5, 6, 7, 8 Reasons to Dance

In this day and age, children have tons of sedentary activities put in front of them every day; video games, tablets, television, and even school. It is so important to encourage children to be active from a young age so that it becomes a part of who they are and the lifestyle they will choose to lead. Academic learning has become such a large part of a school day that school-aged kids do not have enough movement opportunities in a regular day. Younger children may not be in school yet; however, as parents get busier by the day, it’s easy to forget that children thrive on physical activity. Structured, physical activity classes provide that physical outlet. Dance classes are an excellent way to help out with this issue as they build confidence, coordination, and a love of fitness! Here are our top 8 reasons for why kids should participate in a dance class:

The 3 D’s 
Discipline, Determination, & Dedication are 3 life skills necessary to succeed at just about everything in life. Dance skills are not easy and it takes the determination to learn them, the discipline to focus on them, and the dedication to practice them at home to master each new dance combination.  The 3 D’s needed to learn and master a new dance move is a skill set that will carry children through the rest of their lives. Obstacles and tough stuff comes up every day whether its struggling in school, in a relationship, to pay bills, or at a job. The determination learned in My Gym dance classes will translate to determination to overcoming all of life’s obstacles. Discipline, determination, & dedication aren’t in the curriculum, but they’re among the greatest skills acquired in dance classes.

Teamwork
Teamwork is another vital life skill cultivated in My Gym Dance classes, even in a non-competitive atmosphere. As children learn to dance together, they learn to work together toward the shared purpose of perfecting a dance. Dancers work on sharpening their communication skills as they ask questions and help each other learn and perfect each combination. They learn to motivate themselves, set the example for others, and support their teammates when they forget or struggle to learn a new skill. All of those skills add up to improving social skills for childhood and success as adults in the workplace since being a team player is often a job requirement!

Valuing the fundamentals
Dance is one of those activities that requires participants to learn and master the fundamentals before moving on to more challenging, “fun” skills. Many times kids want to jump the gun and start reading books beyond their level, playing on a harder team for sports, or just doing the things older kids are doing in general. At My Gym our dance classes teach kids to value the basics and understand the fundamentals are the building blocks for everything else they will learn in the coming years. Younger children pick up approximately one new skill per class meaning that it takes them quite awhile to build the foundation necessary for success in the more challenging classes. Children need to be taught that learning to walk before they run is a valuable skill!

Memory
Memorization comes into play as dancers are expected to remember the skill names, how to perform them, and in which order they come for each dance. Memory skills also translate to comprehension skills. The more you can remember over time the easier it is to comprehend books, movies, conversations, and remember lists of tasks to be completed. Dance class is a true memory workout for children. Although you won’t see memory on a list of skills learned at dance class, it definitely should not be overlooked.

Timing & Overall Coordination 
Full length dances are all about timing and learning to move at the same time as the people around you to help the dance look “clean.” This requires an awareness of one’s own body and an awareness of those around them. That understanding of timing is not only crucial for all physical activities (riding a bike, jumping rope, playing sports) but also for educational activities (learning to sequence a story like a dance). As children learn dance skills they learn to control and strengthen different parts of the body as they isolate them to perform each move. That control helps to increase overall body coordination over time. Every child will learn the skills according to their own timelines, but they will learn and perfect them. The repetitive nature of dance classes helps to solidify each skill and combination until it can be performed well by all members of the class. Once a skill is perfected it is still practiced until it becomes second nature again translating to better coordination in each dancer.

School Achievement
The activities done during our classes are not just good for physical activity – they also relate right back to the classroom! Learning to memorize a dance helps children learn to chunk pieces of information and improve memory. Remembering a series of directions and the steps to complete a skill helps with reading comprehension.

Then of course, we have the big one….. FOCUS. In order to participate, learn, and excel in dance kids have to improve their focus in order to complete tasks and persevere when the going gets tough. Engaging activities and appropriately challenging skills help children stay focused and improve their focus over time. Automatically being able to focus, having good comprehension of tasks, and the hand and body strength and coordination necessary for handwriting all lead to success at school and beyond!

Confidence
Every parent wants to see their child become confident and happy. Each time dancers learn and perfect a new skill you can see the pride they feel all over their face as they perform it over and over sometimes not truly believing they “got it” until they’ve done it ten times in a row. Their classmates and teachers only add to that confidence as they cheer them on through the learning and perfecting process. Many dancers start off very reserved and not wanting their classmates to see them dance thinking they can’t do it as well as the others. With each class the kids slowly break out of their shells and begin moving around until they are truly feeling the music and dancing each skill full out to the best of their own ability. That requires the confidence and belief in themselves that they can do it and can do it well. Another boost to their self-esteem is working toward a goal and achieving it. Twice a year we hold full dance recitals along with many in class performances for parents and friends. It takes months to learn and perfect a dance and a boatload of confidence to get on the stage in front of the audience and perform their dance. Dance classes can help children sprint down the road to confidence as learn to feel and value themselves as successful.

