Juggling

In these traditional juggling workshops, students learn to juggle balls and bean bags. They begin with basic steps and progress accordingly. Confidence soars as they learn the value of perseverance while also enhancing concentration skills and coordination.

Like many of ROL’s activities, juggling is a bi-lateral activity that exercises both sides of the brain. “While kids learn to juggle, they are using the left side of the brain; when they’re juggling, they’re using the right side. After they have been juggling for a while, both sides of the brain are active,” explains renown juggling guru and teacher David Finnigan. He points out that learning to track objects with the eyes improves students’ reading abilities. Teachers back this up with their own experiences when they have witnessed students’ reading skills improve with juggling.

Juggling is used in many schools across the country as a recess alternative, P.E. activity, or as a break within the classroom. Teachers and administrators have witnessed the benefits of juggling, including: focus, coordination, fine motor skills, reading and behavior. (http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr393.shtml)

Juggling appeals to athletes and non-athletes alike. No coach is necessary, and this activity can be practiced at home.

In a study conducted by Dr. Arne May and colleagues at the University of Regensburg in Germany, people who spent three months learning to juggle showed enlargement of certain areas in the cerebral cortex, the thin sheet of nerve cells on the brain's surface where most higher thought processes take place. They were then asked to quit juggling completely, and three months later the enlarged areas of the cortex had started to shrink.

There is nothing trendy about the art of juggling; it has been in recorded history for more than 4,000 years.