# hello



## chogyunim (Feb 14, 2006)

any thoughts on how to keep 4-6 year olds going with very little or no "down time"? any drills or anything? there are only so many i have. new ideas would be great.


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## Gemini (Feb 14, 2006)

Well, first off, let me welcome you to Martial Talk! 

Second, let me recommend you say hello in the Meet and Greet section, so more people will see you and say hello.

Third, (and to finally answer your question) this has come up a few times and has always been a good topic. It's so difficult to keep the attention span of the young ones. Most recommend keeping routines under 10 or 15 minutes to keep them from getting board. Classes generally run no more than 40-45 minutes. At my school, we go through the warm ups (like they need any at that age) which is fairly short, followed by no more than 15 minutes of kicking and punching, then forms. That followed up by some type of recreation such as races, balancing competitions, tug 'o war, sparring, etc. It varies often as again, they get board easily. The whole idea being that everything in one way or another advances their mental and physical abilities without them even knowing it, and having fun at the same time.

Hope that's some help, and agin, welcome.


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## Sam (Feb 14, 2006)

Welcome!

I know nothing about the topic, but you can do a forum search by going to the search link in the control bar on the toppish of the screen. I bet this has come up more than once.

See you around, and welcome again!


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## terryl965 (Feb 14, 2006)

Welcome what style are you teaching and then I'll try to help you.
Terry


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## Drac (Feb 15, 2006)

Greetings and welcome to MT..I can offer no suggestions as I have no experience with children...


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## MJS (Feb 15, 2006)

chogyunim said:
			
		

> any thoughts on how to keep 4-6 year olds going with very little or no "down time"? any drills or anything? there are only so many i have. new ideas would be great.


 
First off, Welcome to Martial Talk!  Enjoy your stay!

As for your question.  I have to agree with Gemini.  It is very difficult to keep the attention of young kids.  They need to constantly be doing something, otherwise, once you lose their attention, its difficult to get it back.  

A few suggestions:  Will you be the only teacher or will you have others helping you?  If you have someone else helping, it may be a good idea to break up the class into groups.  A little easier to teach a smaller group.  Also, gearing your drills, ie: punches, kicks, etc., into more of a game, may also keep their attention better.  You may also want to have a pre-planned class format already set up.  It'll be easier to flow from one thing to the next, without having to think about what you want to do next.

What are you doing in the class now as far as drill, activities, etc.?

Mike


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## still learning (Feb 16, 2006)

Hello,  Kids always love games and challenges.

We set up 4-6 cones in a circle around the hall.  Each child must do a certain  thing at each cone than move the the next one. (one cone could be sit-ups,next push-ups, etc.  Can be 10 kicks, punches. etc.  Have one child at each station.

One game they like is Sasaeme says.  Do kicks.   

One more is circle game (kids sit in a circle and one walks around and touch head and the kid sitting down must chase and catch the one running.

We do alot of races too...2-4 lines (do runs, some kind of jumping,crawls,etc. kicks and so on..

Always vary the training and keep it short.  

Rule of thumb: each year equals one minute of attention span....4 years old approx 4 minutes of attention to you. (than they focus on something else. 

Punching bag drills seems fun for them too.  ............Aloha


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## dtfrank (Feb 21, 2006)

In our dojo, we do a lot with 4-6 year olds. Like the other replies we also do the races. One of the things we like to do is practice punching and blocking from on the ground with legs crossed. This way, they don't have to worry about the right stance or how to move. They can just practice the punch and the block in the correct manner.

In addition, we may set up 3 "stations" where in one spot we will have them throw left punch, right punch; right hand will be the number 1 and left hand number 2. We will then call out the number and they will do the appropriate punch. At another spot they may throw left front snap and a right front snap kick. At the 3rd spot we may incorporate all the above. From that point after one kid finishes one spot they then move to the next. This exercise works pretty well.

One final thought is buy some of those "flags" that they use for flag football. (You can actually get cloth flags- they work well) Put two flags on each kid (under their belt) ; have them face each other and try to get the other's flag. This is always a fun exercise.

Have fun trying new things

David Frank


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## Grenadier (Feb 21, 2006)

Keep the classes easy to learn, and have something in the material that they can see has some tangible applications.  For example, when teaching them stances, show them how someone in a strong stance can be difficult to move, etc.  Let them experience first hand the "rewards" of learning the material.  

As Gemini stated, the attention spans of children aren't going to be as long as your typical older students.  Keep the lessons short, perhaps 30-45 minutes, and no longer, or else you may have to deal with their eyes wandering around, instead of being focused on the class.


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## bushidomartialarts (Mar 7, 2006)

that's a really tough age group to work with.  here are a few things we've figured out.

1.  cut your class time to half an hour.  a child that age rarely has the physical endurance or mental attention span to get much out of the second half of an hour-long class.  in our school, we run two sections back-to-back in the hour long slot.

2.  have a clear plan for the whole class from the get-go.  write it down before and make some notes after.

3.  include lots of athletic, but not necessarily karate-related drills.  at that age, it's not all that important (or even advisable) to teach them killer technique.  these kids are still working on basic gross motor skills like jumping and landing, skipping, balancing.

4.  use props.  kids love to jump, but they love jumping over something (like a kick shield) even better.  they love to run, but watch 'em go nuts if you let them run while carrying a focus mitt from point a to point b.

5.  as their focus starts to fade, use triggers and anchors.  this is a conditioned response in your students where you say something and they know to go immediately say and do something.  for example, if an instructor says 'eyes on who?' all students in earshot immediately snap to attention facing the instructor and say 'you sir!'.  this is a great way to refocus their attention if the class activity is changing or if things are getting a little out of hand.

hope that's helpful.  feel free to email or send me a private message if you'd like to talk more abou this.


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