When Joan Barnes founded Gymboree Play & Music in 1976, she envisioned a facility where parents and children could play together in a safe and age-appropriate environment. In the following decades, Gymboree Play & Music spread to more than 30 countries across the globe, helping youngsters from infants to 5 years old develop cognitive, physical, and social skills.

Instructors lead classes such as Play & Learn, its flagship course, in which parents and kids move through a seven-level developmental program filled with play activities, and parental debates on such things as the merits of sandwich crust. Talented staffers also prep youngsters for school and foster development in areas such as music, art, S.T.E.A.M. based programs, play labs, and baby lab. Throughout all classes, they make use of custom play equipment.