As parents, we want to help our little ones learn, grow, and develop all the important skills in infancy and toddlerhood. In recent years, we’ve learned more about the importance of mastering motor skills, coordination, and building appropriate muscle strength.
In an era of busy schedules, baby container gadgets galore, and lots of screen time, creative movement and ballet is a wonderful way to help our babies master the important milestones mentioned above.
While your one-year-old may not be ready to perfect their plie, early ballet and creative movement classes have amazing benefits for their little minds and bodies. Many parents worry about letters, numbers and colors, which are very important. However, what we now know is that movement is the basis on which our little ones’ brains prepare for more cognitive learning.
Here are some important benefits of creative movement and ballet for baby:
Creative Movement And Ballet Encourage Core Strength
As our culture has moved from lots of outdoor play time for children of all ages, we’ve started seeing a decline in core strength. Core strength is developed in little ones through tummy time, crawling and general gross motor play.
We’re now learning that poor core strength, as well as overall muscle weakness, is tied to lower academic performance. Children’s bodies know exactly what they need. They know they need strong abdominal, pelvic, and scapular muscles to be able to sit at a desk and write and learn.
When a child’s body senses weakness, it causes the child to wiggle and seek the much needed gross motor movement to support the child. A child with weaker muscles must use more awareness to keep their posture. Both of these things can contribute to a poorer academic function.
Early creative movement and ballet classes for your baby can help them build their abdominal, pelvic and core muscles. These fun and interactive classes not only benefit them now, but they can help improve their academics later on.
Giving your child an early foundation in building their best strength (which may vary from child to child) is an important gift you can give your child.
Large Gross Motor Play Improves Their Proprioception And Vestibular System
If you’ve ever seen older children who are prone to bumping into things, struggling to sit still, more prone to motions sickness or the opposite, desiring lots of spinning, some of that can be attributed to immature proprioceptive and vestibular systems.
Our proprioceptive system helps us understand where we are in space. It keeps us from bumping into walls or missing a seat when we go to sit down. Our vestibular system helps us to maintain our balance and posture.
The large gross motor play which occurs during creative movement and ballet classes helps babies and toddlers develop their proprioceptive and vestibular systems. It can improve their long-term posturing and their coordination skills by helping them stay easily balanced. For some children, it can even reduce motion sickness as they help their vestibular systems improve.
Music Is Excellent For Brain Development and Pre-Math Skills
During creative movement and ballet, children are exposed to a variety of music. The patterns and beats within music help the brain to engage and develop. As children learn to move with the music, they are actually helping to prepare their brain for math.
Patterned movements require multiple steps. When the brain is learning to master multiple steps, it’s preparing for later academic skills. Math is made up of steps, patterns, algorithms, and more. By mastering early patterns, you are helping their brain develop in preparation for more advanced academics.
Best of all, these classes are fun and engaging. Baby is learning through music and play.
Creative Movement And Ballet For Baby Helps Develop Coordination
Being able to make coordinated and purposeful movements is a skill each baby has to master. From grabbing toys, to rolling over, and even figuring out that plie in toddlerhood can all be important and beneficial skills to master.
When your child learns to make purposeful and coordinated movements at an early age, it makes their overall coordination better. The brain in infancy, toddlerhood and the preschool years is most receptive to wiring. While the brain is always able to learn, we can make things easier by mastering certain skills at a younger age.
Each ballet skill or creative movement exercise teaches baby how to make a skilled move. Even though it will take time to master, each attempt is helping their mind expand and improving their coordination. Even though baby may not be ready for their big ballet recital debut, they are learning valuable skills which will last a lifetime.
Our creative movement and ballet for baby is a fun and interactive way for you to help your little one learn and grow. Expand their mind through music, build their muscles through movement, and help them develop the skills for a strong academic career in the future.
Leave a Reply