Activities for Toddlers and Young Kids
The comments and recommendations on this page were made by members of the Framingham Community e-mail list or other Framingham residents. The comments on these pages represents the opinions and experiences of the individuals who made them, not necessarily the person composing the page or the people maintaining the Wiki
Framingham Parks and Recreation
475 Union Ave
Framingham, MA 01702
508-532-5960
http://www.framinghamma.gov/parks/
Framingham Parks and Rec has a a couple of great programs for Toddlers. 1 is for age 6 months -4 years (separated for appropriate grouping of ages) It's a music mommy and me class taught by "Miss Viviana" who is a talented child music educator. Both of my children loved her class.
The other is for children 2.9 -4 or 5,but you can hang out with the younger siblings and mom's. It's a pre-school playgroup where my kids and I made great friends. It gets kids ready for the transitions they will meet in pre-school and kindergarten. It starts with some free play and segues into a craft,cleanup, story and snack. The kids get to play outside in good weather on a small playground and there is a children's garden planmted there for the kids to play in without being told to not touch or pick. Park and Rec also offers skating and other programs even a princess tea party that my daughter still talks about. You can find out more through the parks and web-site. I go through http://www.framingham.com to get there. There is a lot of interesting side information there. you could also go through the Towns official website.
Daphne Smith 9/11/08
Gymfit
148 East Central St.
Natick, 01760
508-651-3838
http://www.gymfit.us
Contact: Annette Payne <gym fit HOW FIT annette AT verizon DOT net>
This program has been successfully in place for a long time, located in Natick on rte 135. The owner,Annette, is so nice and has so much experience providing great classes for kids of all ages but some of her programs begin with kids 10 months old and up! Amazing -
Donna Moy-Bruno 9/17/08
Music Together
87 Edgell Road
Framingham
508-250-5719
http://musictogethermetrowest.com
I highly recommend a program called Music Together. The Metrowest program is in Framingham, on Edgell Road. Classes for the fall semester start this week, but your kids could still join if a class has openings - Eileen (the director) is very reasonable about things like that.
The premise behind Music Together is that all children are born with the capacity to be musical, but to develop their potential they must "do" music not just listen.
So a Music Together class involves parents (or nannies) participating to serve as a model and kids participating or watching as they choose. There is dancing, playing rhythm instruments, and sitting hand motions. There is music with words, with nonsense syllables, and no words. There is familiar kids music and music from different cultures. All songs are from the CD for the semester but some are done to the recording and some accapela. This gives the kids a wide variety of musical experience.
They have a 3 year cycle of CDs and each is professionally recorded with real instruments (not synthesizers) and real singers (not out of tune kids).
My family has been participating since Spring 2002 as my older children graduate out and younger are added (3 have gone as newborns). The piano teacher for my older two is appreciative of the what they have learned taking the classes and my family tells me my own singing has dramatically improved. Plus the kids all enjoy it.
In addition they offer some mixed age classes so both your children could be in the same class (and the four month old would be free this session if the older sibling was enrolled). The teachers have special training in managing the mixed age classes (we were a demo family for a training session once) and I think that they are a real strength of the program.
I'm out of time now but happy to talk more about the program off list.
Marie Egan 9/12/08
Metrowest YMCA
280 Old Connecticut Path
Framingham, MA 01701
508-879-4420
http://www.metrowestymca.org
We have a 3 year old and a 20 month old (who are both crying rather than sleeping right now-- arg!). The enrichment programs at the Y can't be beat, and the price is right. Pre-school open gym there is great too and free if you are a member and only $5 if not. My Gym classes are also great, but pricey.
Kerry Dunne 9/11/08
I'm sure most of you know that The Metrowest YMCA is a great place for toddlers. They have "open gym" that is open to the public for a small fee and always free for members. When my kids were young, I would take them to the "school" (it's actually their day care room, but I called it school to my kids) and they would play while I worked out. Now, the day care room is brand new and with lots of windows. The day care workers are volunteer moms who are members of the Y. So it's like they are taking care of each other's kids. After my workout and shower, I would bring my kids to open gym where they could play on all the toddler-friendly equipment and dance to the music. It was a great way to meet other moms (and some dads, grandparents and nannys). Sometimes we would go out for lunch after or arrange playdates. I also enrolled my kids in mommy and me swim classes. When they got older, they had their swim lesson without me, while I got to swim laps. For a short while, I volunteered and taught swimming. Those were fun times for me and the kids, and I highly recommend joining now because the YMCA has ton of new equipment, and the facility is practically brand new inside. When you volunteer for three hours a week, you can receive a free (single) membership at the Y.
Re: programs for teens- When a kid turns 13, they are allowed to start using the nautilus equipment. Maura, the fitness trainer, was very knowledgable and taught my son the proper techniques. And, on Saturday nights from 7:00-9:45, there is a drop in teen night. They have a supervisory staff and the teens have full use of the facility. One of the new games is Dance Dance Revolution.
By the way, if you tell them that Caraline Levy sent you, I think I might be eligible for a free towel or t-shirt 
Caraline Levy 9/11/08
Playgrounds
Fairbanks Playground
Fairbanks Rd
Sudbury
I would also like to weigh in on playgrounds for Toddlers/infants. There is an awesome, fenced in toddler playground. They have picnic tables and bathrooms as well. I used it for both my kids years ago when they were small and they had a fabulous time. There are soccer fields right next to it and a bigger kids playground as well.
Alison Cronson 9/12/08
Reardon Park
Brownlea Rd., off Old Connecticut Path Saxonville, Framingham
To follow up on the discussion about playgrounds for small children, I want to point out two locations in Framingham that have good facilities for children under 5. The first is Reardon Park. It's in the Oak's Neighborhood in Saxonville. Former precinct 3 town meeting member and Oaks homeowner, Linda Panzera was instrumental in getting it built. For years the neighborhood association (ONA) has raised money to keep adding facilities for all ages. The ONA also gathers to clean and landscape Reardon annually, and has worked collaboratively with the Park and Recreation dept. to take good care it. It's adjacent to a baseball field and basketball courts and has picnic tables too. (This is the playground that would have been in close proximity to the proposed concrete plant on Old Connecticut Path, had it been allowed to be built. Thank goodness that didn't happen!)
Audrey Hall 9/12/08
King Building
Water St
Framingham
(preschool handicapped-accessible)
Eight years ago Rosario Alvarez-O'Neil (Principal of the BLOCKS preschool in the King building) and I wrote a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for a preschool handicapped accessible playground. Thanks to the CDBG the school (at the King building on Water Street) was awarded the grant and built one of the nicest preschool appropriate playgrounds in the area - with special facilities for wheelchair accessibility, etc.
There's also a wonderful playground in Southborough, on the Framingham line, with two side by side playgrounds - one for the toddlers and one for the older children. They are huge, there's plenty of parking and there are picnic tables too.
Audrey Hall 9/12/08
When the weather is nice, the playground and sandlot behind the King School on Water St. is great because it is fenced and designed for young kids. Once your older child turns three, you should consider enrolling him/her in the Blocks preschool program there-- the price is right, and the teachers are wonderful.
Kerry Dunne 9/11/08