Building a Fun Kung Fu Kids Class

There are many steps to Building a Fun Kung Fu Kids Class. You can vary teaching styles based on age, style of martial art, and size of the class. Regardless of these factors there are a few things you can do to make sure that you are running and fun and engaging kids program. These are some of the things we do at the Sifu Och Wing Chun and Just Dance Afterschool and Martial arts Programs.

Building a Fun Kung Fu Kids Class

Discipline

 

Lakeland little lions kids preschool martial arts kickboxing karate kung fu ages 3 - 5 years oldThe very first thing that you must have when running any kids program is a focus on discipline. When the class is smaller, under 15-20 students, it can be easy to slack off give them more leeway. However, if good discipline is not integrated early in the program it will be difficult to maintain that when the class gets closer to 25+. What you must feel is the class energy. If the kids are engaged, following instructions, working hard, there will obviously be a very good energy in the class. On the other hand, if there are children that are whispering to each other, spending too much time fixing a shoe or belt, etc. there will be a hiccups in flow of class. When you feel the flow of energy weakening you must change the class dynamic. But more on that later.

Kids Kung Fu, Kids Martial Arts Classes, Kids Kung Fu, Kids Training Lakeland, Bully DefenseOne of the first tricks we to maintain class discipline and structure is using the word discipline itself. When one of our instructors calls “discipline” the entire class responds with “yes sir” and stands at perfect attention. To compliment that you must enforce this and any other rules without hesitation or exception.

When we call discipline if any child speaks, doesn’t stand up, or is distracting another student we address it immediately. We enforce this with burpees. To keep the group together we will tell the students to start the burpee by saying “down”. When we say “up” we have them stand back up in discipline and say “yes sir”. This is repeated as many times as necessary until the group is performing this quickly as a unit.

Class Dynamic

kids martial arts, afterschool, kids martial arts, martial arts afterschool, afterschool pickupThe next aspect we will discuss is the class dynamic. As mentioned earlier you need to feel the energy in class. If you have classes that include children as young as 5 years old you will find that they my struggle more so with paying attention. If you also have a larger class this problem is compounded. To help maintain a fun but focused atmosphere you have to be able to make adjustment quickly. By interchanging combos with a mini work out you can quickly re-engage those who may be distracted. Teaching a basic combo like Jab, uppercut, round house, can be either very fun, or very boring. If you mix it into a fun work out to get the student’s moving you lift the overall energy. For example: if we have the students run in place, switch to high knees, then immediately take a fighting stance. Quickly follow up with the combo two or three times. Then we have them isolate one or two of those techniques and repeat them. The go back to the high knees, or jumping jacks etc. By cycling through different mini workouts, techniques, and other options you can keep the class very exciting.

Little Lions preschool martial artsFun

The last thing is of course have fun with them. If you as the instructor have an upbeat excited attitude then the students will more than likely emulate that. By embracing your inner child you can usually find new and engaging ways to energize the class. Have fun, maintain discipline, and you will have quite a enjoyable kids class.

 

Kung Fu Kids: Keeping Your Kids Engaged

Nobody likes a boring class. Whether its a college course, drivers ed, or martial arts for that matter, staying engaged is hard in a boring class. This is compounded when it comes to teaching kids. Their minds are already prone to wandering in the day to day activities. Focusing on training one task for an extend amount of time is one of the most difficult hurdles of martial arts teaching. So how do you overcome this problem without subjecting your art to then demon of distraction? We will cover a few ways to do that here in this article Kung Fu Kids: Keeping Your Kids Engaged.

Kung Fu Kids: Keeping Your Kids Engaged

Relationships First

In my previous article “Afterschool Martial Arts: Showing You Care” I cover some ways to make sure your children understand that you care about them. That is one of the most important things when it comes to their focus. For a student to stay focused on you they must have one of two things: fear or respect. Fear may give you short term results but can hurt their learning in the long run. My previous article helps address how to help cultivate that respect from the day to day of teaching a class.

Once that respect has been set in place your students will be much more keen on listening to you. However, this must be constantly worked on and reinforced. It is much easier to be a bit harder on your new student and then wain off of that. If you do not establish that line of mutual respect first then it will be very hard to make that up later.

One is the Alpha and one is the Beta. As their instructor, you are the Alpha. This must be established from day one. If the child at any point feels as though they have become the Alpha then you will struggle to maintain their respect.

Mixing things up

Now that we have gone over the base of relationships, lets get into an applicable drill.One of the tactics we employ at the Sifu Och Wing Chun Afterschool and Summer Camp kids martial art classes is called Cycling. We cycle the same techniques over and over again through different drills. As an example, if you are teaching your kids a Tan Sao Punch you could mix it up 3 different ways.

First, have your kids practice the technique in the mirror. They will focus on shifting their weight properly as well as punching the same target every time they strike. Within that drill you shift their focus from their punches, to their weight, to their Tan hand. This allows you to continue drilling but gives them different focus points. By changing the focus points you have again “cycled” the drill within it self.

Second, have your kids use focus mitts to build power. Blasting through the mitt with as much power as possible. Again, cycling through different focus points to help them fully develop their technique can help their mind stay engaged.Whether it’s making sure they are striking with the correct portion of their fist or they are engaging their hips fully. Changing things small things helps keep things engaging.

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Thirdly, applying that technique within a combo against an attack. If you throw a combo into the mix it not only keeps it engaging but also allows gives perspective. When they see the big picture it helps them understand why they are working on the that individual technique.

By cycling through these drills in a class we are able to accomplish two things. We are able to keep the kids engaged by not repeating the same drill for too long. But at the same time they are able to work on their focus within that drill because they are given those different focus points. As far as the actual time, that balance must be experimented with and adjust based on your kids. You will have to gage the class to accomplish this.

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