Developmental Fitness Classes

We are excited to offer Developmental Fitness Classes for 2-5-year-olds at Swank Early Skills Development.  Participation in these classes requires the attendance of a parent or caregiver who will work with their child to follow the class and implement the exercises. Our Developmental Fitness Classes are open to all children within this age range during which kids are still developing critical motor skills, strength, and balance; all of which are needed for independent functioning as they grow.

What is Developmental Fitness?

Developmental Fitness focuses on functional movement and strength relative to the daily tasks that would be expected to be performed by children by a certain age. Functional movement includes things like independently sitting up, standing up, walking, squatting, going up stairs, bending over without falling, and tossing & catching balls. It also includes strength and the ability to pull oneself up onto higher surfaces like a chair, and endurance to engage in sustained activity.

Who Are These Classes For?

Developmental Fitness Classes are for all kids 2 -5 years old! During this time of early childhood development, kids are still developing their ability to move fluently and to independently engage in the activities of daily living. Developmental Fitness Classes will help them build strength to increase mobility and independence.

Though not pre-requisites to enroll in Developmental Fitness Classes, you may observe that your 2-5 year old engages in one or more of the following:

• Child may be ‘wobbly’ at some gross motor movements or seem ‘clumsy’.
• Child may demonstrate a lack of endurance in sitting up, walking, or staying active for more than 5-10 minutes at a time.
• Child may demonstrate a lack of strength when pulling/pushing themselves up to a standing position, getting up on a chair, into bed, or on play equipment.
• Child may have difficulty grasping and sustaining a grip on items, picking individual items up, difficulty receiving items handed to them, or handing items to other people.

Developmental Fitness Classes can help make improvements in these areas by building the strength needed to do them.

However, this is also a fun, fitness-encouraging program that can help instill a lifelong love for fitness, and a child does not need to be displaying any of these behaviors in order to benefit from this program.

What Will Developmental Fitness Classes Look Like?

• Parent-Child Classes; parents stay and participate with their child.
• Small Group – we’re only accepting 6 child-parent/caregiver pairs per class time slot so you’ll have lots of individualization and support from the instructor.
• 45 minutes per session once per week with a 15-minute transition period between classes for parents and kids to socialize.
• They are run as 8 class sessions across 9 weeks; if you happen to make it to all 9 classes then you get that 9^th one for free!