It’s no secret that children love to dance. From toddlers swaying to the beat of a song to school-agers making up their own routines for fun, we’ve all seen how natural dancing can come to kids of all ages. But did you know that dance classes and consistent practice are also great for your kiddo’s health?
Physical Development
No matter what age range, dance is beneficial to the body. Because dancing helps build all kinds of skills, the benefits of dancing are tenfold for children in particular! When learning to dance, your child will learn from our dedicated instructors how to strengthen their body and muscles through movement. Dancing with others in a classroom and performance setting also teaches children spatial awareness – how to move within a space around others, as well as how to be aware of other people’s movements. Of course, learning to dance also teaches your child coordination – how to manage their movements and body to stay balanced and even graceful!
Expression of Self
Children don’t always know how to express themselves emotionally or mentally. By learning how to dance, you are providing your child an opportunity to learn a skill that even most adults don’t have – creative expression. By expressing themselves through dance, your child has an opportunity for creativity that can help them process and communicate emotions, thoughts, interpersonal interactions, and more.
Social Skills
Regardless of whether your child is taking one-on-one dance lessons or participating in a dance class course, learning to dance is a social experience. Learning the skills needed to move their body in a class setting helps teach your child not only how to listen, imitate, and memorize, but also how to work with others to encourage, cooperate, and participate as a group. With class settings, too, learning to dance provides an extra opportunity for your child to make new friends outside of school, thus offering a more expanded social circle to hone their social skills.
Mental Development
Between the ages of 2 and 12, your child’s reasoning skills and cognitive abilities become more and more complex, maturing from judgments and ideas based on senses and perceptions to reasoning and thought processes based on knowledge and experiences. By enrolling your child in dance classes, you’re providing a more rich environment of sensory stimulation, information to process, and experiences to expand their horizons. Learning to dance also teaches your child how to critically assess their performance and movements to better themselves as they learn – an important skill that can be applied to many areas of life!
Exercise and more
Ask any dancer – practicing dance and learning new skills are great ways to burn energy and calories! The same is especially true for children – by providing an opportunity to exercise once or twice a week with dance classes, your kiddo will be able to stay active, burn calories, and lay the foundation for good exercise habits. Not to mention, dancing and practicing dance at home helps burn the endless amount of energy kids have, helping you as parents out with bedtime and sleeping through the night.
By enrolling your child in dance classes, you’ll be helping them build great foundations in all parts of their life and setting them up for success. Learn more about our class offerings, and schedule, read our enrollment policies, or contact us today with any questions!