DANCE AND LEARN

In this age of digital entertainment children choose television or video games over physical activity.  Plenty of publicity informs us that their inactivity and poor eating habits will affect their health and well-being as they grow.  But it is also becoming increasingly clear that there is a direct connection between physical and academic development.
 

We forget that academic skills such as reading, writing, speaking and gesturing require physical abilities.  Academic success in school requires children to successfully coordinate mind and body.  This is known as perceptual-motor skills.  It requires the child to perceive, interpret and respond successfully to an activity.  Think about the skills a child needs in order to write:

1. Have knowledge of the alphabet and word formation
2. Have the ability to translate this knowledge into action through the manipulation of a pencil on paper
3. Be able to use fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination to control and adjust the movements to create the writing pattern

Research shows us that children who are more physically active test better in their academic readiness.  Perceptual-motor development is essential to the development of the brain pathways between the right and left hemispheres.  These brain pathways are critical to reading and writing skills and poor perceptual-motor skills often lead to difficulty in learning to read and write.  Further research shows us that participation in perceptual-motor activities improves students' emotional development, social development, intellectual skills, body awareness and self-confidence.

So providing children with movement opportunities through sport, recess, creative movement or dance can provide a base that supports future academic learning.  Let parents know that by dance or movement class provide a foundation for children's academic development.