Online Dance Class on Zoom: How to Keep Preschoolers Engaged

I think that we can all agree that the switch to online dance class on Zoom came with quite the learning curve. It took a little while to get the hang of Zoom. Then there’s the ever-present challenge of keeping the younger students engaged apart from the technical aspects.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I definitely wasn’t as exciting as Dora the Explorer or Paw Patrol. Kids these days love their technology. However, that didn’t mean they would automatically love the “show” when I arrived on a glowing screen.

The question became, how am I going to keep them entertained with this for weeks and weeks?

Teaching kids online requires an entirely different mindset and energy set as well. Did any of you actually get more tired dancing on Zoom than you do in the traditional studio setting? Or was that just me? 

I’ll fully admit that teaching on Zoom was a challenge for me. 

The first few weeks of teaching this way sent me on a quest for ways to keep my class together, engaged, and continuing to learn. 

Here are a few methods that made teaching through a screen just a little bit easier! 

Show and Talk

When I’m in the studio with preschool dancers, I want the kiddos to learn something. I seek to pack my lessons with as much value as possible as I’m sure you do as well.

Since this is always my primary focus, I don’t generally make time for ‘fillers’ like share time or coloring pages. (Let me be clear, I’m not saying there’s anything at all wrong with these in the studio. I personally just don’t employ these methods often!) 

Pre-COVID, I thought that keeping them busy with almost constant movement was one of the keys to keeping them engaged. Perhaps there’s something to that. But I learned something when we shifted to the Zoom format: there’s a time and place for those “filler” activities. 

It might sound awful, but it took me a couple of weeks to realize that my kids missed me. They just wanted to interact the way we did in the studio without even trying. 

Enter the ‘mute’ button. It would be chaos without the mute feature on Zoom. It helps to keep the distraction element under control. However, it also minimizes the organic interaction that would happen under normal circumstances.

Online dance class makes it harder to give the kids that chance to interact with you in their own way during online dance class on Zoom. For this reason, I needed to be intentional about making space for it. 

Taking about ten minutes at the beginning of class to give each student a chance to talk ended up being huge for me. 

Sometimes I would let them tell me whatever they wanted to about my day. Other times I would let them go get something from their room that they wanted me to see and bring it back to show us all. 

Bottom Line:

I believe it was the simple act of reminding the students that it was the dance teacher they remembered on the other side of the screen that made them willing to engage. 

It may seem small, but it was totally worth the time it took and the engagement I received back after. 

Preschool Ballet and Tap: A Guide for Teaching Successful Classes

Hi, Camera!

The kids are obsessed with the camera. Gee, it seemed like touching the camera was more fun for them at first than anything I could come up with for online dance class. 

I realized pretty quickly that I needed to figure out a way to keep them from adjusting the camera constantly. No matter how many times I told them to leave it alone and not to touch it, it didn’t work. They couldn’t help themselves. 

So I figured, why not make it part of the lesson? 

Since I couldn’t change the fact that it was right there, I would have them use it as a reference. 

I would incorporate it into dances, telling the students to pretend it was the audience as we danced. The kids loved doing heel-toe walks toward it and then getting to wave really close to it once they reached before going back. 

Bottom Line:

Giving the camera a purpose other than being a distraction kept their attention on the exercises rather than the irresistible temptation to meddle with the glowing device. 

Keep It Simple

Learning through a computer screen is already a challenge in and of itself. Especially for preschool dancers. 

I’ve talked before about how it’s important to place realistic expectations on your little ones in the classroom. This became all the more vital when it came to online dance class. 

At the start of this Zoom era, I went in with the goal of accomplishing everything in virtual lessons that I normally did in the studio. 

You all can already guess how that went. 

It came down to reminding myself that I was going to lose the kids if I tried to do anything too intricate. I found that it was best to go with “big,” fun exercises that were easy to see through the computer and, more importantly simple enough to follow. 

There’s no need to heap another challenge on top of what already comes with the Zoom territory. 

Bottom Line

Go primarily for what’s going to keep them excited. 

Take a look at my Baby Shark dance for tap class. Easy to follow, but loads of fun!

Want more ideas for Zoom dance activities? Take a look at these fun options from Resources For Dance Teachers.

We’re all in this Zoom and online dance class thing together, teachers. Let me know if you liked these tips! Plus, feel free to share your own strategies in the comments as well!