There’s no denying the pandemic changed the way we communicated, learned, and even exercised. Faced with the unique obstacle of continuing physical activity and movement while living and learning remotely, we rose to the challenge and created our own programming: Digital Programs that could be used in remote, hybrid, or onsite classroom environments.
But now that the majority of kids and schools have moved back to onsite learning and physical activity, you might find yourself asking if there’s still a place for digital learning, and if it really can be used to get kids moving. The answer to both? Absolutely!
While we built our programming out of an immediate need, the basis of all of our programming–whether Digital, Activity Kits, or Family Engagement Resources–is to provide products and systems that foster a love of physical activity, starting as a youth and continuing into adulthood, no matter where they use it.
Variety for them
Imagine for a minute that it’s time for school lunch. Now, think about how your students may feel if school lunch had the same piece of fruit every day: one banana. Bananas are nutritionally rich and taste great, but if bananas are your only option every day, after a while, even the biggest banana fan might get tired of it. Now imagine you could offer your students an orange, and then an apple, until before you know it there are kiwis and starfruit on the lunch menu. Students would go from dreading lunch time, to looking forward to what’s next.
Technology and interactive media are the tools that introduce the variety your students need, and turn your one-fruit exercise regime into a cornucopia of physical activity. That variety can spark physical activity interest in kids who never expressed interest in movement before. By keeping our 30-day physical activity programs long enough to master a skill, but short enough to understand a young brain’s short attention span, we’re ensuring kids have a higher chance of engagement and involvement without losing interest. And by offering programs kids love to do, from traditional sports like basketball, to individual sports like martial arts, dance, and yoga, we are guaranteeing kids of all activity levels can find something to engage in to move their bodies.
Technologically-minded
We know kids today have so much technology at their fingertips. From gaming, to cell phones, to smart appliances at home, kids are sometimes smarter than adults when it comes to using technology. That’s why it’s more important than ever to use the tools you have at your disposal to keep kids moving, so they’re not getting used to that sedentary lifestyle. By delivering physical activity digitally, we can use the tools they are wired to respond to, engage their attention spans, and foster activity at the same time.
Vested interest
With each of our Digital Programs from Skillsatics®, children can learn something new or advance their existing skills. For instance, our 30-day martial arts program can earn a yellow belt upon completion, and even advance to the next belt level. When kids can set goals for mastering a program, they have a vested interest in completing the program. Some of our programs, like Pilates, even come with variations, so kids with different flexibilities and abilities can engage and thrive as they progress in their physical abilities. When kids of different physical abilities feel included, it helps them continue with a program where they may otherwise feel left out.
Consistency for you
As nice as it is to be able to offer variety in a physical education program, one of the biggest problems facing physical activity leaders is expertise. To teach a sport, you have to know the sport, or you have to hire an onsite expert to teach it if you or your staff doesn’t have the skills yourself. Offering that variety comes with a price: having staff who can lead each of these courses and sports.
With Digital Programming from Skillastics®, every program comes with the expert included! Our programs are taught by experts in their field. Your only involvement is to simply push play – whether by Zoom, Google Meets, Microsoft Teams, or in person as you project to a screen or gym wall. If you don’t know how to teach Folklorico dance? That’s okay! Just push play, and our expert will teach it for you! (And if you want to, you can learn right along with the kids as the expert teaches it to them!)
Value for your budget
If you were to hire an expert or teacher to teach a program for 30 days, when you want to teach the program again, you have to rehire that same expert. With our Digital Programming, you can run the program as many times as you like, at a fraction of the cost of hiring the onsite expert or hiring another staff member. Our digital programs are self-run, with no training, experience, or planning necessary. This gives you the ability to continue running your program even if you have substitutes, volunteers, or first-day-teacher jitters. You can leverage your time and resources with digital programming that is reusable, easy to implement, and simple to get use.
Whether you’re looking for your first Digital Program or your fifteenth, technology isn’t going away. Rather than run from it, why not grab ahold of it, and use it as another tool in your arsenal to help kids move, groove, and learn to love physical activity? Variety for your kids, consistency and value for you, in an easy-to-deliver digital format is a win all the way around.
Find a Digital Program Now:
P.S. Don’t forget about our 20th Anniversary celebration and giveaway! To enter our quarterly giveaway and see the full contest rules, click here.
