6 Benefits of Preschool Dance Classes For Your Child

Enrolling your child in preschool dance classes is one of the best things you can do for their development and sets them up for future success. Dance classes are a great way to keep your preschooler busy and get their wiggles out, but they also have many lasting benefits.

 As your child interacts with other kids and teachers and learns new dance moves, they develop strong connections physically and mentally.  The skills they develop as young children will stay with them for the rest of their lives. 

 Here are six of the many benefits of preschool dance classes for your child:

Physical Benefits of Preschool Dance Classes

Develops A Greater Range Of Motion

Dancing, even basic steps taught at the preschool level, introduces children to the world of motion, which can have substantial physical benefits. As children learn to move their bodies in new and different ways, it dramatically increases their range of motion.

Preschoolers are typically starting to learn how their bodies work and how to move specific body parts. Dance classes develop the ability to work within different spaces, which teaches and enforces body movement.

 As young children dance, they also learn to interpret the effect their movement has on the world around them. They can see how people react when they move in certain ways and how their body feels when they do specific activities. A greater range of motion leads to better body awareness, which helps children be aware of how their bodies are moving. 

 As children develop a greater range of motion, they also tend to have improved posture. Strong posture helps with better dance form and makes it easier and safer to walk, run, sit, and move. 

Establishes Healthy Habits

Young children are naturally active, but participating in dance classes teaches them the value of movement and exercise. This knowledge helps to build healthy habits that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Dance is a fun outlet for children. In many cases, they might not even realize that they are getting valuable exercise. But as children grow up, they will connect movement and exercise to the good feelings they experienced in their first dance classes.

 As children learn and progress in dance, and as their bodies develop, they will see positive impacts on their movement. They will be able to see the connection between staying active and having a healthy and able body.

Being in a preschool dance class also surrounds children with healthy adults who can serve as role models for lifelong health and fitness. 

 Preschool dance classes can require lots of energy and movement, which means kids will need to follow a healthy diet and get lots of rest. These healthy habits will continue past the dance classes.

As a bonus, children in dance classes get more exercise, which means they tend to sleep better. Healthy sleep habits as a child set patterns for the future and teach children the value of a good night’s sleep. Active children are proven to fall asleep faster and sleep better, which reduces their risk of obesity, diabetes, injuries, and poor mental health. 

Builds Flexibility And Coordination

Dance builds both strength and flexibility, both of which are crucial for proper child development. Children naturally increase their strength as they learn to walk, run, and play, but flexibility and coordination often take extra effort.

Dance classes are a great way to build these skills in a fun and supportive environment. Coordination is crucial for learning other skills, including riding a bike, jumping, multitasking, throwing, and more. 

 Preschoolers’ bodies are rapidly developing. The skills they learn from a young age can stick with them. Most preschoolers may not seem particularly coordinated, but that’s likely because they are still growing into their bodies.

Any effort given to developing coordination at a young age can have a significant impact because it is taught at the same time children learn about their bodies. They are learning not only how to grow into their bodies—they are learning how to be coordinated while doing it.

 One of the main physical benefits of preschool dance is flexibility. Learning flexibility and coordination through preschool dance classes will help your child in other activities throughout their life, including other youth sports and fitness activities. 

Mental Benefits of Preschool Dance Classes

Encourages Creativity

Children are naturally creative, but dance classes give them an outlet to stimulate their creativity. When children are in a safe environment and learn the basics of dance and movement, they can feel free to start experimenting and being creative with moving their bodies.

Those creative tendencies can benefit them for the rest of their lives, not just in how they move but also in how they express themselves, write, and think. 

 Preschoolers are still learning how to express themselves through words and often don’t have the vocabulary to share how they feel truly. Creativity through dance gives them another way to express themselves and release their emotion. It also strengthens their imaginations because it gives them another way to pretend through movement.

Preschool dance classes often connect movements with different creative activities, such as pretending to be animals or other characters. These fun activities engage a child’s imagination and stimulate creativity. 

 Having a creative outlet has been linked to better mental health later in life. Teaching children from an early age how to express themselves creatively gives them the tools to refresh and improve their mood as they get older.

Dancing and other creative exercises are also a great way to release stress and other emotions. As an added benefit, dance teaches children how to express their creativity and how to do it in front of other people as they dance for their classmates and perform for an audience. 

Increases Self-Confidence

There are many mental benefits of preschool dance, but an increase in confidence may have the most significant impact on their future life. Dance can be difficult for some children. But as they master the moves and see their improvements, it builds self-confidence, which is vital to have as they go through life. 

 Research has even found that one of the most substantial and most prevalent benefits of dance classes is improved confidence. As children learn to channel their emotions and feelings into movement and dance, they can express themselves in new ways, which develops this confidence. 

 Learning to dance helps children feel more comfortable in their skin, which builds confidence and helps them become their true selves. Through dance, children build skills like problem-solving as they try to master a new move, teamwork as they work with other children in their class, empathy as they see other people struggle and overcome their fears, and much more. These skills all contribute to emotional intelligence and build increased confidence. 

 Self-confidence allows children to overcome challenges and see just what they are capable of. Even if children struggle in preschool dance classes, they learn how to overcome their fears and problems and just what they are capable of.

These early seeds of self-confidence can help children realize their skills, talent, and potential, which will benefit them for the rest of their lives. 

Develops Social Skills

One of the most vital benefits of preschool dance classes is social skill development. Young children are just learning how to interact with other kids, which is necessary for nearly everything as they advance in life, from school to their future careers.

Dance classes are a great place for preschoolers to make friends. In many cases, friendships formed in dance class last a lifetime. 

 Preschoolers in dance class learn to interact with other kids their age. It generally starts by simply knowing their names but soon progresses to interacting with them, learning dance moves together, and then teaching each other and cheering each other on.

Through dance classes, children learn how to work through difficulties with other children safely and productively. If children disagree on who’s turn it is to practice with the teacher or get a drink of water, they have an opportunity to work it out together, which is a crucial life skill. 

 Young dancers also learn to work together as a team as they learn moves to perform together. Dance classes build a greater sense of trust and cooperation. Preschool dance classes are specially designed to facilitate social interaction and friendship by encouraging children to play together and support each other. Children gain experiences and opportunities to grow socially in a dance class. They likely won’t get these skills anywhere else.

 There are many physical and mental benefits of preschool dance classes. Enrolling your child in dance classes builds skills and habits that can benefit them for the rest of their life. Aside from the fun activity, dance classes set children up for future success.