Teaching a dance class for children is very different from teaching a dance class for adults. Some children may be shy, some may not want to be there at all and some may want to kid around the entire time. To keep the attention of your dance students, you must hold their interest with creative and fun ideas.
Instructions
1. Choose appropriate music for the age group you are teaching. Kids' songs are great for a younger group, and popular music works well for older children. Select a variety of songs with different tempos and moods for different parts of the class.
2. Always begin with warm-ups, such as yoga positions. You can also instruct students to move their bodies to imitate different objects in nature, such as a tree bending with the wind.
3. Once the class has warmed up, begin an activity that encourages students to move around. Running, hopping, jumping and skipping will all get your students' heart rates up. Similar to the warm-ups, you may want to encourage your students to "gallop like a horse" or "hop like a bunny."
4. Put on a piece of music with a rhythmic beat. Encourage students to move to the music. This is one of the basics of dance, and students will have to gain this skill before they are able to dance at a higher level.
5. Challenge students to follow a sequence of movements. For example, you might tell them to reach for the sky, bend at the waist, take two steps to the right and then spin around. Young children may have difficulty with this task, so slowly build up the number of directions you expect them to follow.
6. Help students cool down at the end of the class with a piece of music that gets slower and slower. Encourage students to dance quickly at the beginning of the song and to slow down along with the music.
