I just started being a sub for some pre-ballet classes.I will be teaching them for 6 weeks, 8 classes a week. There are three different levels,3 yr olds,4yr olds and 5 yr olds. I have no problem with the 5 year olds. I wanted to try to approach the 3 and 4 year olds, especially 3 as a creative movement,but when ever I try, I get alot of scrutiny from the parents. It seems as if they expect me to do a full out structured ballet class,but it can't keep the attention of the children. My three and four yr. old classes usually only have one girl, at the most two. The class is 45 min. long and I run out of things to do. Any ideas would be of great help!

Sorry I'm responding to this so late. I didn't quite know what to tell you so I've been thinking about it for a while. I know about the 5 year olds, it's like when you finally get that age group you can communicate with them. lol.

First about the parents. Don't take their scrutiny too hard. You simply need to explain to them that teaching a full out ballet class is very difficult because of the attention span thing. My suggestion would be to start with the very basics of ballet. Don't use the proper terms, instead use ones that they will understand. Ex: posse = make a p, tendu = point the tip of your toe, turning your feet out = think of them like a book; open a book and close the book. This will make them intested and it will be on a level they understand. For porte bras (sp) uses "sun up sun down" and jus let them follow as you demonstate different arm positions. Don't worry about adding the feet until they're older.

Another suggestion is to play around with insruments; tambourines, shakers, ect and you can let them make beats. Ummm, maybe you could also combine the 3 and 4 year olds if you haven't already? I hope this helps a little bit. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more.

~bailameansdance~

I explain to my parents that the 3-4 year old classes are focused on teaching the structure and discipline of the class room, and then VERY basic ballet vocabulary. It's hard to teach a class with only child. Here are some of the things I do with my 3 years olds. i have them for three hours at a time, twice a week, so I understand how hard it is to find things to do!

+ Props are great! I use bean bags quite a bit. You can do lots of things to teach balance with them. Put on on her head and have her do bourrees, place one her knee in posse, etc. They also love to throw and catch them, see how far away you can get from each other. This is great for coordination, very important in ballet (if the parents ask).

+ Play freeze dance. put the music on, let it play, when you push pause, they have to freeze. Have them make shapes, or balance in posse when they freeze.

+ Play "chasse around the rosy," just like "ring around the rosy," but with chasses.

+ Get tambourines, bells, or anything that makes noise, put on a song, and tap to the beat. They learn how to count music and keep a beat.

I spend time just talking to them about dance, telling stories, etc. Especially when warming up. I usually start on the floor. if you are creative, you can spend at least 20 minutes there. Make a story for each stretch. For example, in butterfly, ask her what color butterfly she is, and where would she fly if she could go anywhere? While stretching in second, I bake a cake with my girls. We have to reach over (side stretch) to get each ingridient:eggs, flour, chocolate, icing, sugar, etc. then we mix it all up, roll it in the pan, put it in the oven, wait, and ding! its done! we take it out, put on icing, candles, whatever, and eat it.

Hope this helps you out some. let me know if you need any more ideas, I've got a tone of them. Don't worry about the parents. They need to be more realistic in their expectations. Most three year olds take combo classes and not a full ballet class, so they should be happy with whatever ballet they learn. Good Luck!

To the above poster----I would like more ideas please! I am going to be having 2 classes of 3-4 yr. olds and then 5 classes of 5-6 yr. olds. 2 of those classes for 5-6 yr. olds have never danced before. The other classes have had one year. All classes are combos (1/2 hr. ballet and 1/2 hr. tap) Thanks!!
-Jo

So I can think back to my three year old ballet class and remember fondly the fun games we played. One of my favorite things was the across the floor work we did, which basically consisted of hopping on one foot. Good times indeed. I also really like this "scrambled eggs" game where the teacher played music and we all dance and lept to our heart's content and then when the music stopped, we had to stop in the exact position. At that age, a lot of gross motor things are really important and fun for the kids.

Try playing follow the leader. I do that with my classes that have lots of boys. You can incorporate a lot of dance moves into it. Start with marching, then add things like bourree, toe taps, etc. I usually do this with the follow the leader song from Peter Pan.

You could do a "follow-the-leader" kind of dance. First, you lead, with the movements that have been gone over, while the kids follow you, and then, let one of them lead, and then the other -- ??

S.

I teach over 15 Creative Movement Classes a week and I understand the feeling of wanting class structure over actual dance steps. Some great things I have found along the way is kids love to be animals or things they can picture in their minds. Seasons are a great way to switch this up. In the summer months we were crabs, penguins, whales (baby beluga) starfish, "nemo". Now that it is fall we have been cats, spiders (the itsy bisty spider), birds that fly south, scarecrows and ghosts. For winter you can be reindeer, bears, or even snowflakes. Spring can bring butterflies, insects, frogs and others. One fun way is to draw or get pictures of these things and place them on indexs cards. Play soft music and switch the cards as they go along. You can have a FREEZE card or a FALL (for autumn) card that can be incorported too.
Ribbons, rag dolls and streamers make fun props. My best prop is pipe cleaners with ribbons- cheap and the kids love it!! Also there are great books that have a lot of action to them if you read them slow enough the kids can act out the parts. Toddleraerobics is a great one!! Remember too even if you are getting sick of it the kids aren't. The sillier it may feel for you the more they will love it and ask for it again and again. Any other help- feel free to ask!!