This One Thing can Make the Difference in Your Children’s Dance Classes
As I watched my 4-year-old son in gymnastics earlier today, one thing was very evident: when he used his imagination, he paid attention. During stretch, I could see his mind wandering—that is, until he got to pretend to make a pizza during straddle stretch. He did a great table pose as he pretended to eat his pizza. He half participated again through a few stretches. Then it was time for butterfly stretch. I have no idea where he said he would “fly”, but I saw his face light up when it was his turn to speak.
He wandered off several times during bar their bar rotation.
Then it was water break time. He’s been VERY into sharks lately. I asked him if he thought it would be fun to pretend he was a shark on what they did next. He was SO focused on beam. (It’s a co-ed preschool class so they do all apparatus.) I could see his imagination working!
He pretended to dive and crawl through a tunnel. He stepped onto the first beam, pretended to eat a beanbag like a fish, then place it on his head to balance as he walked across. He curved and swirled like he was swimming as he walked across the mat to the next beam. He was very focused as he stepped over cones in the next beam. I asked him later what he was doing. He told me he was looking for fish in the reef! (Like I said—VERY into sharks lately!)
He continued to pretend to be a shark as they went through an obstacle course for their next part of class. I don’t know the specifics, but I heard him talking about sharks several times as he went through the course.
Apply it to Your Classes
I know you’re a dance teacher, not a gymnastics teacher. BUT the concept of young children learning better through play and imagination can be applied to either discipline!
So when it’s time for your preschool or even beginning dance classes, don’t be afraid to take a look at your dance class lesson plans from the lens of a child. What might be fun for them? Remember, children love using their imaginations. Children are naturally curious and creative. Use that to your advantage in your classes.
Behind the Scenes
From the outside, it might look like we’ve been quiet lately at here at OUB…
Homeschooling, OUB curriculum development, and being mama to two extremely energetic boys ages 4 and 6 has been keeping me busy. Busier than I would have thought before having kids. Sometimes I feel like I must have had superhero abilities to do everything I did pre-kids. The days are long, but not long enough to fit everything in. These days, my former superpower of functioning without much sleep fails me often. My kids’ interests seem to be added onto my own. We find ourselves at one—gymnastics, soccer, or theater—almost every day of the week. In fact, I think I may have my oldest son’s lines memorized for his upcoming show of The Velveteen Rabbit! (And I have always been the WORST at memorizing lines of any kind, so that says a lot.) My husband often works long hours, which leaves a lot of things up to me when it comes to our home and raising our kids. It’s a full life and trying to stay present is difficult while doing all the things. Add having ADHD and kids with ADHD into the equation… it can feel like a lot.
But I’m definitely NOT complaining here. I know how lucky I am in so many ways. Because of that, I just wanted to say thank you. I want to thank those of you who continue to follow us here at OUB. I want to thank those of you who use our curriculums in your classes. Those of you who have taken our course and become OUB Certified Teachers or OUB Certified Studios. And I really want to thank our Contributing Teachers and other contractors who have helped with admin, community, design, etc. You’ve helped me so much in taking OUB another step forward!
Behind the scenes over the past two months, our team wrapped up our complete Little Dancer Curriculum. We did a bit of behind-the-scenes work on the public-facing website and paid website areas. We got the OUB Fairy Tale Curriculum (ballet for ages 1.5-7), OUB Story Ballet Curriculum (ballet ages 7-12), and Lil’ Heroes Curriculum (boys dance for ages 3-6) underway! The complete video syllabi for these are up along with the first month of ready-made lesson plans and goodies. A new lesson plan set will release for each of these curriculums on the 1st of each month until all 24 sets are released. :-)
What’s next?
Finally, we’ve been working on a super sweet Halloween dance class pack! This will be available October 5 through October 15, so check your inbox on Wednesday if you’re interested!
Just know—if we’re a bit quiet on emails, social, or the blog, it likely just means we’re cooking up a few extra things behind the scenes.
And now that we have a few big things checked off our to do’s, I’m happy to say you can expect more blogs and emails with teaching tips and resources in your future again!
xo,
Ashley
Ashley Hartford, Director of Once Upon a Ballet