If you have a 3 year old in gymnastics....

[cookiemonster80]

Can you tell me a bit about their class?

DD went to try out a class yesterday at our local gym and I watched the session to see what it was all about-

Basically, it was 45 minutes long, there were 6-7 kids in the class and it was taught by a young girl- high school for sure.

They spent:
15 minutes getting organized and stretching
10 minutes on a trampoline/somersault wedge/jumping circuit (which each kid had 2 turns on- about 1.5 minutes total time for both circuits combined)
10 minutes on a balance beam circuit (again - 2 turns per kid and total active time was really short)
5 minutes in the foam pit.

The teacher was very sweet, but there were 2 kids who misbehaved the entire time and she could not control them- she spent half of the time dealing with them while trying to monitor the one kid who was doing the circuit.

A couple of things bothered me- the fact that there was so little active time for each kid- DD probably only actually did anything other than the foam pit and stretching for 5 minutes- the rest of the time she was sitting waiting her turn. And that the disruptive kids completely took away from DD's experience and time doing something.

She had a great time- but I'm frustrated about it- am I expecting more than I should for a class of 2 and 3 year olds?

Is your 2 or 3 year olds gymnastics class similar? I don't have any experience with this and just wonder if this is typical.

the cost is pretty reasonable IMO- $11 a session, but I would hope that DD would get a bit more active time- we live in a LCOL area and this is the only gym in town.

[chlobo]

that's exactly what our gymnastics class was like at 3. I don't think you can expect much more from 3 year olds.

ETA: I spent quite a bit of time chasing my non-compliant kid around. AGain, not sure you can expect more.

[lhafer]

We do The Little Gym (or Gymboree/My Gym, etc would be similar) and love it. My daughter will be 3 next month, and has been in her class since August.

It's a 45 minute class. There can be anywhere from 5-15 kids in the class. One teacher - but she is very experienced with young children and is fantastic. It's still a mommy and me class - in the fall she will move into an independent class.

We do ~10 minutes of "warm up" which involves moving around, running, walking, and other various activities. Then we go "explore" the equipment for a while. After a bit, the instructor will have one child demonstrate the particular skill of the day - and she will stay there while each child participates at least once. Then we usually move to another skill on a different piece of equipment. While a child is practising a particular skill - the other kids are all over the rest of the equipement. It's normal.

One the kids are learning at this age is how to develop patience and how to take turns. Along with other social behaviors that are learned. So your set up sounds pretty normal to me. I would just be a little concerned with the age of the instructor.

[wellyes]

They spent:
15 minutes getting organized and stretching
10 minutes on a trampoline/somersault wedge/jumping circuit (which each kid had 2 turns on- about 1.5 minutes total time for both circuits combined)
10 minutes on a balance beam circuit (again - 2 turns per kid and total active time was really short)
5 minutes in the foam pit.That class sounds lousy. Did the instructor spend too much time demonstrating? Or, did they have each kid go through the circuit completely before letting the next kid go? In our class, the instructor gives a QUICK verbal walk through, then the kids all go go go.

When we go on the circuit / obstacle course, each kids starts somewhere different vs all starting at the beginning, so there is no waiting. What does it matter if they roll or cartwheel or handstand as the first step?

DS is 2. His class is similar, but, there is only maybe 5 minutes total spent watching or waiting for a turn.

10 minutes running and stretching
15 minutes tumbling circuit (he probably goes through it 6 times)
10 minutes balance beam or horizontal bar circuit (minimum 4-5 times around)
10 minutes trampoline track or trampoline (3-4 times per kid, but they're all pretty zonked by then)

[maestramommy]

DD1 & 2 did a gymnastics class at the Y last summer, and it was exactly like that. Kids weren't really misbehaving either. It got better after the 2nd week but the class was a lot bigger than yours, 10 kids? So out of a 45 minute class they did stuff for about 30 minutes (yeah I sat there with my watch on stopwatch mode, because I wanted to know it wasn't just me!).

