Three Pillars of a Successful Preschool Dance Class
Understanding Child Development
When you understand child development, so many things change in your classes. First, you'll see your young students differently. I can remember when I first started teaching preschoolers. I expected to go in and teach a mini ballet class. I thought my students would stand in lines, wait their turns, and work hard just like my older students had.
Boy, was I in for a surprise!
Now I know better. I know that toddlers and preschoolers are learning so much about the world around them. I know something as simple as the tape on the marley floor can be far more interesting than joining the rest of class for warmup. I know these students are still developing language and communication skills. I know they don't yet have emotional regulation. (So if they throw a tantrum, it's not always their fault.) I know separation anxiety is a very real and legitimate fear for some at this age.
Understanding a bit of child development has given me more compassion and patience with this very young age group. It changed the way I planned for and taught my preschool dance classes.
Understanding child development also helps us to understand WHY role-playing and imagination keep preschoolers' attention. A young child's world is filled with wonder. The part of their brains responsible for logical thinking hasn't developed yet. Things that are magical and make-believe are very REAL to them. To a 10-year-old, you can explain why it's important to do pliés in class, for example. To a 3-year-old, you have to meet them in their world if you want them to pay attention and participate. Any form of technique has to be FUN. It has to spark their imaginations.
Age-Appropriate Technique
Speaking of technique—knowing what is age-appropriate is KEY. This is important for a couple of reasons. First, we obviously don't want to injure our young students or set them up for injuries later on. Second, when you introduce certain technical aspects—whether it's turnout, positions, steps, or coordinations too soon for what's developmentally appropriate for their age, you're setting them up for frustration and failure.
Things like paying attention, standing on a spot, waiting their turn, and body awareness and coordination are already quite challenging for this age group. Knowing what's age-appropriate in terms of specific steps and technique will allow you to set your students up for success. And that will help your students develop self-esteem. It will help them to feel accomplished. It will give you much better odds at helping them to love dance class.
Imagination is Key
You MUST include dance activities and games in your classes that are FUN and IMAGINATIVE. That's how you keep your very young students' attention. And that goes for EVERYTHING! Ever try to get your 3-year-olds to do pliés and one (or sometimes more!) child wanders off? That's because most teachers don't make that part of class fun. What are you doing while you plié? Are you princesses and princes getting ready for a royal ball? Are you warming up your rocket ships before you blast off into outer space?
When you use stories, role play, and sprinkle imagination into your dance activities, you'll see a tremendous change in your young students. And I'm not saying class should be all fluff. You're using dance activities and games in your classes to accomplish something—whether it's learning a particular step, building a foundation for technique later on, or developing self-esteem and creativity. Your imaginative play in dance class always has a purpose.
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Freshen up your toddler and preschool dance classes with this set of fun and imaginative dance activities!
What We’re All About
At Once Upon a Ballet, we want to help you teach dance in a way that sparks your students’ imaginations, keeps their attention, and has them leaving class excited for what’s next.
DANCE CURRICULUMS
Our complete curriculums for toddler and preschool dance and children’s ballet give you a full year of lesson plans for each age group. Our lesson plans are rooted in child development and teach dance through imagination and play. We strongly emphasize correct, age-appropriate ballet techniques for young children, as well as building self-esteem, creativity, problem-solving, and classroom skills.
CERTIFIED TEACHERS
If you teach toddler or preschool dance, our teacher certification course gives you the tools to better connect with your littlest students, keep their attention, and have better classroom behavior.
LICENSED STUDIOS
For our licensed studios, we provide branding and marketing support to help them grow their classes that use our curriculums.