Gymboree Play & Music

Hands down the best gymboree we’ve been to! The teachers are awesome, especially Mr. Noelle! We also love, Miss Carmen, and Miss Gabby. These teachers take pride in their classes and have to best singing voices. The gym changes every 2 weeks, and my son loves the challenges they set up for the babies. THANKS TO GYMBOREE my son has learned so much. This location is very clean, the atmosphere is beautiful with tons of color, AND Mr. Noelle always always has the best music selection. (every now and then you see the kids rocking out to the music). The moms are so sweet and we’ve created a nice village there. Thank you for always being so great! Keep it up guys!

My daughter loves Gymboree! She loves playing with the other babies and goes crazy over the rubber duckies. We come every week for play and learn and have been attending classes for the past 4 months. Staff is great; they’re always friendly and enthusiastic.

We joined Gymboree for two level 5 classes as play dates with a friend who has membership. While our child enjoyed the classes and the play space, we decided not to become members.
In case you don’t know, ‘membership’ is like an ‘initiation fee’. It’s a one time payment so they can enter you into their system. You then need to purchase weekly classes that may come with a couple hours of open play when the facility is available for open play.
Classes — Classes (guided play, art or music) are 45 minutes long and offered at different levels for various age bands. We attended 2 guided play classes where the props were exactly the same and pulled out in exactly the same order. However, the story around it was different. For example, in one class, colorful scarves were given out so kids could pretend they had tails. In the other class, the scarves doubled as butterfly wings. Good for imagination, I suppose. If kids wanted to walk away from the guided circle time, they could play in the indoor playground. Good to let kids burn off steam but very different from the ‘I want you to sit, listen and learn patience’ mentality. You can probably tell I wanted my kid to be told to sit, listen and learn. :) Tiger Mom!
Teachers — We had a different teacher each time we went. Mr Noël is the more engaging teacher and seemed to keep more kids with him, as opposed to having kids trickle off to play by themselves.
Space and toys — All were clean and in good condition as far as I could tell — I wish it wasn’t so dang dark inside. Btw, what is up with those other pictures posted on Unilocal?They’ve been Photoshopped! This place is NOT that well lit! I took pictures with my iPhone so you can see it’s quite dim. TURN THE LIGHTS ON PLEASE!
Why we passed — The hours for open play are restrictive. We were looking for open play after daycare on early weekday afternoons but, unfortunately, open play is either during preschool/​work or on the weekends. Level 5 classes are also during preschool/​work or on Saturdays. We prefer to take the kids out on the weekends to explore different parts of the city, enjoy beach festivals, see family, etc. Also, my child will soon outgrow level 5 class so I guess we will soon be out of their target age range.
If the classes and open play hours were different, we would reconsider since we live close by. Though My Gym is a whole lot brighter, bigger and has a kiddo zipline…
Oh and TURN THE LIGHTS ON please! I felt like we were hiding in a broom closet!

My son Thiago loves this place! The staff here are amazing and are always smiling and so involved with the children’s development!

This Gymboree will always hold a place in my heart. Our daughter really enjoyed the classes taught my Mr. Noël. Mr. Noël’s enthusiasm comes across so genuine it is infectious and really brightens the room. We made wonderful new friends there too– an unexpected bonus! Its clean and well run. The play layouts are always inspiring to the little ones. I’m sad she has outgrown it but we will forever sing the songs learned there with the fondest of memories.

I didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t sure if my 11 month old would enjoy it, thank goodness they offer a free class to try. If you sign up online, they’ll give you a free tshirt when you show up.
My daughter ended up LOVING the class, her teacher, Mr. Noël is super friendly and is very engaging with all the kids. And the other staffers are also really nice and make a really welcoming energy in the place. The space itself is really clean and well organized and parking is free.
I highly recommend signing up and checking it out.

We just did their trial Play and Learn class and signed up. They have a special for Unilocalers where they waive the $ 50 enrollment fee. My 20 month old had a wonderful time. Mr. Noël was enthusiastic. The playroom seems very clean and well kept. I liked that all the equipment is designed specifically for his age range.
Classes were intimate. I felt my son was safe the entire time.
They have free parking in the structure. Unfortunately, the design of the parking structure is terrible… But free parking is free parking.
Everyone I have dealt with seems very nice and courteous. A very good experience.
Update: With our membership we received 2 additional free classes of our choice. We tried the art class today, and we did not care for it. I felt I could have done everything at home. The art classes at Wondertree are more enjoyable with a much better flow and an enthusiastic teacher. The Play and Learn class is still great, and we are happy here.

This Gymboree is awesome. Mr. Noël is the absolute best teacher! So engaging and fun, always happy and truly cares about the kids he teaches.

