Teaching ballet to toddlers requires keeping a few age-appropriate references on hand to explain a movement.

For Port de Bras, I typically use the Balloon analogy to explain the process of moving from 1st, to high 5th, then floating our arms down to demi second.

Here is how I explain the reference as I’m demonstrating the port de bras:

1. Pretend like you are holding a balloon in front of your belly button (arms in 1st)
2. Now we inflate our balloon and it goes over our head (arms in high 5th)
3. then, our balloon pops! And it floats down to demi second.

I recommend doing this about 4 times then reversing the processing, starting with demi second and going up to high 5th.

This analogy has proven to work really well with this age group! They almost instantly see how each arm position connects to the next, and it prevents them from rushing through each position. Plus, kids love to make a “pop” noise as their balloon bursts.