I think once they start doing gymnastics for real it's different. But for these tiny tot tumbling classes that's kinda how it goes.

ETA: just saw the pp before me and I wish ours had been like that. The instructors (who weren't HS, they were older) took FOREVER to demo the course, during which half the time DD2 was watching butterflies.

[wellyes]

Oh wait, were you WITH her in the class, or just observing? I am with DS in his class. Parents are in charge of their own kids, the teacher just facilitates.

DD takes her own gymnastics class at the same time without me. But, it is 4-5 year olds who do not need direct supervision for each task.

Maybe 3 is just a hard age for that class.

[crl]

I did parent on the floor classes with ds at that age still, because he was one of the disruptive kids. Worked out much better. Harder to find though as most classes seem to be without parent starting at age three.

Catherine

[sunshine873]

Dd is almost 4, but just started the tumble bunnies class, which is available for 3-5 yr olds. She was one of 2 kids in her class (I think that one,ore was out sick.) Her teacher was young, but not high school. She was great at keeping kids corralled and on track. I'd say time devoted to each item was about the same, but with only 2 in the class, DD got plenty of practice. When the teacher was working with the other girl, She had DD working on something else on the side. I would be disappointed with7 kids to one teacher. As evidenced, that is just too many for this age group. I think 4 kids would be the max.

[SnuggleBuggles]

There are 2-3 teachers, 45 minutes long, usually 5-7 kids.

10 minutes of stretching and instruction
rotate through the different stations (beam, bar, tumble track, trampoline...) for the rest of class.

The teachers would break the kids into 2-3 kid groups sometime so the kids got lots of chances to practice. I always seek out the less full classes.

[Simon]

At that age, the kids gym class was mostly floor/tumbling time, with a little time toward the end of class spent on equipment.

I would be very unhappy with what you describe and at that price!

[cookiemonster80]

Oh wait, were you WITH her in the class, or just observing? I am with DS in his class. Parents are in charge of their own kids, the teacher just facilitates.

DD takes her own gymnastics class at the same time without me. But, it is 4-5 year olds who do not need direct supervision for each task.

Maybe 3 is just a hard age for that class.

I was just observing- normally parents aren't allowed- there is a window that lets you see about 15 min of the class, then rest if it is in the other side if the gym out of sight.

It really seems like the types of classes vary greatly.

[YouAreTheFocus]

DS (3yo) starts his first "instructor-led" gym class tomorrow morning. Now I am very interested to see how it breaks down, based on the wide variety of experiences here.

In the fall he was in the 18mo-3y "parent participation" class. This was definitely not what I expected. It was 45 min, the first 35 was just a free for all, kids/parents just wandering around the gym doing whatever. The last 10 was circle time with some songs/movement. We actually started going late, b/c DS would get bored with the 35 min part and want to leave before circle (which he loves).

The instructor-led class is 3-4 yo, I believe parent are supposed to be on the sidelines and the kids line up and take turns doing each exercise. I hope we get more out of it than the fall class!

ETA: The 18m-3y class was $98/8wks, the 3y-4y class is $118/8 wks. 2-3 instructors, all adults.

[jerigirl]

It sounds like a typical class. Though IMO a circuit set up is better. Keeps them moving= less opportunity to misbehave. At 3 most kids still have a hard time sitting still to "watch" the others take their turn.

[wifecat]

My daughter took a gymnastics class like that at the rec center and I wasn't thrilled. The kids spent a lot of time doing nothing. They'd sit and wait for their turn on beam, wait for their turn on the tramp...it just seemed like a lot of sitting and waiting for a 3-year-old, and to me, that's an invitation for the kids to act up. My daughter was bullied for the first time in that scenario and I was shocked.

