Road Test: RockABaby

When I heard about RockABaby, I had visions of headbanging with my toddler to We Will Rock You. It turns out this music programme is made of gentler stuff to unleash children's creativity through music and play.

I was impressed by the spacious premises and so was my two-year-old, who gravitated to the large padded play area with features slides, a small ball pool and soft boxes. I also liked the fact they welcomed my husband to join the class, stressing parental participation.

The Music Root II class for 12- to 24-month-olds is conducted by the enthusiastic Tracy Chen, who is a DJ and songwriter in addition to being a teacher and a mum. First, the children were encouraged to pick a toy from a selection to get them warmed up. After about 10 minutes, the teacher sang a tidy-up song to signal to the children to put their toys away, giving them time to slowly let go.

What followed was a range of action and movement-based songs embedded with learning and development concepts. It started with kids picking a nursery song from a box and the teacher leading the singing and actions. My son was thrilled to have picked Wheels on the Bus, his all-time favourite. He loved the songs that involved playing with scarves of different colours and a coloured parachute.

It's not all nursery rhymes, though - an aerobics component was provided by going around in a circle doing simple moves to Staying Alive. Towards the end of the class, we rapped to the RockABaby song, which was composed to help the children develop intonation.

Another song used photographs of people with different expressions, with the melody varying from major to minor keys; the children seemed the least engaged with this one though. Although the activities were simple, the teacher explained the intention behind them and suggested how parents might incorporate them at home.

The class ended with a song accompanied by parents and children on maracas. Parents were encouraged to tap their children with the maracas to the rhythm of the song. RockABaby hopes to ultimately get the children, assisted by their parents, to form a band using simple instruments.

Verdict: although the trial session did not greatly differ from other similar classes, I appreciated the passion of the teacher and RockABaby's philosophy of unleashing children's creativity without succumbing to the usual kindergarten admission-focused goals.

RockABaby, Music Root II class, HK$2,340 for one month (eight classes), rockababy.com.hk