Martial Arts Classes for 4-6 year olds

By teaching children how to sit and stand quietly for periods of time, whilst listening to instruction or playing a game, they learn how and when to focus their energy. Focus isn’t just about ‘quietening energies down’ it’s also about teaching your child how to increase their attention, energies and efforts to achieve positive results.

Imagine having a four-year-old that can sit and meditate in silence, who knows how to breathe to calm themselves down after boisterous play and to relieve anxious thoughts. We ‘play games’ to teach them how to control not only their physical movement but also their emotions. To have the self-control to think before they act and to look after both themselves and others with kindness.

For all of us, in life, being able to be part of a team is vital for success. At this age, we work with the children to develop their social skills. The ability to take turns, to share things, to consider the feelings of others and to be helpful at home.

We all know that today’s children are ‘gamers’ which can cause long term health issues into adulthood. Our children will learn the fundamental building blocks of Martial Arts techniques in each class, which will help to increase their fitness levels. Additionally, we hide age appropriate fitness exercises in amongst high energy, fun to play games. Play helps to nurture a love of exercise and the sense of well-being as a result. This promotes both physical and mental good health.

Most children in reception and Year 1 (Key Stage 1) are learning to build their fundamental movement skills; throwing, catching, hopping, crawling, running, skipping and kicking. These skills will determine how successful they will be in participating in all sports and physical activities. Our classes will help them to build these skills, developing sports skills for life.

Balance is important not only in physical sports, but also in daily life, things like riding a bike or walking on a garden wall or next to a river. The postures children practice as part of their Martial Arts training will help to improve their overall balance both in static positions and in movement. However, we don’t take chances, we also teach them how to safely fall in different directions without injuring themselves, a great life skill for the school playground.

From an early age, so much of a child’s education is based upon remembering different information. Learning through play is again the medium to do this. Putting together sequences of movements, numbers or words can really help to your child to improve their cognitive skills.

This is perhaps the most widely known ‘skill’ in all successful people, from business to academia and sports. Children learn the value of their own hardwork and effort along with the success this brings. We count the use of good manners to be a good discipline to instil early in life and reinforce the work that you do as parents.

In each class, children earn rewards by being able to demonstrate these core skills and capabilities.