2017 Golden Teddy Awards — Camps + Classes

Winner: Sponge

Sponge grows young minds with foreign language exposure, and your votes indicate its classes are hitting the mark. Sponge covers the bases, delivering classes for newborns up to age 10 in a variety of languages, including Hindi, at locations around Puget Sound. It also offers after-school programs in area elementary schools. One voter pointed out, “Learning a new language has proven to help children in so many other academic areas,” adding, “My kids are proof!” Another described the native-speaker instructors as having “incredible energy and stamina.” And the kids? They’re having loads of fun.

Finalists

Instructors at Roaring Mouse Creative Arts Studio in Seattle provide a foundation upon which kids can build confidence in their own creative inspiration. Through art and play, kids follow their own ideas and are free to experiment. Your votes stacked up for Roaring Mouse’s classes, workshops, camps and more. It’s no wonder the studio has appeared in this category for many years in a row.

Zoom Language in Ballard offers Spanish immersion programs, and you are loving it. Zoom offers a preschool program, Spanish language classes for ages one and a half to 10, summer camps and even online classes. “This is a top-notch Spanish immersion school,” states a testimonial on Zoom’s website. “The teachers are kind, smart and dedicated to giving our children a complete language immersion experience.”

After the joy — and stultifying sleep deprivation — of a new baby have set in, parents long to communicate with their wee ones, and not just by guessing what the crying means. Enter Hop to Signaroo, whose sign language classes for hearing families tap into babies’ ability to use their hands before they can speak. The instructor “rocks,” according to one voter, and another raved, “We’re still signing after a year and we love it!” 

Seattle’s Illumination Learning Studio earned your votes for its variety of arts-focused programs, including piano and guitar instruction, performing and fine arts classes and themed summer camps. One voter commended the instructors as “passionate about teaching.”