There’s no doubt that children have huge imaginations. Whether they’re playing with toys, dressing up in costumes, or even playing video games or watching TV, these activities fuel their creativity and inspire all sorts of wonderful role-playing.
But what if you could harness your child’s love of pretend, encourage them to broaden their horizons and see if all that role-playing could be turned into a fun-filled hobby or maybe even a career down the road?
We have just the solution...enroll your child into a drama class! There are numerous benefits such as:
1. Improve their Emotional Quotient
We know what you’re thinking...“What is Emotional Quotient?” Good question. Also known as EQ, this is simply the ability to read the social signals of people around you and appropriately react to them. Kids can be awkward when it comes to conversation. Teaching your child this art form can be tough for parents. But through script reading, onstage acting and audience reaction, your child can learn how to react appropriately and apply it to their own lives when engaging in simple conversation.
2. Strengthen their memorization
As an actor, your child will participate in practices and rehearsals. The repetition and consistency is key to your child learning their lines and stage movements. This discipline can lend itself to other aspects of life, too. As your child learns to increase their ability to memorize and focus, you might notice school study habits improving. Their focus will be sharper for test-taking, reading comprehension, math, and other subjects. Though kids often don’t think about memorization, drama classes help make it fun and give them a goal that’s associated with something they love. Over time, this skill will become easier, and become a more natural part of their everyday school life.
3. Enhance presentation skills
Drama classes also help your child overcome shyness. Even more, it helps develop a stage presence in front of an audience. They’ll learn to project across a room, the value of pacing and controlling the tone of their voice, and the importance of volume when connecting with a crowd. This, in turn, carries over to schooling, and even further down the road, when public speaking skills will come in handy. Whether they’re presenting a school project or pitching a proposal at their future job, drama class can help prepare for the challenges we all face when it comes to public speaking.
4. Improves adaptability
While performing on stage, things don’t always go according to the script. These challenges must be approached in a calm and efficient way. For example, take improv—just one of the many theater genres —is all about thinking on your feet because there is no script. It’s just the stage, your child, the audience, and whatever they rehearsed...all off the top of their head. Thus, drama classes help kids be less reactive and more open to change. While adaptability is important in theater, it’s also incredibly important in life. Teaching our children this valuable skill is one of the biggest challenges of parenting. Drama class can improve your child’s ability to be more adaptable when things don’t go their way. Wait, does that mean fewer temper tantrums and more open-mindedness? Sign us up, please!
5. Encourages vulnerability
As an actor, your child will need to be able to embrace vulnerability, meaning, they’ll need to access and express emotions they’re not always comfortable conveying. With practice, however, this ability will become easier. Not only will this be valuable for the believability of the characters your child portrays, but it’s even more important in life. As your child grows older, being vulnerable is an essential part of meaningful relationships. Because drama classes can teach your child the importance of being vulnerable at a young age, they’ll be able to carry these emotional skills with them into adulthood!
Looking to discover enriching virtual drama classes? Head here! If you live in the New York, Los Angeles or Chicago area, be sure to look into these and other drama classes:
New York
Treasure Trunk Theatre, Brooklyn Brainery, 190 Underhill Ave., Brooklyn, NY
Each class begins with physical and vocal theatre warm-ups that will get children ready for the day’s theatrical exploration. The warm-ups focus on creating characters with their bodies and voices, sparking imaginations, and working together as an ensemble. Favorite children’s stories will then start the dramatic adventures for the class. Students will have the ability to act and speak like the characters in the story, helping them gain confidence standing in front of their peers. Family and friends are invited to attend the final week of class. This is a drop-off class.
CentreStage Encore (Ages 5 - 7)
Centre Stage, The Acorn School, 330 E 26th St, New York, NY
In CenterStage Encore children explore using improvisation, costumes and props, theater games and role-playing. Boys & girls study different forms of dance (Broadway, jazz & tap) and are exposed to everything from modern composers of music to music from the 1930's and 1940's
After School Program (Ages 3 - 8)
Broadway Bees, Brooklyn Brainery, 190 Underhill Ave, Brooklyn, NY
Broadway Bees delivers an immersive experience of learning based on the world of Broadway musicals. Children will participate in activities built around specific age-appropriate musicals, involving all aspects of a theatrical production.
Chicago
Children’s Theatre (Ages 3 - 5)
Zoi Arts, South Loop, 1801 S Indiana Ave., Chicago, IL
Everyone is a star in the Children’s Theatre class. Children learn the fundamentals of theatre: staging, props, characterization, and improvisation. Through interactive games, storytelling, and imaginative play, children will be able to stretch their curiosity and enjoy the art appreciation of theatre!
Burley After School Improv Class (Ages 5 - 9)
Burley Elementary, 1630 W Barry Ave., Chicago, IL
This after school program will have kids laughing and learning at the same time! With direction and coaching from an experienced comedian, kids will learn the basics of improvisation through high energy and mental focus games. At Knuckleball Comedy our goals are simple: build confidence, build communication, build focus while laughing the whole way through.
Zoi Arts, South Loop, 1801 S Indiana Ave., Chicago, IL
Lights, Camera, Action! Students learn the fundamentals of staging, props, characterization, monologue, and improvisation. Through interactive and improvisation games, storytelling, and musical theater, students will foster a newfound appreciation for the world of theatre. Through taking the Acting class, students will sharpen their creativity, self-confidence, problem-solving, physical development, concentration, communication, and team-working skills.
Los Angeles
Imagination Adventure (Ages 5 - 7)
Chiqui Social- Culver City, 8530 Washington Blvd. B, Culver City, CA
Chiquitos will create and explore a dramatic adventure that begins with discovering what is inside an adventure trunk. The surprises inside the trunk provide the spark that inspires the story your children will create that day. Using your voices, bodies, and imaginations, children will be characters in the story, create a costume, puppets and learn new words to describe as an ensemble.
Teens Creating a Life Program (Ages 14 - 18+)
Margie Haber Studio, 317 N La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA
With an emphasis on TV and Film, students are introduced to the Haber Philosophy so they can shift their focus away from performing and learn to “Live the Life”. The goal is for them to bring their most imaginative, intuitive and present selves to their auditions. You create the life of the person on the “page”. The result is you will book more!
Looking to explore drama activities near you? Search and book in your neighborhood today!
