The benefits of gymnastics for toddlers are truly amazing! Toddlers are extremely impressionable – and energetic! It really is the best time to teach them healthy and social behaviors that can help shape the rest of their lives.
We’ve all heard of the five senses sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. But did you know that there are actually seven senses!?!?
Gill Connell, a child development expert and co-author of A Moving Child is a Learning Child, explains that the last two senses vestibular (sense of balance) and proprioception (our intuitive sense of space and position) may feel automatic to adults, but are NOT automatic to kids.
“ Like the other five senses, kids need to learn what these senses are trying to tell them through the trial-and-error process of everyday living, playing, and moving.”
Gill Connell | Moving Smart Blog
Now let’s imagine a place where your little one can explore his or her ability to crawl, climb, jump, hop, roll, balance, flip, and swing in a safe, colorful, padded, and fun environment, all the while using his/her senses to develop coordination and confidence. Here in lies the magic of gymnastics! Need more reasons to sign your child up for toddler gymnastics? Here are a few . . .
Here are 10 amazing benefits your toddler will get from gymnastics:
1. Gymnastics Develops Cognitive Skills
Learning and completing a gymnastic routine requires the use of the mind as well as the body. The left brain and right brain have to work in concert, so your toddler’s body awareness and spatial awareness will improve.
This really helps them become aware of the world around them and dapt better to it.
Infinity Gymnastics & Dance has been integrating rhythmic gymnastics & dance for over 30 years. We provide an exciting and safe learning environment for children of all ages. From our youngest tumbler to our exceptional competitive team programs, all of Infinity dancers and gymnasts are stars!
2. Develop Strong and Healthy Bones
Gymnastics is a weight-bearing activity which can develop strong and healthy bones. As we age, we experience a loss of bone density over the years. By building strong and healthy bones earlier, we can reduce the signs of osteoporosis later in life.
Furthermore, it helps to prevent broken bones as your child grows older and becomes more active. A great bonus when on the playground and playing sports!
3. Gymnastics Aids In Strength Development!
Along with the development of strong and healthy bones, your toddler will build up their total body strength as well.
By performing the body strengthening exercises that gymnastics requires, your child will build up their upper body, lower body, and overall core strength.
4. Increased Coordination
Your toddler’s coordination will greatly improve through being part of a gymnastic program.earning alignment skills that include standing, walking and jumping will improve their coordination. This will make your child appear less clumsy and
They will learn alignment skills that include standing, walking and jumping through a variety of fun exercises. This will make your child appear less clumsy and be more agile for other future sports.
5. Improved Flexibility
Gymnastics is all about flexibility. When you increase your flexibility, you decrease your chances of injury.
Being super-flexible as a child will often carry forward with them later into life. This can help support proper body posture as they age, which will deter back and spine problems as they get older.
6. Meet Their Daily Exercise Needs
The American Heart Association says that it is important for a child to get at least 1 hour of physical activity every day. Participation in a gymnastics class will ensure that your child gets his or her exercise on class days.
|Furthermore, they will want to practice their gymnastic skills on off-days, so they can still meet their daily exercise needs then as well!
7. Prevent Diseases
Sports like gymnastics aid in disease prevention by promoting and maintaining a strong and healthy body.
This is the key to preventing diseases later in life such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, cancer ─ among others. By teaching your toddler healthy behaviors early in life, they will more likely keep these habits later in life.
8. Gymnastics Helps To Create Discipline!
Gymnastic classes will help provide discipline and self-control for your toddler.
Learning discipline and self-control are both valuable skills to take with you into life. When a child learns discipline and self-control at an early age, they learn to work with others, work by themselves, to stay on task and to accomplish tasks.
Toddlers who learn these skills will use them in school, the workplace and in almost every social setting they will ever find themselves in.
9. Early Gymnastic Classes Increase Self-Esteem!
Gymnastics is a sport of self-control and mastering self-control ultimately leads to improved self-esteem.
Learning and successfully completing a gymnastics routine creates the sense of accomplishment, which in turn supports self-esteem. Your child will learn from an early age that hard work and practice pays off – key life skills!
It is also a sport of showing off your skills in front of a live audience. Starting early before a child has had a chance to develop “stage fright” can help later in life with performing in front of people.
10. It’s Fun!
Your toddler will really enjoy being part of a gymnastics class. They will improve their social skills by interacting with their class and coaches. And they will get some great exercise at the same time!
Finding activities that are fun, hold our toddler’s attention and are healthy is a difficult task! Fortunately, a good gymnastic program can provide all this and more. And, just think… you never know ─ you might just have an Olympic athlete on your hands!
Take a look at the following video “The Value of Preschool Gymnastics” and be inspired! Video and information gathered from Kid Savers Network.