Welcome back, Lesson Leap Community! This year is the first year I am teaching beginner acro! It’s been a fun challenge to find exercises and skills that are appropriate for this skill/age level.
At this age, a lot of kids are very flexible, which is great, but they lack the necessary strength (shoulders!) for many acro moves.
To address this, I’ve curated a set of beginner-friendly acro skills to work on throughout the first part of the year. These skills also do not require heavy spotting! I struggled with that as I don’t have any assistants, so I can only spot one kid at time when we working on handstands. So, I switched to having them work on the “donkey kicks” to build their shoulder strength before moving onto handstands.
IMPORTANT: If you have access, I strongly recommend using a mat for the “across the floor” section.
| Class Segment | Skill/Position | Activity Description | Teacher notes |
| Stretch/Warm-up | Cardio warmup | Jumping jacks 4 x 8 counts | Use an upbeat and energetic song to get the class excited to dance! |
| Run in place 4 x 8 counts | |||
| High knees 2 x 8 counts | |||
| Stretch | Butterfly, stretch forward 2×8 counts | ||
| Straddle, reach right left and center 2×8 counts each | |||
| Pike stretch, pointing and flex toes | |||
| Alternate pointing and flexing one foot at a time, roll ankle in circle one at time | |||
| Cobra stretch, stretch feet towards head | |||
| stretch wrists/shoulders | |||
| Leg extensions on the floor | Starting in butterfly, grab the inside of your right foot | Make sure they dont lift their hips off the ground | |
| Extend to the side, hold for 8 counts | |||
| Repeat with left side | |||
| Repeat with both legs | |||
| Floor Work | Floor Battements (different from leg extensions, more like a tilt on the ground, leaning on their elbow) | Start in butterfly, lean to left elbow & grab inside of right foot | Watch how they grab their feet! Many kids try to grab from the back, causing them to lift and twist their hips |
| Extend to the side, hold for 8 counts | |||
| Repeat with left side | |||
| “Swim-Thru” Middle Splits | Start in a tuck position, hands in front of you | Watch for “cheaters” who don’t hit an actual middle split before swimming through! | |
| small “jump” to middle splits | |||
| Hold splits for 2 counts | |||
| Then “swim-thru” to your belly | |||
| At the Barre | Heel stretch | Tendu, bring foot up to arm | Watch how they grab their feet! Many kids try to grab from the back, causing them to lift and twist their hips |
| Extend to heel stretch | |||
| Repeat with left side | |||
| Acro Across the Floor (use a mat for beginners) | Donkey Kicks (handstand but they only kick up one leg) | Start with hands up, bring hands onto mat | Great for building strength and understanding mechanics for a handstand. |
| only kick up one leg, bottom leg should hardly lift off the floor | |||
| Land with arms up!! | |||
| Straight Leg Straddle rolls | Start in straddle with straight legs | Builds excellent core strength | |
| Forward roll in the straddle | |||
| Land on the mat in a straddle, work on trying to push to another consecutive roll |
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