Gymnastics classes for toddlers and preschool children are designed around helping our young gymnasts achieve milestones, develop school readiness and life skills, build social skills, and of course develop basic gymnastics skills. To achieve these goals, a successful preschool gymnastics class uses a lot of props. There are a number of reasons why props are useful, and indeed, essential.
Props for achieving milestones and body strength
Body strength is the key to development. From the beginning it is the development of muscle strength that lays the foundation to thriving through life. Gymnastics works on muscle development and body strength in every class enabling building or developing of core muscles which are essential to be able to sit unaided for extended periods, such as in school. Props play a big part in core
conditioning. For example, a balance cushion can be used to sit on whilst moving beanbags from one hoop to another with feet.
One of the most important developmental milestones, and one that is sometimes skipped, is crawling on hands and knees. There is a lot of research that supports crawling as a central milestone for development of the sensory system, problem solving skills, coordination, and the vestibular system. So, we use lots of tunnels, hoops, and parachute tents to practise our crawling. Ideally, because of the broad range of benefits, children will master crawling prior to starting school which is why it is such a huge part of our preschool program.
Props for pushing and pulling, for jumping over or hopping around, for practising agility skills, and throwing at or to targets help to develop a whole range of developmental milestones and gross motor skills.
Props for school readiness and life skills
A lot of the props used in preschool gymnastics give our gymnasts the strength and dexterity to do everyday tasks. Tongs to squeeze and pick things up, pegging scarves to the ‘clothesline’, spoons to stir with, spoons to balance with, fly swats and balloons, fishing with weighted rods or magnetic rods, all help with the ability to work zips, buttons, and tie shoe laces. They also help with the strength needed for handwriting and the hand-eye coordination needed for reading and copying from the board.
Yoga cards, movement dice, and puzzles help to develop concentration and early literacy and mathematics skills.
Props for developing social skills
Social skill development is aided by the use of props in that they promote turn taking, patience in waiting, and kindness in passing the prop to the next person. Using props that need to be returned to the beginning, such as a pair of tongs, a ball, or a beanbag, encourages thinking of others. Props are also great talking points for the gymnasts, further developing their social skills in terms of initiating and participating in conversations with both coaches and peers. Lining up, sitting and listening, patience and turn-taking are all skills needed for school learning.
Props for gymnastics skills
Developing basic gymnastic skills requires repetition and practise. It is crucial that basic skills are mastered before moving on to more difficult skills to ensure that the gymnast has the right level of strength and correct shaping to achieve the more difficult skill. Using props enables the gymnasts to build the strength that they need in a fun and challenging way. For example, one of the important basics is grip adjustment and regrips. For this a gymnast needs wrist strength and an understanding of making quick changes to grip. To work towards this, we use winding weights (such as our weighted fish and spiders), which works on both grip adjustment and wrist strength.
Props are also used to help with skills that on their own seem difficult. One such skill is the chin up pullover. The first step needed for this skill is the chin up which on its own seems very tricky. However, the use of a wedge or boxes with a picture attached suddenly makes it a fun challenge – can you walk your feet up to the T-rex whilst keeping your arms short and tucked like a T-rex and your chin above the bar?
Props bring themes to life!
There are many planned benefits for the use of props in lesson planning for preschool gymnastics but there is no denying that it is the props that bring themes to life. Themes allow the same activities to be repeated over and over in a different way thus reducing boredom of repetition. Props help to change the activities. One example is a cartwheel drill of doing bunny jumps around in a circle – add in a hoop and some French fries and we are jumping around the sun’s rays; or a mini hoop and coloured hoops and we are jumping around a flower. Some props are just for fun and that is essential to preschool gymnastics, too!
So, yes, props are used a lot in preschool gymnastics. But given all of the ways in which they enhance the program, I think we can all agree that they are worthwhile!
Why do the Tiny Tornadoes classes use so many props?
