/apart together shape, weight shifting, and balancing on one foot. On another note, both classes do the Hello Song, but we really encourage students in Baby Ninja to say their own name. Now it does happen both ways in both classes, and both are perfect! 

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We hope this helps give you a more robust understanding of the differences between these classes and which one would be the best fit for you and your little one! 

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Written by Shannon Martinez our Recreational Director here at Flip 2 It. She oversaw the preschool department for several years, as it’s one of her favorite age groups! 

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