Commitment to being physically active
As our dancers become successful at each dance combination they get more and more excited to practice and perform them for friends, family, or their stuffed animals! Over time they eventually start making up their own routines at home to favorite songs or with friends. This leads to helping them become more physically active when not in dance class. The confidence that they have gained over time from their dance classes will allow them to continue their love for dance outside of class. Instead of hours of screen time, they will want to dance, move and be active to continue that lifestyle.

Of course there is one more great reason to get your child involved in dance…it’s fun!

These days, it is difficult to keep kids’ screen time to a minimum with so many technological distractions around them. My Gym Dance classes help give kids a reason to put down the electronics and get moving. The more they enjoy the activity they’re doing the more they will want to continue doing it instead just watching television. Building the love of fitness at a young age solidifies that lifestyle as they grow up and get presented with more options to be sedentary. Dancing helps children make great choices for their own well-being. We all have to do things we don’t like because they are good for us. Fortunately, dance class is not one of those things! Dancing leads to success in so many aspects of life and every child should experience dance classes firsthand.

Our dance classes:
We offer Pre-Ballet classes for children 2.5 to 7 years old and Zumba® and Hip Hop classes for children 4-12 years old.
Give us a call to get started today! 407-333-8069

Which Animal Would You Be?

Kids love pretending to be all sorts of things, so why not put all of that imagining to good use!

Animal Walks are a great way to use pretending to help with improving coordination and strength. There are tons of different animals you could be, but here are some of our favorites.

Try a few out with your child and show them that working out can be silly and fun!

—

 Bear Walks

What it works on: Shoulder Strength & Bilateral Coordination

How to do it correctly: Stand with legs straight and reach to floor with hands. Begin moving forward working to move one hand and the opposite foot at a time. The goal is to keep the legs straight and “bear” equal weight on the shoulder and legs – pun intended :)

 

---

Snake Rolls (Log Rolls)

What it works on: Core Strength & Body Awareness

How to do it correctly: Have your child lay on their back with arms above the head. Begin to roll over to stomach and continue to back again trying to keep arms and legs straight and use only the core to roll over. The tricky part is trying to roll in a straight line!

 

---

Frog Jumps

What it works on: Leg Strength (Quadriceps), Power, & Landing on Feet

How to do it correctly: Squat like a frog with hand on the floor in front. Jump in the sky with arms above their head and return to starting position. The goal is to jump all the way up using all the power in the legs and control their body on way back down to land on their feet. Challenge: Add a tuck jump!

 

---

Crab Walks

What it works on: Back/Hip Strength & Body Control

How to do it correctly: Have your child start sitting on their bottom with hands behind them, push up to table position (pictured below). Then move in the direction of their head (backwards) while keeping their bottom off the floor. It is important to keep the hips lifted as high as they can to increase the strength in the back.

---

Bear Walks Backwards

What it works on: Core Strength & Body Awareness

How to do it correctly: Stand with legs straight and reach to the floor with hands. Begin moving backward working to move one hand and the opposite foot at a time. The goal is to keep the legs straight and bear equal weight on the shoulder and legs.

A common mistake children make is to drag their hands and only have weight on their legs -this stops the core from working and shows a lack of body awareness.

---

Kangaroo Jumps (Punches)

What it works on: Leg Strength (calves) & Impact

How to do it correctly: Begin by standing with legs together and arms raised straight above your head. Start jumping forward keeping the legs and arms straight. The goal of this one is to push off the toes to start the jump, not jump by bending your knees. This is also a great exercise for learning to punch off the springboard to vault in gymnastics.

---

Bunny Hops

What it works on: Shoulder, Core, & Leg Strength

How to do it correctly: This one is tricky to learn, but fun once your child understands it! Have your child start by squatting and balancing on two feet only, then shift their weight forward and onto the hands. Next leave the hands in place and hop the feet into the hands. The pattern would be: move hands then hop feet in.

The common mistakes are to either turn them into frog jumps or when hopping the feet in, they hop to their knees instead. This is also helpful for helping kids understand how to shift their weight for a handstand or a cartwheel.

---

Bear Walks with One Leg

What it works on: Balance, Core Strength & Leg Flexibility

How to do it correctly: Stand with legs straight and reach to floor with hands, now raise one leg straight behind you. Begin moving forward by moving the hands and hop forward with the foot that is down. Once you get the hang of that work to straighten the lifted leg and begin holding it higher.

