When I lived in London and Greenwich Park was my substitute beach, on sunny days I’d wander over with a picnic, singing a song at my husband. It went something like.. “when I grow up I’ll have a pet dinosaur and be the president but for now just… take me to the park, park, take me to the park…”

I didn’t make it up, it was a total ear-worm of a song that my young nephews had on a CD from sing-along classes they went to in Hove called Music for Aardvarks.

The rest of the tunes were similarly amusing and the idea is that though the sessions are obviously for kids, adults don’t have to totally park their brains and descend into twee land to join in.

Fast forward a few years and I recommended Aardvarks to a friend with a baby just over a year old who went along the other week. Here’s how she got on…

“It’s convenient because there are a lot of different venues in Brighton and Hove, so I went to one right in the centre of town, just a short walk from the station. It was a nice space, quite a big room so you didn’t feel crammed, and there was a coffee shop downstairs which was nice for afterwards.

“Emily who runs Music for Aardvarks said she tries to keep the group size down so everyone gets time to learn the songs.

“You could pick them up quite easily and there are lots of props and percussion instruments for the children like egg shakers and mini cymbals. At some points there were hoops and ribbons which were nice for younger ones like mine from a sensory, visual point of view.

“There were quite loud bits and some soothing bits which was nice for contrast. There was a little bit of dancing which was quite fun as well.

“I’d been to other sessions elsewhere and I liked the fact that this was on an acoustic guitar – it made it less twee, a bit folky, not too plinky plonky! Also I liked that Emily wasn’t one of those theatrical, in-your-face types!

“The lyrics were silly too. There was a funny song about liking eating bagels. At a lot of places you just get nursery rhymes which can be boring and gender stereotyped.

“I did a term somewhere else which was good for babies from a sensory point of view but it was quite twee and the soundtrack we followed felt too American.

My daughter could crawl around a bit at Aardvarks and there were bits where she was laughing along. I bought the CD afterwards so we can learn the songs at home.”

You can go along to a free trial class before signing up for a term at Aardvarks. Sessions run Monday to Friday at several locations around Brighton and Hove. uk-aardvarks.co.uk

Music for Aardvarks

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