LIL Dragons/Tiny Tigers (teaching kids)

You failed to quote what I said prior to that.....

....

Bear in mind -- we are talking "LIL DRAGONS" (4,5,6 year old little impressionable minds)
Sure, I understand the errands bit... but come into the school with your little one, greet your child's instructor and then come in to pick them up and show the instructor, and most importantly YOUR CHILD that you have a valued interest in their ma training more so then having that hour to go do your errands.....

..... heck, I'm a parent and went through all this with my children at the start of their martial arts training. :Angel:

 

I'll be putting my wee 'un into something like this..... but she only 3. I'd like to wait til she starts School, and with her birthday falling in July, she'll be 5 before she starts.

I think its a great idea for supplementing the teaching you do as parents, and it also keeps the kids active instead of playing computer games or watching tv all the time, gettin fat and lazy ....

If more kids partook in activities we'd have less of an obesity problem in the UK

 

Mate just think, if you put her in now, she will be a blackbelt before she finishes primary school.

If I could go back in time, I would of told my parents to put me in ma as soon as I could walk.

 

Hi Chazz,

I wish you the best for your plans for teaching 4-7 yr olds, can be very rewarding to see the improvement of all the kids at that age.

Teaching kids(4-10) isn't for everyone but from my experience you get a better response than from most adults if taught in the right way.

Check out this link which may help with tips.

http://www.littleninjas.co.uk

Good Luck

 

Thanks to all of you that support this program. This is what im looking for. If any of you would like to help supply me with ideas, plan, games, or techniques please do. Even email me or PM me. We can talk and hopefully i can come up with something great for them. This is where im at as of now: NOT FAR!


1. Ok i plan on using the same 8 steps that the Lil Dragons Program has. (Dicipline, balance, focus, coordination, memory, control, team work, and fitness)

2. I think im going to have them go through the 8 steps in about 6 month.

3. After each step they will promote to a new belt (white with the colored stripes down the middle)

4. For each level they advance, the 8 steps will get harder and involve more.

I dont really have much for each step cause ive been coming up with it as i go but it would be nice to get some ideas.

The 8 Steps: For each step i think class needs to consist of Warm Up, TKD drills, Drills for what ever step they are on "balance", then a game to fit whatever step they are on.

Thats it for now i will add more soon. Feel free to bash my plan all you want as long as your suggestion can make it better.

 

Sounds great .

I wish I was still 5yrs old and lived near you, so I could go to your school, sounds very well set out and planned.

 

Ummmm thanks. LOL

Ok here is what i have for some of the steps:



Discipline …………… Level 1

Goal: To have each Lil Dragon lean the importance of “yes sir” and “No Sir” as well as get them situated into the procedures of class. (Bowing in, warming up, working, games, and bowing out)

What we wish to see from each Lil Dragon:
•Line up properly in class
•Stand at attention
•Bow when instructed
•Addressing instructors as sir or mam and saying “yes sir” or “yes mam”
•Following direction the first time

Tae Kwon Do Material:
•Punching straight out
•Punching across the body
•Front kicks straight out

Games:
•Instructor Says – Teaches to say “yes sir” or “yes mam” and to follow directions.

<hr>

Balance ………………. Level 1

Goal: To help each Lil Dragon walk, run, kick, jump, and play better through teaching them proper balance skills.

What we wish to see from each Lil Dragon:
•Walking one foot in front of the other.
•Running in straight lines moving both arms
•Jumping and landing without falling down
•Walking backwards without falling down.

Tae Kwon Do Material
•Stretch kicking to keep balance
•Punching straight out
•Punching across the body
•Front kicks straight out

Games:
•Balance Beam – Each Lil Dragon will walk as far as they can on the beam without stopping. Each time they will try to go further than the last time.
•Jumping Bean – Each Lil Dragon will jump on one foot at many times as they can trying to beat the time before.

<hr>

Ok start your trashin but again, only those who have ideas to help can bash LOL

 

What about practising spinning on ball of foot to help with balance in some of the spinning kicks they will be learning later on.

