Frequently Asked Questions
How much is each session for babies and under fives? Morning sessions are £3.75 per child, £2.25 per sibling from the
same family, over 4 months. None of the sessions need to be booked
- just turn up and pay when you arrive. Are the refreshments included in the price? Yes, there is tea and coffee, juice and biscuits, all included
at all sessions. You are welcome to bring lunch to eat after the
baby sessions which end about midday. No. there is only one Piccolo! However we can offer help, advice
and training if you are considering setting up a children's music
group in your area. If you would like more information, please e-mail
us with details of your proposed group, or ring
us for an informal chat. We can tailor make a package to suit
you. No, but your baby or child likes the sound of your voice best,
so if you can join in, even if it is just a little, they will enjoy
the session more and will be more likely to join in themselves.
We feel the sessions are as much for parents/carers to learn new
songs and socialise as they are for the children. It's important
that you don't chat with other adults during the session
as this distracts the children and makes it harder for Abi and Anna
to remember the words!! I'm a new mother and am worried about feeding. Can I bring a friend to help me? Have a look at our page for new parents.
Don't worry. There will be a mixture of traditional nursery rhymes
and other songs, and we run the same session for four weeks in a
row, so that you and your child pick up the new songs easily. If
English is not your first language then please don't worry. What
we do is very visual and you will be able to pick up lots of the
words by watching (and you can sing a long at home if you have one
of our CDs). It's a great way to practise your English! No. Piccolo is a parent and toddler/child group and children remain
the responsibility of parents/carers throughout the session. The sessions are very relaxed and your child is welcome to wander
around and look at the props we use but if your child is really
disturbing the session, then we ask that you remove them to the
adjacent room until they have calmed down. This is important for
the enjoyment of others attending, but please do come back in when
things are calmer! Most children are quite shy to begin with and many take several
weeks before they feel confident enough to join in. But all children
who come to Piccolo regularly seem to gain in confidence and enthusiasm
for the music and dance. If you feel they are 'wasting the session'
don't worry, children are often absorbing a lot of what goes on
and you're likely to find that they start performing as soon as
you get home! Yes. The first two morning sessions for 0-4 year olds, are aimed
mainly at children over 15 months who are up and about, but we show
you actions for smaller children too, so these are good where you
have more than one child. The baby sessions are for babies under
roughly 1½ years, and we prefer to keep older, confident walkers
to the mixed sessions. We'd say try different sessions and stick
with the one that suits you and your children, or e-mail
us and we may be able to advise more specifically which session
would suit you best. For example if you have twins, a smaller session
where we can give you more help with one of the children would be
easier for you. Please do come and give it a go! If they are still small babies
you will probably find it easier than when they start crawling and
walking, but even then, many parents of twins have come to Piccolo
and found it good fun. Abi and Anna, Pauline and Allison will help
as far as possible anyone with more than one child with them, if
the children are willing! Please feel free to bring a friend or
relative to help you if you can find someone, there is no extra
charge for them. By the way Pauline, who works at Piccolo on Wednesdays,
came to Piccolo with twin babies and later on with the twins and
her new baby, so we know it's possible!! At what age do I have to pay for a baby brother or sister? If you are bringing an older child (cost £3.75) and a brother
or sister, the charge for the second child is £2.25 once they reach
4 months. Yes. If a childminder brings a number of children from different
families the cost is £3.75 per child, with no discount. No. Most people have said, when we have carried out surveys, that
they prefer Piccolo to run on a drop-in basis, so that they can
come when it suits them, and not worry if their child is ill or
if they are on holiday. The sessions for babies last an hour, with singing for 30 minutes,
and refreshments/chat for 30 minutes, or a little longer, while
we are packing up. Those aimed at older children last an hour, with
40 minutes of singing and refreshments for about 20 minutes. No. Yes, the sessions at 11.20am on Wednesday and 11.30am session on
Thursday are aimed specifically at babies with more hand and finger
rhymes and lap songs. If you have an older child as well, it's best
to come to the mixed sessions earlier on. Do you do a session just for playgroup-aged children? Not at the moment. Do you sell any recordings of your songs? Yes. Please see our Piccolo CDs page.
Do you offer training for adults? Yes, we run training workshops for those people who work with children
and would like to use more singing and music in their work. All
sorts of people come to the training, including health professionals,
social workers, teachers, speech therapists and crèche/playgroup/nursery
workers. We cover singing with pre-schoolers, baby sessions, playground
games, storytelling through song, and planning your music sessions.
Please see Piccolo Training for more
information, or contact us for details
of the next workshop. Several events organised by other agencies,
but with training provided by Piccolo, are open to the public (See
Piccolo Calendar for details.) Not very often. When we do offer holiday session details will be
on our calendar. If you would be interested
in sessions in the holidays, please contact
us. No, apart from occasional events which we advertise beforehand.
See Piccolo Calendar for details. No, not at present. But please e-mail us
if you are interested in this idea. We do offer tailor-made CDs
for birthday party bags and have a party games CD in the pipeline,
see our Birthday Fun and Games page
for more information. |
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