Gymnastics

During the months of January and February, Anabella and Daniel participated in a Saturday gymnastics class through Prince William County Parks & Rec.  They loved it! I mean, loved it! Here are some pictures of our cute little gymnasts in action.

The class started at 11:20 am and ended at noon.  It began and ended with a group stretching activity, and the time in between was spent going through a self-paced series of activities. 

Daniel was not always very thrilled about following along with the stretching (he'd rather have been doing what Daniel wanted to do), but Anabella followed right along. Here she is doing the "butterfly" stretch.

The last ten minutes or so, before the final stretching, the teacher threw out balloons and all the kids grabbed them for the parachute activity.  Both Daniel and Anabella loved playing with balloons.

And, though they were among the smallest in their class, they were usually (Daniel- usually/ Anabella- mostly always)  very good about following the directions of the teacher. Here they are helping to put their balloons back in the bag.

Daniel and Anabella, like the rest of the kids, loved parachute time.  As soon as the parachute came out, they would run over and try to get on top of it.  The kids sat in the middle of the parachute while the parents sang "Wheels on the Bus" and pulled the parachute around on the floor.  We also played a game where we all went under the parachute and blasted off.

Gymnastics class turned out to be a great way to release some energy on wintry Saturday mornings.  It was nice to have an activity to participate in as a family, and it was a good learning experience for Anabella and Daniel. Besides the socialization, they learned how to sit for group activities and how to take directions from a teacher.   They also learned how to do a somersault and several types of  stretches.  

 

 

I loved the class because now when we need to release some energy at home, we can exercise! They are simple stretches, but I would never have thought to teach them had we not taken this class.

Good idea, Daddy! Thanks for signing us up for gymnastics!!