Baby Sensory

Baby Sensory Staffordshire Moorlands runs its weekly classes at the WOW Centre, 13 High St, Cheadle, ST10 1AA. Katie Potts — a former primary school teacher with seven years in the classroom and a Psychology degree with child development studies — started offering Toddler Sense in Staffordshire Moorlands in February 2017, then launched Baby Sensory in the area two years later. Classes run Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 9:45am and 11:15am, with early-afternoon sessions also available across both days. They are term-time only, at £7.50 per session.

The programme covers a lot of ground in a single hour. Babies move through creative play, massage, tummy time, visual exploration, and textured materials — all arranged around their natural play-rest-play cycle, so quieter rest moments are built in. The sensory area is set up to match the distance at which young babies actually focus, and the instruments used in class have been measured to make sure they are not too loud for small ears. Every session ends by mimicking the sounds of the womb. The original music — composed by programme founder Dr Lin Day — includes songs such as 'Say Hello to the Sun' and 'Wave Goodbye', and the mix of original and traditional rhymes is specifically chosen to support early speech and language.

For families with a newborn under three months, the Hello Baby add-on sits alongside the main programme. It covers three distinct areas: observing and reading your baby's behavioural cues; understanding crying and colic, and techniques for comfort; and loving-touch methods including baby massage and reflexology. Activities throughout are adapted so that babies with physical or sensory impairments can fully take part. You are welcome to feed or cuddle your baby at any point in the session.