3-5 Yr old Preschool class skills

[bsnow007]

Hey everyone,
At my gym preschool gymnastics is very popular and our parents expect a lot from us. I'm just looking for help/tips/pointers for this part of our program.

What skills are mandatory for you to coach pre-schoolers at your gym?

What are some games that we could use in our lesson plans?

any ideas/tips for 3-5 yr olds who tend to run off in the middle of a lesson plan?

How many 3-5 yr olds do you have per coach?


Thanks!

 

[momofthreegirls]

I don't coach preschoolers, but two of my daughters have gone through the preschool classes at our local gym.

There was usually between 4-7 kids per class (with one coach).

They always started class by choosing a colored rubber circle; each kid choosing a different color. The teacher used their "colors" throughout the class. She usually put their colors on the floor in a circle and began with walking/running/marching/hopping around the circle to music. Sometimes as a game, she would also put different shapes and colors in the circle, and when the music stops she would say, for example, "Everyone stand on something red." The kids liked this game.

Then she would move their colors in a semicircle and have the kids sit on them and do basic stretching (butterfly, different moves on hands and knees, tables, toe touches, etc.). They usually sang a song with movements like ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, or Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.

The teacher always had a lesson plan pre-made for each class, and set up the stations and circuits ahead of time. This kept the class moving and kept down-time to a minimum. The kids never seemed to run off because the teacher set things up so they were always doing something. Usually she would help with a skill at one station, have a second station for them to try again by themselves, and have a few stations with basic skills (hopping on or over things, seat/knee drops on a squishy mat, etc.) to get them back to the beginning of the circuit.

To keep the kids moving in the right direction she used lots of arrows, go signs and stop signs.

Floor Skills: Forward and Backward Tuck Rolls, Forward and Backward Straddle Rolls, Headstands, Tables, Bridges, Jumps (straight, tuck, straddle), drills leading up to cartwheels and round-offs.

Vault Skills: Jumping on and off panel mats, running and jumping on/over panel mats with a junior springboard, squat-ons and straddle-ons on mat stacks, drills to practice runs and hurdles, jumping over "speed bumps", handstand flop-to-back on a squishy mat

Bars: Different hangs (straight, tuck, pike, straddle, bat, toes on bar in tuck and straddle), skin-the-cats, front support, casting, holding chin over the bar, pullover

Beam: (On low beams) Walking forward, sideways, backward, marching, kicks, hops, forward rolls with beam padding

I'm sure I left some skills out, but those were the things they worked on most often. This was the beginner preschool class. The advanced preschool class did a bit more skill-wise, and less games.

Oh fun things they did during class were jumping on the big trampoline, jumping down the tumble track, swinging on the rope, doing games with the parachute.

 

[junior]

Good collection of information on preschool gymnastics...thanks for sharing it....

 

[heather]

Another thing they do in my child's class is putting the kids in the harness over the trampoline, and letting them flip over.

 

[Charlton]

The gym where i spent my time. There are some coaches which do these kind of stuff. They are professionals dont worry.