Keen to get your little ones to try different sports? ActiveSG’s programmes cater not just to the older children, they have programmes for the younger ones as well! Pre-schoolers ages 4 to 6 can participate in mini tennis, gymnastics, archery, athletics, thump boxing, rock-climbing and Zumba dance ActiveSG programmes!
Our 5 year old has tried four of ActiveSG’s holiday programmes in mini tennis, gymnastics, archery and rock-climbing! Fun, affordable, enriching – ActiveSG’s sports programmes are indeed a lifesaver for parents who scratch their heads on how to occupy the children during the holidays. Plus, you can use your ActiveSG credits to pay for the classes partially leading to even more savings!
Convenient locations of ActiveSG Sports Centres
Parents with preschoolers might find it challenging searching for sports programmes for their little ones. Some are either too varied with exposure to too many sports, some are too expensive and others conducted in faraway spots. Another great thing about ActiveSG programmes is the option to find something close to home as they are usually conducted in ActiveSG sports centres and pools in the heartlands. This greatly saves time as well as transport costs.
Archery, Gymnastics and Mini Tennis ActiveSG Programmes
We review three sports under the ActiveSG programme: archery, gymnastics and mini tennis. While the archery and gymnastics sessions were one-off sessions, mini tennis was held over four days with three hours per session. Instead of bouncing off walls at home, the kids can now run, jump, bounce all they want during the sessions.
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For archery, it was a one-hour session for 3 to 6-year-olds. The duration was short enough to get the little ones to be engaged. The instructors taught the kids how to use the bow and arrow, as well as the right posture. This was followed by a practical session of aiming at the target by releasing the bowstrings. The children each took turns aiming, with the instructor holding the bow. While appropriate for the little ones, this was not much of a challenge to the older children who could probably hold their own bows. We recognized that this was merely a taster session to the sport, hence there wasn’t a chance to practise holding the bow and aim independently. The session was also held at a carpark at a sports hall. Personally, I felt that the session could be held in a better lit area such as the sports hall.
Gymnastics was held at BearyFun gym which was a usual gymnastics studio for Bearyfun classes. The gym was well equipped and children were grouped according to age for the various activities and obstacle courses. After the stretching and warm-ups, the children began by going through a course of rolling, balancing and jumping. Of course, these delighted the children a great deal as they were laughing and cheerily going through each of the exercises.
The other activities included climbing, balancing on beams, jumping on the trampolines, crawling through the tunnel, jumping and landing on both feet together. Finally, the session ended with a combined race for children ages 4 to 10, testing their sense of balance, hand-eye coordination and speed.
The third sport our preschooler tried was mini tennis which was a junior version of tennis, played with a slower ball and junior-sized rackets on a smaller court. Because of the length of the “camp”, much more was covered from game rules to games encouraging hand-eye coordination, learning to react to the motion of the ball, holding the racket and hitting the ball with the racket. There was quite a lot of time practising the motor skills needed to play tennis since they were fundamental to the sport.
As with usual ActiveSG programmes, the sessions gave participants the chance to experience the sport and pursue it with a longer-term commitment if truly interested. The instructor-to-participant ratio was quite high. Given the wide age range of the group, it was challenging ensuring that every participant took home skills confidently after the four days. Much more practice and regular sessions would be needed to be a step closer to Federer-level tennis.
Our Verdict After Trying Three ActiveSG Programmes for Preschoolers
ActiveSG programmes are a great way to get preschoolers to try various sports. We liked the opportunities to try out the equipment and various motor skills that are fundamental to each sport. Our little one enjoyed the gym session the most, as the activities were fun and easy to pick up as compared to a ball sport like tennis which requires a lot more practice. Don’t expect the little ones to master the skills overnight, it is still important for them to be outdoors and have lots of play time for the development of motor skills required to master sports in general.
For more information on ActiveSG programmes, click here.