This is a great intro to kicking into a handstand since it is the same motion and will help train the core to balance on the hands during the hop forward.

 

---

Happy imagining!

Ribbit, Ribbit! Jumping is Calming?

This week in class we are working on a skill station called Springboard to Horse. The Springboard works on timing, jumping, leg strength and impact (joint strength and stability). And here is a FUN FACT…encouraging your child to jump around helps them to calm themselves down. Jumping is a muscle work activity and it can help children to work off the energy, calm down, and re-focus their mind. Who would have guessed?!  So, for this week, our skill of the week is Frog Jumps, which works on all of the same things as the Springboard portion of the skill station.

Try it out before bedtime and help your child prepare to climb into bed. How many jumps can they do?

For young babies up to 2.5 years –

Hold under arms and lift up, as they come back down they will bend their knees as they land, help them bounce back off those feet, repeat a few times.

For children 2 and 3 years old –

Encourage them to get small, jump up, then get small again and repeat. Encourage them to always land on their feet!

For children 4 and up –

Squat and touch the ground, jump up high with arms up, then get small again – repeat 3-5 times.

Challenge!

Jump higher

Jump farther

Do Frog Tuck Jumps! Very tricky and requires excellent leg strength, timing, and body control

 

Happy Jumping! Ribbit, Ribbit!

7 Benefits of Forward Rolls

Why Should Every Child Learn to do a Forward Roll?

Forward Rolls are one of the first (and simplest) skills that babies and children learn in a gymnastics-based class. After a few tries, most kids can do it by themselves. But, WHY should every child learn and be encouraged to try forward rolls?

Forward rolls, when done correctly, are an incredible full body & brain workout for all age groups.

Body Awareness & Control
Forward rolls are more than just a basic tumbling skill. They also promote body awareness and control, which leads to increased coordination of the body and the mind. Less time spent thinking about basic motor skill tasks = More time thinking about learning! The child also must have enough body control to keep the head tucked in and roll over in one round, smooth motion.

Eye Tracking
Our favorite reason to learn forward rolls is the upside down motion they provide, which leads to better eye tracking development and strength (pre-reading skills). Eye tracking is crucial when learning to read. Without great tracking, kids struggle to follow the lines on the page as they read the words from left to right. This means they cannot focus on comprehending the story because they are spending valuable brain time on following the lines on the page!

Bilateral Coordination
Forward rolls are also a great bilateral coordination activity. Bilateral coordination is when both sides of the body are working together to accomplish a task. This can be by working together (pushing a cart), working in an alternating pattern (climbing stairs), or doing two separate tasks (holding a paper with one hand and scissors with the other). In this example, both sides of the body have to exert equal amounts of force to keep the body centered as the child rolls over. Be sure your child plants both hands firmly on the ground before beginning to roll. As they go over, you can help center their body by holding them at the hips.

Core Strength
They also increase a child’s core strength, a vital skill when your child is learning to sit up, crawl, walk, run, ride a bike, swim in the pool, or play a sport. Be sure to help your child sit up from the center and strengthen both sides of the body equally.

THE BEST REASONS
Of course the two biggest reasons to learn a forward roll are for FUN and for CONFIDENCE building. New skills require perseverance to master, and that is one trait we all want our children to have in spades! Children love learning to do things all by themselves and this skill is not only simple, but it is also good for them.

---

 We start teaching forward rolls at 7 months old and continue teaching them/perfecting them all the way up through our oldest kids in the gym.

Here’s how to safely practice them at home:

For children 7 to 14 months old – 

1. Hold child like a football.
2. Guide them down to the floor. They will naturally put their hands down.
3. With your opposite hand, help them tuck their head and roll.
4. Help them sit up for a BIG FINISH!

For children 15 months to a little over 2 years old – 

1. While they are standing, lightly press your thumbs on their lower back to encourage them to reach for the floor.
2. Help them tuck their head and roll.
3. Sit up for a BIG FINISH!

For children 2.5 – 7 years old (Beginners) – 

1. Squat like a frog.
2. Tuck the head and roll. Note: Stay rounded like a turtle.
3. Sit up/Stand up using the center of the body (midline).
Note: Be sure to encourage them to tuck their head by placing your hand on the back of their head if needed.

Once the basic skill is mastered, here’s how to challenge your child further – 

 *Practice starting with straight legs and getting up without using any hands, while keeping feet together.

*Practice continuous rolls (2-3 in a row).

*Add a Straddle Press at the end. The Straddle Press helps with increasing flexibility, shoulder strength, and coordination to the basic forward roll.

Happy rolling :)