Dont know if this is level 1 but my master teaches it to the children from day 1 and it really helped my progress to the more advanced spinning kicks.

 

Here are some other great games we use in our Little Dragons class.


"What Time is it Mr. Fox"
Instructor or older student stand at one end of room with a fox puppet. All other students are on other side of the room. They ask "What time is it Mr. Fox?" and the fox gives a number between 1 and 11 (not twelve). Everyone takes that many steps forward towards the fox. If fox says 12, then everyone has to run back to the start before Mr. Fox gets them and eats them.

Focuses on counting, concentration, etc...

"Duck Duck Goose" the classic game is back and as fun as ever. Focuses on speed and such.


What I call the "Dr. Seuss Game"

First, students start by putting a small plastic egg or ping pong ball on a plastic spoon. Holding the spoon and egg out in front of them, they have to walk across the room and back. Then, they put a small sponge on their head...so with an egg on the spoon and a sponge on the head the children walk across the room and back. Then, they repeat with the sponge egg spoon by doing front kicks as they walk.

Teaches balance, coordination, posture...etc.

"Animal Training"
bear walk, rabbit hop, backwards crab walk. Have the kids race across the room doing these. Kids love them. Have the parents do them too...adults hate them...very hard to do once you get big.

"Breaking" Have the kids do a foot stomp break through a 3" board. Most kids nail this in a try or two and it really shoots up the self-confidence.

Hula hoops....have them play with hula hoops. Great for coordination. Have them walk in a cirlce doing jump rope moves through the hoops.

If I remember others, I'll pass them on.

Peace,
Erik

 

WOW NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKIN ABOUT. Those were games i never thought of, thanks sooooo much. If you think of anything else for any of the 8 step please share. Thanks so much... Just one thing. How do you do a bear walk?


knightcommander: I never thought about that but yeah i think that would be good. I just need to think of how to bring it into the lessons.

 

Talked with the owner of our school and he has used the Century Lil Dragon curriculum for ideas.

We run our classes similar to this:

http://www.sdamerica.com/lildragons.htm
"For example, suppose we want to help the kids improve their balance. They will play a game in which the objective is to see who can stand on one leg the longest. This can be the beginning move for a kick. If we want them to work on concentration, we play a game of "Sensei says" instead of "Simon Says".

I particularly like this about the instruction:
"The Lil' Dragon curriculum was professionally designed with lessons teaching various important skills: Martial Skills, Safety Skills & Life Skills. There are several lessons for each of the skills sets listed below. The lesson break down (which is not shown), is occasionally repeated for reinforcement and memory assistance at this young age"


We set up stations around the room and have jr. instructors works with a small group at each station. One station for kicks on the lil dragon wavemaster, one on the balance beam, one with focus pads for block drills, etc. etc.....

Here is another school that has obviously used the Century curriculum.
http://members.aol.com/chonjido/ld.html (click on pg.2 for the Lil Dragon Creed )

 

Thanks Deb. I love that Lil Dragon Oath. That would be so cute to see a class of lil kids saying to doing that. I might have to start that.

 

Hello Chazz,Starting a lil' dragons program is way cool.Our dojo runs just a regular kids class 5-12years old. the problacks of the kids class trains with the adults on friday to toughen them up.(harder calistenics,harder falls.)

you mentioned a balance beam , we use a 2x4x8 on edge for a balance beam. the board is mortised into two 4x4's to keep it on edge.

We play a game called "gimme your lunch money" . Sensei plays bully twohanded grap kids gi collar,child defends themself by punch to the sturnum ,twohanded grap on the shirt rolls backwards for the judo throw(instructor plays along of course)after the assailant is down they run over ,and finish them off with a kick. Children just love beating on older defenseless persons.Also great for demos and birthday parties.

hope this is of any help.
jason

 

LOL that soulds fun. I will have to save this for the older ones. The balance beam is what im doin now.

 

We've done a "gladiators-type" drill where we give each child a blocker and they try to knock the other one off the beam.
A little more difficult drill that combines balance and coordination is walking on a balance beam while playing catch.

