Hooping with kids. . .

A few weeks ago I was asked by Left Noodle Right Noodle to teach hooping to 50 kindergarten and first graders during spring break. I have to admit that i was a little terrified because I hadn't really worked with kids since my adventures in baby sitting in high school.

I loosely planned out about an hours worth of instruction and games, but I planned to just roll with whatever happened since I had been told that kids have very short attention spans. The kids were a true delight to work with. Some of the kids really wanted to learn how to hoop and were like sponges, picking up and retaining the tricks very quickly! Other kids didn't pick it up quite as fast, but they all seemed to have a lot of fun.

In trying to find the right audience for my classes at Contradiction Dance, we recently decide to make my Monday night class a mixed ages class. Tonight was the first test, I had a mother, daughter duo come to class. The daughter was probably in her teens so it felt way more like teaching an adult than teaching first graders. She was actually quite impressive, she picked up the tricks very easily, while her Mom attempted the moves with great cheer. Both of them had great attitudes and were fun to teach. In typical teen fashion, the teen did most of her hooping with her arms crossed in front of her. She rolled her eyes when I suggested that she bring her arms into it and we all had a good laugh! I am feeling great about bringing new ages into the class and who knows maybe this will be a fun bonding experience for parents and kids.