I’m really glad to see all the 5-​star reviews. I will start by saying, reading those reviews makes me feel like I will possibly give this place another try and would absolutely update this review when I do. Here’s what happened today; a good friend had requested a gift cert to Play & Music for her son’s upcoming b-​day, so I looked online– they only had $ 25 or $ 75 and I wanted something in the middle, so I called over the weekend and was told «no problem, just come in.» Today my almost-​3-​year-​old and I went to get the gift cert. We arrived and stood at the reception desk, and stood, and stood, and stood and stood– it was more than 7 minutes before I actually saw an employee in the open gym/​play area– I smiled at her and could tell she was agitated (as I was later, repeatedly, informed, it was her last day, the 3^rd person who was supposed to be there working was a no-​show and part of the ceiling had just broken in) …another 5 minutes went by, and she came to the desk and in the least-​friendly-​super-​irritated tone ever asked, «are you waiting for something?» (those were her words) I explained we came to purchase a gift certificate, she let me know all above reasons for the wait/​irritation and then with a sigh/​eyeroll said she didn’t think they «did» gift certificates and that she would have to call her boss.
She called said boss, left a message in such an irritated tone (I mean, it WAS her «last day» after all) and then told me to wait.
Another woman then appeared, she was sweet as can be, but said she didn’t think they did gift certificates either– as she was explaining to me that it was Miss Annoyed-with-everything’s LAST DAY, the 10am person rolled in (it was 10:15a) and she was given the task of dealing with me and the illusive gift certificate.
Miss Annoyed reappeared, said she spoke to the boss and took over the transaction, to announce– «that will be $ 78andsomechange» Um, for what!!! I was never asked what denomination I wanted. so I asked her what that figure was, she curtly replied «um that’s the price for a session» (the tone was epic, she could have been saying «um, we breath air so we don’t die, like, duh!» I told her I wanted one for $ 40 and was handed off once again to the other employee– about 30 minutes later, we left with the gift certificate. I would have caught the princesses name, but it was, after all, HER LAST DAY.

I don’t know what took me so long to write a review about Gymboree Play and Music in Hermosa Beach, because we have loved frequenting this place with our daughter. She started coming here when she was 6 months old, and she absolutely loved the staff (especially Miss Sandy and Mr. Noël) and the place. They have great holiday and summer specials that offer unlimited play schedules, so it’s well-​worth the monthly tuition. Plus, the weekly free play time is an extra bonus. The facility is very nice and extremely clean, and the parking is convenient.
We also had our daughter’s 2-​year birthday party at Gymboree, and it was the best decision we made. The entire place was ours for 2 hours. They have a separate room for cake and food that looks out into the play room, and we were able to bring beverages and light snacks. The place is bright, clean and already well-​decorated. We just added some balloons in the play area to make it a little more festive.
The brithday staff was top-​notch. They did an excellent job putting everything together for the party… they prepared the goodie bags, greeted the parents and the kids, entertained the kids with special activities and group games to do in the play area (like bubbles and parachute time), lined the kids up and made sure they all got a squirt of hand sanitizer before cake/​pizza time. They helped us with the cake-​cutting, and then they even recycled our balloons by tying each one to each of the gift bags. Our gifts were also all bagged up by our two gymboree helpers before the party ended. It was the easiest party we’ve ever planned. I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone looking for a great space for a toddler birthday party.

I stopped by Gymboree on a whim one day when my son was barely 4 mos. old to try a free class, and have been a happy member ever since. Our little one loves both the Play and Learn class and the Music class. Music is fun for parents too — we’ve done units on the Beatles, Queen, classical, disco, and more. This location is super clean and well-​organized, with tons of fun toys and an «open gym» 3 days a week (I wish they had it more often!). We love Mr. Noël, Miss Sandy, Miss Claudia, Miss G, and all the other amazing teachers. They work so hard to make each child feel special. Gymboree also does great special events for holidays… we had so much fun at the Halloween party.
Also, the toys they sell are high quality — they have all held up really well. They typically have a monthly sale with some good deals on toys.
We love Gymboree and I’m so happy I decided to stop in and give them a try all those months ago!

I love their baby classes — currently taking my 20 month old on Saturdays. Mr. Noël is the teacher and the kids really love him. The class focuses on language and problem solving — both things my son needs. My older son goes for sports class and his teacher is the most patient around. Class sizes are mostly small due to the newness of the location and they have good enrollment deals which is what got me in the door. I only gave it 4 stars cause the underground parking lot sucks — small spots and often nothing available until the bottom.

I took our 16 month old daughter for the free class yesterday and she LOVED it. Carina tends to be a bit shy. But, the second she walked in, she was climbing, chatting and having the best time. Noël was our instructor for the class and he ROCKED. I wasnt planning to sign up, because honestly it is a bit pricey compared to other options but I did. The instructors were great, she had a blast, the location is close, and the underground parking is an added plus on these rainy, cold days.