In an age of electronics and digital entertainment, gymnastics kits are about the most counter-cultural gift you could ever give to a child. Let your inner hippie out: give your kids a gift that will encourage the love of an active lifestyle.
Gymnastics kits are comprised of a tumbling mat, a practice balance beam, and an incline wedge. Why do we put these three particular apparatus in our gymnastics kits? Easy: these are the fundamentals kids will use to master the simplest of tumbling and gymnastics skills and continue to use even as they begin formal classes. These apparatus are compact, easy to store, and durable so they last as long as childhood. That’s a lot more than you can say for the year’s trendiest electronic device!
Tumbling mats are the first piece of gymnastics equipment a child should become used to because they are going to be an integral part of every gymnastics skill they’ll ever learn. Tumbling mats are The Protector. They are the Mama Bear of gymnastics. When the child falls, the tumbling mat absorbs some of the shock and helps him get back up and keep going. When a skill seems a little too scary to attempt or practice, tumbling mats take the edge off. And even if they’re practicing with an entirely different apparatus, chances are, tumbling mats are beneath and around the kids…just in case.
Practice balance beams sit flat on the ground, so that image the child has of a balance beam waaaaaay up in the air becomes a little less threatening because the walkable surface of the beam is only about 4″ off the ground. Learning to balance on a practice balance beam is no different than walking those curbs along the street (except the beams are made of a dense foam rather than concrete), and is just as much fun. Later, when they’re ready to experience a real balance beam, they’ll have the self-control and confidence they need.
Incline wedges, or cheese mats, are obviously shaped like a wedge of cheese, and are a fun, challenging apparatus for little tumblers as well as more advanced gymnasts. These playful mats help tumblers master that all-important forward roll and assist older gymnasts with things like back handsprings. All under your watchful eye, of course.
Gymnastics kits are your ticket to Parent of the Year. More fun, safe, non-threatening gymnastics apparatus there never was, and when the kids grow up and look back at pictures of their childhood, they’ll see why they’ve become the active lifestyle-loving adults they are.