As parents and grandparents of toddlers know they are little motion machines. They’re learning how they fit into their environment, their personal preferences (as you well know!) and a lot about how to move their bodies. You typical toddler already knows how to appreciate music, rhythm, and movement, and can relate to her peers in an appropriate manner.
With all that your little one is learning, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to help him or her along? Channel some of that energy and start your child on a healthy path to fun through dance. Don’t worry that your little one is too young. The toddler years are the perfect time to introduce your child to dance.
The benefits of dance far outweigh many of your concerns when it comes to your toddler. In a toddler dance class, the expectations are simply to have fun and develop some new skills. Your child will learn to interact with friends, move in a creative way to music, and begin to master following directions.
How Will Dance Class Help My Toddler?
And as your child grows and develops, the art of dance will grow along with them, encouraging lifelong appreciation and involvement in the oldest, most innate form of creative self expression. When you introduce your child to a basic dance class at a very young age, you plant the seeds which will grow in so many beneficial ways.
- Let’s Get Physical: Developing an appreciation for movement helps your child learn to love and respect a body that is capable of so much. Each skill mastered is another way to move, develop healthy muscles, flexibility, coordination, and spatial-awareness . The physical benefits of dance aid in preventing childhood obesity in a progressively more sedentary world.
- Learning is Fundamental: When you give your child an introduction to dance, your toddler is already developing skills which will serve her for a lifetime. Dance requires discipline and focus, even at this young age. Both are necessary to achieve in the classroom and beyond. Dance introduces a way to use counting in real life, and also helps differentiate right and left, as well as fast and slow.
- Positive Interaction with Friends: Children as young as 18 months delight in activities involving friends. What more positive way for your child to relate to his peers than through dance?
- Improved Behavior: When your little one learns to channel his energy into creative movement and expression, in a disciplined way, you’ll see immediate improvement in behavior.
- Dance is Fun: By far the greatest benefit to your child is the fun she will have. It’s new and exciting! There are friends here! Toddler dance classes develop important physical, social and emotional skills, but most importantly, your tiny dancer is having fun.
It’s been said that dance is the “hidden language of the soul”. Introduce your toddler to dance now and you’ll give them a lifetime of opportunities to grow, develop, and let their soul be heard. Contact Dance Makers for more information on dance classes for toddlers.