We switched gymnastics facilities. Our gym does a rotation of warmup, floor, beam, bars and rings, trampoline, closing activity (5, 15,10, 15, 10, 5 minutes, respectively). When they are at beam, the coach gives them things to work on independently on the floor beams while she works with them one at a time on the high beam. When they go to bars/rings, it's the same thing. Maybe they're bear crawling across the parallel bars on their own, doing an L-swing from the preschool bar, and then working with the coach on the rings. On floor exercises there's always an obstacle course set up and it's all independent practice except for one new skill that they work on with the coach. The trampoline is the only thing where they might be sitting and waiting their turn. I love that they are involved during the ENTIRE class.

Full disclosure, I also teach gymnastics at this gym (just the mom and me class; I'm just a parent watching the 3-year-olds!).

[acmom]

It sounds like a typical class. Though IMO a circuit set up is better. Keeps them moving= less opportunity to misbehave. At 3 most kids still have a hard time sitting still to "watch" the others take their turn.

:yeahthat: I have done tumbling classes with my kids at the Y (both 2-3 year old class and 4-5 class). After a warmup (which all kids run, stretch etc at once), the Instructor does a quick demo and then gets them going on a circuit. The instructor is stationed at the most challenging part of the circuit to help/instruct. But the kids are all doing something active during that circuit time- no big waits for turns.

[KrisM]

DS is 4, but he took it last year as well. It's more-or-less the same, just with different activites.

10 min of running and stretching

10 min of the circuit - each kid has one part to do. The child does it 5-6 times and then they all rotate to the next activity. The activities are things like beam, handstand, cartwheels, etc. All the kids are doing something that whole time.

10 min trampoline - they use the tumble trampoline and take turns, but do seat-drops, straddle jumps, etc. They each get 4-5 turns, but do spend time waiting for their turn.

5 min on beams or bars. They do take turns here too and are doing things like pull overs on the bars. They each get a few turns, but do spend time waiting.

5 min in the bounce house or foam pit.

When they are waiting for their turn, the wait time is pretty short.

[doberbrat]

funny- dd2 just started a gymnastics class at the Y today. She'd been watching dd1's class and copying so I figured I'd give it a shot.

They spent the first few minutes singing and playing stretching 'games'. She showed them how to get off the trampoline safely (freeze, pat knees walk off) Then she set up a circuit - balance beam, rolls, trampoline, jumping, bounce house At the end, she got a giant parachute and they shook it up and down jumping underneath it and singing a song. When they were leaving each child got a coloring sheet with a cartoon character stretching on it.

Granted, this is a Y program.... not going to train America's next top gymnast but I was impressed with her ability to corrale and engage the kids including a few who didnt want to be there :thumbsup: And they were moving nearly the entire time.

[dowlinal]

My boys take gymnastics and each station has something for them to do while waiting for their turn. The only time my sons are siting and waiting is if they are next for that piece of equipment. The class is divided into 2 groups too so at most there are 5 kids at a station


Typical class

10 min warm up / dance to music

Trampoline - one kid bounces, one kid waiting, 2-3 kids do tumbling obstacle course before/after turn

Rings - one kid swings, one kid waiting, 2-3 kids do balance beam obstacle course

Tumble track - set up in big loop so everyone moving through in a big circle

Foam pit

End of class song

[HannaAddict]

It sounds like the classes here for 3 year olds and you can't expect much more from them. The non-compliant kids will probably figure it out. It is just fun and to acquaint kids at this point. If she loved it, they were safe, and it was fun, I'd try it again.

[wellyes]

I would find a studio where they kids weren't forced to sit and wait so much, or try a different activity.

My daughter has been to 3 ballet studios. Two of them involved all students doing the same dance as the teacher, mirroring her. One of them was students lining up, and each waiting for a turn to go down a piece of tape fixed to the floor... they would wait for a turn to go while kicking, a turn to go while moving sideways, a turn to go while spinning. More time waiting than moving. I thought it was a complete waste of time and money.