Romp n’ Roll strives to educate and develop children beyond the playground.

Don’t get me wrong—playgrounds are great. Kids need to play, run, climb and explore. In fact, these are just some of the physical activities that are built into our themed gym programs.

However, we take our curriculum several steps further. Through careful research and development, we have created an immersive experience for young kids that advance both their mental and physical development.

How do we do it?

As we like to say, Romp n’ Roll is “where art meets science.” Let’s look at what that means, one of our strategies to implement it, and how that differentiates us in the childhood activity industry.

How Does Art Meet Science?

With our approach to childhood development, when a child is playing, they are also learning. The fun (Art) and the learning (Science) work in tandem.

We have created this Art-Meets-Science curriculum very carefully. And, specifically— for our target demographic of kids 3 months to 5 years old.

Did you know that the first 5 years of a child’s life is when their brains develop most rapidly? It is a time of swift linguistic, social, emotional, cognitive and motor development.

A child’s brain is dramatically shaped by everything they see, touch, taste, smell, and hear (especially up to age 3). These things affect how the brain will think, feel, learn, and control physical movement.

All of our activities—physical, artistic, cognitive—are designed to target essential skills and knowledge for the development of the whole child.

Kids will naturally explore, experiment, and make a mess. Romp n’ Roll’s science-based strategy leverages that organic sense of wonder. With the help of their parents and staff, children are encouraged and guided towards observations, discoveries, and little “experiments.” This is how they will learn and grow most effectively.

The sneaky part is, our activities are fun! So, kids are just having fun and not even aware they are learning.

Romp n’ Roll’s Theme? Fun!

There’s a lot of research that goes into our curriculum. Part of what we’ve learned is that building our curriculum around weekly themes provides variety and continuity.

For instance, our mascot Rompy introduces each week’s theme through stories and sing-a-longs. That theme is carried through in our gym and art activities, science experiments, dance classes, and more.

Our themes provide a vehicle for the skills and knowledge we focus on each week. Kids become thoroughly absorbed, which helps them learn how to concentrate. These skills, which we develop in an informal and fun setting, will help later when they enter formal education.

The variety in our themes and activities targets sensory perception which, in turn, stimulates and develops a young child’s capacity to learn and do.

A Unique Experience in Childhood Development

When Babz decided to stay home with our daughter Emma, she became an aficionado of our community’s childhood activities. She discovered there were individual playgrounds, gyms, art studios, dance centers and preschools.

These were like individual pieces to the puzzle that Babz and I wanted to solve for our children, as well as others. Romp n’ Roll was born out of that desire for a comprehensive childhood development center.

It’s like what one of our parents, Jeff Palmer said: “It’s different in the way that we can come to one place and get everything we want to do all at once. You can come here and get some exercise, you can sing and dance, and do art all in one place.”

Thanks, Jeff. We couldn’t have said it any better.

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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.