Three to four year olds love physical activity and anything involving play.

They have a rich imagination and strong desire to be less dependent on their usual caregivers.

The problem we discovered is that many children this age have a hard time with structure in a group environment like what is commonly found in most Martial Arts schools.

The solution we found is to provide them with their own program that targets their stage of development in a manner that keeps them entertained while at the same time building skills that set them up for success.

With that said, a structured program introducing early skill-based training in Martial Arts has proven to be very successful.

Here’s an overview for the stages of development of children ages 3 and 4:

Physically- they typically have low tone and poor hand-eye-coordination.

• We expect them initially to drop their arms when punching and fall when kicking or jumping. We also expect them to have no concept of spatial awareness, therefore they will drop things that are thrown to them and bump into people and obstacles often.
• The goal for our program is to get them to punch without dropping their arms; kick without falling; jump without falling; and catch objects thrown from various directions and distances.

Intellectually- they typically have a limited vocabulary therefore learning is normally limited to visual and kinesthetic activities.

• We expect them to initially lose focus when activities are over-complicated. We also expect them to struggle with commands that have more than two instructions.
• The goal for our program is to get them to follow verbal commands with no visual demonstration. Also, our goal is for them to remember rules and commands without being reminded.

Emotionally- they typically have strong preferences and fears therefore they will normally act out of bounds when their emotions get out of control.

• We expect them to run off the mat when they have anxiety. We also expect them to shut down when something either scares them or doesn’t go their way.
• The goal for our program is to help them follow directions and persevere through an activity even if they are initially emotional.

Socially- they are typically very self-centered. Also, due to their limited vocabulary their common form of communication is mainly physical.

• We expect them to mock each other, such as falling when their classmate falls. We also expect them to crash into things when they are excited.
• The goals for our program are to help them build good social skills such as spatial awareness; not interrupting when others are talking; and taking turns properly.

By understanding the stages of development of 3 and 4-year olds, we could build a skill-based curriculum that make up the Early SKILLZ Program.