Playing Inside

Ice skating can be scary for first-timers, and a few falls are to be expected. However, Sports Beijing coach Mark Simon advises beginners not to lose hope: "Be patient, don't get discouraged the first time you fall down, and get some coaching." He also offers three basic pointers: "Bend your knees, lean slightly forward and keep your head up." Follow this sage advice and get your skating stars-to-be off to a good start by signing up for classes. Try Shunyi's Ice Zone or Solana's All Star Champion Skating Club for a range of private and group lessons for beginners as young as 3. With some protective gear and the right training, your kids will be skating, twirling and shredding the ice in no time.

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When it comes to New Year celebrations, China’s party is longer and more festive than the West’s one-day holiday. Rather than toasting at the stroke of midnight and then immediately embarking on a self-improvement regimen, you can embrace Spring Festival (春节 Chūnjié) by enjoying a seven-day marathon of fireworks, dumpling-eating and colorful traditions that have endured for millennia.

The Year of the Tiger
According to myth, the first emperor held a race for 12 animals, each symbolizing a birth year. The Ox was the fastest animal in the race, but the Rat jumped on the Ox’s back at the last moment and so won the race – relegating the Ox to the second spot in the zodiac lineup. The Tiger followed shortly after, exhausted from swimming across the river.

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Ask people their favorite nursery rhyme, and they’ll rattle off a verse that’s short, melodic, often funny and coupled with body movements. These very qualities are precisely why nursery rhymes are a great way to entertain and bond with your children. Australian/Canadian Helen Robertson discovered a Parent-Child Mother Goose Program in Canada, with her son, now 4. When she and her husband moved to Beijing two years ago, Robertson, who saw how much joy these rhymes brought her child and other parents, took a training course and began the Beijing program in 2008.

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As we approach the end of summer and the swimming pools begin to close, don’t fret about how to keep the kids entertained. You can have a smashing good time all within the confines of your living room. Here are some recommendations for  books, games and DVDs that will stimulate the mind, foster creativity and create a whole lot of fun.  Imogen Kandel and Jessica Pan

Books

Where the Wild Things Are (ages 4 to 8)
by Maurice Sendak

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“Anyone can do it, big or small. Jujitsu is designed for a smaller person to defeat a stronger person”

If sending your kids to learn to wrestle people to the ground sounds like an accident waiting to happen, think again. Born in Japan and developed in Brazil during the early 20th century, jujitsu is as much about self-defense as it is about the ability to take down an opponent.

Chet Quint, an American who has lived in Beijing since 2005, runs Black Tiger Academy, a martial arts school in the CBD that specializes in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and Muay Thai (Thai Boxing). After 2,500 hours on the mat and a year of full-time training in Brazil under Gracie Jiu-Jitsu master Rilion Gracie, Quint earned a coveted black belt. He now holds black belts across a total of five different martial arts.

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, as opposed to other forms of jujitsu, is largely about self-defense. Quint says that most street fights inevitably end up on the floor and it is here that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu reigns supreme.

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Bond while building your core

After the amazing and grueling experience of birth, new moms need a lot of time before their bodies make a full recovery. “Post-natal yoga was my way to gain confidence in my body after having my baby a year and a half ago,” said Isabelle Cyr, a Canadian who now teaches a class at Yoga Yard for moms and their babies. In Cyr’s classes, moms have lots of bonding time – with their babies and also with other moms. Here, Cyr demonstrates a basic workout designed for moms and their babies with 3-month-old Tyler Stokes.

Cow Facing Pose
This pose stretches and opens your hips. The first variation (1) doubles as a breastfeeding position. The second variation (1-3) stretches the upper body, especially the shoulders.

1. Cross legs and stack your right knee on top of your left, keeping each foot turned so that the little toes rest on the floor.

2. Inhale and stretch your right arm out to shoulder height. Rotate arm inward. Exhaling, sweep arm behind you, bending the elbow and walking fingers up the back; palm faces away from the body.

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Old-fashioned fun in the lanes

Bowling gets a bad rap for its associations with tacky venues, bad shoe requirements, and the allegation that bowling isn’t a real sport – but that’s what makes this game so exceptional. Bowling is a common game in which players attempt to score points by rolling a bowling ball along a flat surface into ten pins, arranged in a triangular pattern at the end of a bowling lane. The earliest version of this game dates back to Egypt, but these days bowling is considered one of the easiest ways to plan a kids’ birthday party or get the family involved in some healthy competition.

At first glance, you may think that bowling is easy. That’s partly true, in that just about anyone can toss a bowling ball down the lane. But throwing a strike or even posting a decent score is no easy feat. You may also think that bowling isn’t a sport of great intensity. But you’d be surprised – the game can exercise more than 200 different muscles on the body when you’ve got the correct posture.

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For some kids, the stage has more appeal than a soccer field. The movement of the body is far more interesting than the trajectory of a ball.

“Some kids are more artistically inclined. When you put them on a basketball court or soccer field, they may not perform as well as other kids but they still want to move,” says Derrick Cheong, a hip-hop dance instructor at Pussycat Dance. “Dancing allows a channel for these kids to express themselves and release extra energy.”

In Cheong’s class, with kids aged 10 and up, he warms them up with basic movements like the running man and chest pops, and then teaches them routines that incorporate moves they learn. Although each class builds on the previous one, the routines change each class and allow for spontaneity.

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Junior thespians take the stage

Comedian W.C. Fields once said, “Never work with animals or children.” That sentiment is often heard on the set of Beijing Playhouse’s A Christmas Carol, a production that opens this month. That’s a good thing – at least for the kids. “When child actors are good, they’re just adorable, and they steal the scene,” says Chris Verrill, the theater's founder.

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Young painters explore at 3i Art Center

Michelangelo, Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso all displayed a passion and talent for art before the age of 10 – a testament to how important the formative years are for young artists. “It’s so important for kids to have a good foundation in art and imagination – it will help them their entire life,” says Ivy Yang, founder of 3i Art Center.

The art center, which has branches in Chaoyang and Haidian, offers classes designed to foster inspiration, innovation and imagination – the three i’s behind the name – in young kids, and lessons often appeal to kids’ love of unusual, fun materials.

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