When you look to invest in any business concept, you want to be sure that it has a distinct advantage over competing companies. A kid’s gym franchise is no different.

By and large, the number of activities that children and their parents have to choose from at most kid’s gyms are limited and segmented based on age. Infants roll around on mats; toddlers jump around the bubble machine; and older kids may do finger painting for weeks on end.

The classes and activities can become stagnant and repetitive, which doesn’t necessarily help kids develop the cognitive and kinesthetic skills they need to flourish. Recent research suggests that giving infants and toddlers a wide array of activities that targets all of their sensory perception spurs development in their mental and physical capacities.

Innovating in Early Childhood Development

A recent article in The National Association for the Education of Young Children’s online publication Young Children explained how incorporating a “science-based” approach to early childhood development benefits infants and toddlers. Don’t worry – there aren’t any beakers with flammable liquids or Bunsen burners. Instead, the article highlights the importance of exploration and discovery for young children.

It’s no secret that infants and toddlers create problems for themselves. They climb onto objects and can’t get down. They spill liquids that vanish into the carpet. A science-based approach enables children and caretakers to fully explore these experiences, make observations, use language to describe them and conduct little experiments to further engage the kids. In short, you have to give children some freedom to explore – with limits, of course – and make small discoveries.

How to Put It Into Practice

Kid’s gyms are the ideal location to support this learning strategy. Parents and families that want their kids to develop a sense of self, independence and confidence look to innovative businesses that offer activities that will facilitate this process.

Romp n’ Roll stands out from competitors in the children’s gym sector because we offer a wide range of activities to a specific age group – 3 months to 5 years old. These kids benefit from music, movement, art, dance, cooking, science, sports and a variety of other activities that encourage them to explore and foster a sense of wonder.

It’s this type of business model that enables franchisees to build kid’s gyms that fulfill a community need through innovative early childhood development. We operate customer-focused franchises that generate customer satisfaction rates that outrank a number of other well-known brands, including Apple and Amazon. A big part of the reason why we’re able to achieve this success is because we’ve created a franchise system built on early childhood development best practices.

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Michael Barnett is the Co-Founder and CEO of Romp n' Roll. In addition to leading the Romp n' Roll management team, Michael is an active member of the International Franchise Association, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and serves on the Board of Directors for Connor's Heroes and Juniata College Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. He and his wife, Babz, were featured on the first season of ABC-TV's Shark Tank.