Pre Ballet Class Ideas – A Visit To The Park

Here are some more fun pre ballet class ideas that I use in my classes, and the children simply love these types of themes.

This one centers around visiting a park, and all the things that you can do there. I use this for my 3 and 4 year old ballet pupils, varying the steps according to what they can do.

Pre Ballet Class Ideas

A Visit To The Park

Before we go to the park, we pack our picnic baskets, and the children each choose something to put into the basket. You can carry one big basket, or give each child their own basket.

Some of the ideas that the children come up with to take and eat are hillarious.

The children then travel to the park. They can do this in a number of ways:

• Skip
• Run
• Walk
• Catch a Train
• Drive a Car
• Even Fly in a Plane

Once they get to the park, we discover that it is just way too early and the park is closed. We are very impatient, so we decide to run and leap over the fence. I usually lay a long scarf or pool noodle on the floor and the children run and leap in a free manner over the scarf. I encourage them to use their arms to help them to jump higher.

Once we are all over the fence, there is a hill going down into the park, so to get to the park faster, we roll down the hill with our arms above our heads and our legs and feet glued together. This is an excellent way to strengthen their tummy muscles. Don’t forget to roll both ways. I tell them to lie down like a packet of vienna sausages and they get the idea to lie next to each other and closely together, then they roll one by one so they don’t collide.

On the way to the swings, we admire all the pretty flowers and the children show me how the flowers grow, by curling up as small as tiny seeds and then growing slowly into beautiful flowers. I let them all pick what color flower they want to be.

The next part I normally alternate. Sometimes we see bunnies, in which case we practice our bunny jumps, and other times we see butterflies or birds, in which case we ‘fly’ on the tips of our toes.

After that we are hungry, so we make a picnic and eat, usually in a circle and I encourage the children to use their “special fingers” to eat with – thumb and middle fingers. We then eat too much chocolate cake and we have very sore tummies.

After we have had our medicine, we feel a bit better we go for a ride on the slide. The children sit with their legs straight in front of them and flex and stretch their feet alternately as they climb up the high slide. Once they are at the top, they show how scared they are by shaking their legs and showing a scared face. They then slide down and fall off the end where they curl into a ball. RAD teachers can use the pre primary music for exercise for legs and feet for this one.

We then hold hands and practice our gallops in a circle while we go on the merry-go-round. You can add in lots here, like making the circle smaller and bigger, pointing toes or heels into the middle of the circle, or even running around on the tips of their toes. A warning that this one can get a little wild.

We then go on the See- Saw, where we hold hands with our partners and do demi plies alternatively. One partner goes up while the other goes down. Depending on the maturity of your class you can do this in parallel or in 1st or 2nd positions.

We also go on the swings. The children can sway alone or with partners.

Next we go through the tunnel. Here the children can slither on their tummies, which is another great way to build up their core strength and coordination.

I usually only fit in about two rides in per lesson, which is fine, because another lesson we can do something else at the park. Our lessons are 30 minutes long. If you do longer lessons then you may get through more.

To end our day, we can do tired walks home, or once again catch a train, drive a car or skip.

I hope that teachers of dance will find these pre ballet class ideas helpful. For more of these stories, click here.

Please feel free to leave your comments and pre ballet class ideas below.

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