By Josh Waddle, Director of Children’s Education
Improv comedy classes aren’t just for adults who want to feel like kids again. In fact, improv classes for kids can be especially rewarding to your child’s growth and development.
Improv Classes for Kids: How Improv Comedy Classes can Boost Your Child's Creativity and Confidence
Improv classes for kids are often as equally rewarding for the students as they are for the teachers. For kids, they get a safe space to do exactly what kids want to do, play, while teachers get the satisfaction of seeing students come into their own and begin to discover their own sense of self and develop their own unique confidence, all while getting to play around and have fun with their classmates.
Here’s why it’s especially fun to watch kids learn the skills of improv:
Improv skills are simple enough that kids learn them quickly
Children, compared to adults, are often very quick to pick up the basic skills of improv. For children, many already have the unbridled imagination and willingness to look "silly" in front of others, that many adults have lost over the years, both of which are important aspects of being an improviser.
Improv lets kids be kids, while teaching broader life skills
Improv lessons take hold when we take that imagination and silliness and hone them in so that kids can use them to create comprehensive pieces of art. Improvised scenes and games ARE both imaginative and fun, but at the end of the day are also stories with conflicts and interactive characters. The focus and structure that students can learn in these classes, can also be applied to any number of other artistic or educational areas of their lives.
Improv builds on the strengths of the individual and team
As an improviser, one of the most fun, but also most important parts of being a part of a team, is knowing your own strengths as an artist, as well as knowing the strengths of your partners. When performing together, you need to know what it is that you can bring to a scene, as well as what it is that your partners can bring to a scene so that you can both work together to set each other up for success, which will ultimately lead to a better performance.
For students, particularly ones who are approaching or are in their middle school years, this can be wildly helpful in discovering who they are as individuals during a time that they will begin to develop their own unique personalities. One of the beauties of improv is the ability to simultaneously act as a writer and a performer. Students can not only discover themselves in the characters that they portray, but also through the stories that they create on the fly.
What to expect in an improv class for kids
Students can expect to be welcomed into a classroom that is accepting of every child regardless of background and regardless of any sort of prior performing experience. The goal for any improv class is to build a base of the skills that students can use to not only create thoughtful, entertaining improvised scenes, but also skills that they can use in their everyday lives as they grow into young adults.
Skills like public speaking, working as part of a team, quickly thinking and reacting to the unexpected, and the ability to be outgoing and make conversation with new people are built into games and exercises rooted in play. This environment is meant to nurture children's natural creativity and give them a safe space to try a completely new art form where they can safely fail as they learn without consequence. It also allows them to be part of a caring team that is looking to encourage and build each other up for the success of the whole group.
Kids Improv Classses in Columbus, Ohio
Hashtag Comedy offers kids and adult improv classes and workshops in Columbus, OH. Our goal is for students to experience immediate and long term takeaways that positively affect their lives, both on and off stage. Take a look at our upcoming improv classes right here in Central Ohio, or contact us with any questions.