Gymnastics!

Colten has been LOVING gymnastics! He's been going for about a month now and is always SO happy to get there. Brian has been asking about his class and so I had our friend, Dianne, take some pictures one day. (Thanks, Dianne!)

Doing a little stretching before class! It's so funny that I caught this on camera while checking the settings on the camera. He really looks like he's getting ready for class!


At the beginning of class, we walk (and tip toe, skate, gallop and run) in a circle to warm up. The same song is played every class and tells us what action to do. Colten usually has a lot of fun doing the different things.


I think we were "skating" at the point.


"Mom, why is she taking my pictures so much?"


After the warm-up, they stretch. They go over gymnastic terms like "tuck," "pike," and "stradle." His coach makes stretching really fun for the kids. Colten usually listens really well and does as much as he can during this time.


Here he is "going under the wave." Apparently, a shark was coming around and was going to get him!


During this particular class, she had the kids do 5 forward rolls. These are Colten's favorite!


Sometimes he can get over by himself, and other times I have to nudge his bottom over just a tad.


After warm-up and stretches, we usually do an obstacle course. The kids go down a slide, hop through some hoops, do some cartwheels, hop over and crawl under some bars, do some forward and backward rolls. It's set up differently every time and the kids seem to really like doing it.


Going under so nicely!


This particular day, Colten was in a mood. He didn't want to do what he was supposed to do. He started grabbing the hoola hoops and playing with them instead of hopping through them. Then he started picking up the orange bars that he was crawling under and hopping over and throwing them. Believe me, I have it on video!


After the obstacle course, we did the balance beams. We used hoola hoops to give the kids something to hold onto, but still be balanacing for himself a bit.


The coach had some bean bags on the beams for them to step/hop over for a challenge.


After beams, the group got to go to the foam pit. This is usually where we end up at the end of the class. Colten loves being able to just jump in there, climb back out, and then jump in again.


After the foam pit, the kids line up for stamps. They get one on the back of each hand and one on top of both feet. He is always so proud of those stamps!


Colten's favorite part about gymnastics are the bars/rings. He really enjoys swinging on the rings. He can hang on those forever and that's all he wants to do when we do the bar area. He also really liked the parachute one day...all the kids loved that! I like the gym that we go to, but I really miss places like Gymboree where there's more socialization between the kids.

For now, this gymnastics class is perfect for Colten. He's having a lot of fun and that's the most important thing!