From Teresa Plowright,
Your Guide to Family Vacations.
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Baby Club Med

If you have babies or toddlers, Club Med Sandpiper is a dream come true. Picture a large complex dedicated to wee ones. Inside are:

• Baby Bottle Room: 24-hour access, "stocked daily to accommodate your child's breakfast, snack-time and late-night needs"
• Baby Club Med Restaurant, open for lunch daily
• special room for "Peanuts", i.e. babies not yet walking, open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• separate program for Rascals, Walking to 23 months; activities include Swing and Slide, Clown Hunt, Bubbles Walk, Nature Walk, Pool, Puppet Play
• program for Koalas, 2 year olds; Discovery Walk, Plaster Hands, Club Science, Magic Show, Sandpiper 500; open to 9 p.m.
• program for Tigers, 3 year olds, similar to Koalas, above

Note that For Baby Club Med® there's a weekly supplement that must be paid at the time of reservation.

Mini Club Med and Junior Club Med

Mini Club Med is for 4 to 10 year olds. Programs for this group are very active: "more like kids camps", in the words of one Club Med manager. I didn't see any video-game screens! Though apparently some tv's are used to show movies.

Kids in this age group start to access some of the special activities at Club Med. Minimum age for trapeze is 4; for inline skating, 6; for water-skiing, 8. Here's sample activities for the kids' programs:

• Geckos, 4-5 year olds: hat-making, Sandpiper 500, Club Science, Hip Hop, Pool, Trampoline, Circus; Circus Show put on by the kids
• Sharks 6-7 hear olds: similar to Geckos
• Kids Club 8 to 10 hear olds: Hip Hop, Sandpiper 500, Talent Show, Circus Show; Rollerblading; Tubing, Waterskiing, Sailing; Soccer

Junior Club Med has two age groups, 11- 13 and 14-17. These age groups are prime for enjoying water-skiing, wakeboarding, tubing (-being towed by the boat in a big inner tube), trapeze, circus, rollerblading, golf, tennis, sailing-- you name it; all are incorporated into the kids' club. For ages 14-17-- a difficult group to please-- activities are posted daily in the bar.

-see photos of Club Med's kids programs

*photos (c) Teresa Plowright