The game that most of the kids love to play is "Dodge Ball". (Seems its been banned in school gyms due to being a rough game :bang: )
We use one of those very large plastic balls you can get at Walmart and have two lines facing of team #1. Team #2 is in the middle and the ball is tossed to strike a member of opp. team. Once hit they sit down.

 

Or the Guantlet ..... you get 2 lines of kids with wiffle bats, or some other such prodding implement, and each kid takes it in turn to run through trying to dodge the prodding.....

can sub prodding with tennis balls or bean bags etc depending on stature of the kids... hmmmm, maybe a bit rough for the very young 'uns

Or one I just made up, so bear with me.......

get them all to spin round and round til they get dizzy and get then to race - good balance training, and when they older they know what it feels like to get a blow on the head, but still have the determination to keep moving......

 

Chazz,

The bear walk is easy but taxing on the body. Basically walking on all fours. Feet flat or on toes and palms flat, then "walk". Works the entir body for great fun and lots of excercise. Parents will love that you are wearing their kids out. My 5 year literally runs through the house like a wild animal this way and he is lean, but has great musculature. Wish I could follow his example. He is also very fast like this. It has evolved into something like a dog run, using all limbs at different intervals to move more quickly. Try having the kids emulate animal movements to work out their whole body. They will thank you later in life.

 

Yeah we play dodge ball also. I have then stang against a wall and i toss the pall at them. It they catch it they win (working on hand eye coordination) if i tag them they sit down.

I will have to try the catch while on the beam. That looks like it could be interesting.

Now what about for some of the other (focus, coordination, memory, control, team work, and fitness)

 

I know you have this link but there are some great ideas here ..
http://www.4kicks.com/?tabid=28&view=listing&Cat=3, 4, 5 Year Olds&CatId=19

Kids love obstacle courses ... there are great suggestions on this site on how to set various ones up.

 

Here's a bit of an an alternative approach

We teach kids as young as 5, but generally find that the kids are more developmentally ready around ages 7-8. Our philosophy is that we focus on teaching martial arts, so the focus of the kids’ training is in those skills as well as in character education (like respect and manners and such). Playing games and such is okay once in a great while, but our course focuses around martial arts… so any games we play revolve around sparring skills and such (like chicken fighting, sparring with our hands behind our backs, etc.). The kids come to us to learn martial arts, so that’s what we do. It can still be fun and engaging.


We start the kids off one-on-one with an instructor to teach them the etiquette, basic blocks, and basic strikes. After a few classes, we move them into our regular classes and alternatively pair them up with same age peers or with adult black belts. We work the same basic skills with all of the students… including kicking drills, step sparring, and forms and modify the level of difficulty for the age and ability level… so a new 6 year old white belt may be doing a front kick and an older yellow belt may do a jump front kick.

Yes, some students aren’t mature enough to handle this and they usually are asked to come back and try again in a few months. However the vast majority of young kids we get do very well in learning the assigned curriculum and are tested on the same material for the same belt ranks as the other students. In other words, a child’s green belt means they demonstrated the same material and techniques to a satisfactory degree as any other green belt in the school.

Here’s some tips I keep in mind for the kids:
1. The real young ones need shorter periods of training… the younger new students will train for about 30-35 minutes per class and we gradually extend the class time as they get older… regular class is 75 minutes.

2. Change activities every 10 minutes or so to keep attention. I keep all of the activities related on a common theme but vary the application and demonstration of the skills. Technically they are learning the same skills for the whole length of time but the activities are varied.

3. The little ones need constant supervision and encouragement without making them too dependent. They need to be watched for safety and proper technique but can’t be accustomed to relying on an instructor to prod them along or always make it “fun”.

4. Provide the expectation that they must perform to the same degree as everyone else to foster responsibility and pride in what they do. Kids know if someone gets promoted based on something other than ability…

5. Begin early with situational awareness and educate them about strangers and how to avoid situations. Teach them to use their voices. Also model, demonstrate and supervise their control over their skills so they don’t classmates in or outside of the dojang.


Good training!