How does dance help children to be school-ready?
Dance is often the first formal activity in which pre-schoolers participate. It is often their first time in a class with other children.
Dance prepares children for school by:
Sharing with other children
Learning to take turns
Teaching them team building skills
Improving their confidence
Increasing their independence
Improving their gross motor skills
Developing their social skills
Improving their balance
Improving maths skills
Developing imagination and creativity
Improving health and well being (both physical and mental)
As well it is great for their health both physical and mental and their well-being. With the exploding childhood obesity levels, dance and other physical activities need to be encouraged. Children are required at least one hour of physical activity per day for their development. Dance gets our brain firing, this in turn, helps children to learn.
A lack of physical activity not only affects children’s bodies but also impacts their brain development. Dance optimises development and learning.
The government defines and describes ‘school readiness’ as a measure of how prepared a child is to succeed in school cognitively, socially and emotionally.
Children are programmed towards full body experiences for the development of their nervous system (mind and body). This is why children have so much energy and are always on the move. Dance builds social, emotional and physical competence and confidence. These skills are fundamental to improving classroom success. Dance skills have been shown to improve language and communication skills. Dance has also been shown to improve childrens ability to focus.
Dance requires a lot of counting and remembering dance sequences. These have been found to improve childrens maths ability.
The repetitive movements of dance correct childrens posture, improve muscle tone, increase balance and co-ordination and improve cardio health.
Dance helps pre schoolers meeting new friends and develops their social, communication and teamwork skills . Dance really helps shy children to interact with others and become more independent. Children learn to move their bodies and become comfortable in their own skin which improves their self esteem.
Children who take dance class are often found to perform better academically. Dance class is fun. Children often don’t realise they are learning because they are busy having so much fun.
Jeanette Briggs Dance Academy offers a variety of dance classes for children in St Helens Park, south-west Sydney. They also offer a program for pre-schools and early learning centres that has been extremely popular for centres throughout Sydney.
For more information or to book a class on us - phone: 0418 472 652 or visit www.dancejbda.com
Reference: https://earlyarts.co.uk/blog/can-dance-help-children-to-become-school-ready
