The Little Gym, Snapology Open Children’s Discovery Center In Flower Mound | The Leader

A clear sky. Low around 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

A clear sky. Low around 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

Outside of Snapology’s and The Little Gym’s children’s discovery center in Flower Mound.

Part of the Snapology section of the children’s discovery center dedicated to younger children.

Inside the gym on The Little Gym’s side of the new children’s discovery center.

A look inside the classroom at Snapology dedicated to teaching children robotics and engineering skills.

Outside of Snapology’s and The Little Gym’s children’s discovery center in Flower Mound.

Part of the Snapology section of the children’s discovery center dedicated to younger children.

Inside the gym on The Little Gym’s side of the new children’s discovery center.

A look inside the classroom at Snapology dedicated to teaching children robotics and engineering skills.

The Little Gym and Snapology are joining forces to open its first-ever, state-of-the-art children’s discovery center in Flower Mound, focusing on unique physical and educational activities for children.

The center officially opened Saturday, Sept. 17, allowing children and their families to explore their interests while learning cognitive skills or working on physical aspects.

“We're building a space where kids can feel comfortable pursuing whatever it is that they're interested in,” Jennifer Rogers, the vice president of marketing for Snapology said. “We are two separate brands that have come together to occupy one space.”

Snapology is an enrichment program focused on STEAM education, and the newest discovery center in Flower Mound has more educational activities than ever before. Other Snapology discovery centers have been open before, but Rogers said this new edition is enhanced in a lot of ways.

“A lot of the things in here have never been done before,” she said. “They're all customized for us. Lots of interactive things that the kids just get to play with to learn the concepts of STEAM without it feeling really educational.”

At the front of the Snapology section of the center is the preschool area, and as you walk through the building, the activities progress in age. Some activities include a Minecraft-themed room with glow-in-the-dark blocks, a racetrack where children build the cars and race to the end, a Virtual Reality station, building cubes with new robotics technology, and much more.

There are also two classrooms where children can take classes designed to teach children about robotics and engineering. There are about 24 students per class and they always work in teams in order to achieve social development, academic enrichment, and fun, Rogers said.

The second part of the center is The Little Gym’s side. The Little Gym is focused on three-dimensional learning, allowing children to engage in a curriculum that allows them to perfect physical, emotional and life skills.

“The Little Gym starts at four months and goes to 12 years,” Jamie Eslinger, SVP of marketing and integration for The Little Gym siad. “We are a physical development gymnastics program, but we teach three dimensional learning.”

The first dimension is called “Get moving,” which is the physical dimension where children will go into the gym and interact with the gymnastic equipment. The second dimension is called “Brain Boost,” which is where children nurture their listening, concentration and decision-making skills. The last dimension is called “Citizen Kid,” where children are encouraged to promote teamwork and leadership.

“All of our curriculum is giving prompts to the children and some of it is very imaginative,” Eslinger said. “It’s not just physical like you’re running over a red mat. It’s like you’re running over a waterfall and there’s dragons chasing you. There’s an imaginative piece to it as well.”

Each week in the gym, there is a different lesson that children and their parents will learn. A lot of the curriculum is based on the age of the child and what physical development they should be working on. Eslinger also said the program is not meant to be competitive, but rewarding for the children.

“They're just learning to be a better human and gaining skills each week and having a lot of fun and at the same time learning real gymnastics,” she said. “Getting that joy of accomplishment there too, that's really awesome.”

This is the first location where Snapology and The Little Gym are partnering to create one child development center. Nancy Bigley, the president and CEO at The Little Gym, said she is excited to partner with Snapology and see how well the two companies work together.

“It's a perfect brand for us to partner with and the interactiveness and the things that they do over there really tie in nicely with The Little Gym,” Bigley said. “They're not as physical, we have all the physical. They play a lot more on the cognitive part, so it's a really natural progression for our kiddos to kind of start really building up more of those cognitive skills over at Snapology.”

Arianna Morrison is a reporter for Star Local Media, covering the communities of The Colony, Little Elm, Carrollton, Lewisville, Flower Mound and Coppell. Email her with story ideas and more at amorrison@starlocalmedia.com.

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