When you are looking into gymnastics lessons for your toddler there is a lot more to consider besides just the price of the gymnastics lessons. If you are really serious about your toddler learning gymnastics then you will want to get the equipment that they will need to work on their skills at home.
All of the equipment put together will cost you somewhere between $200.00 and closer to a thousand dollars. This is for pretty much all of the equipment that your young gymnast will need in order to practice everything at home and especially on the days when they might not have classes.
The reason for this high price as well as the wide range is because there is a lot of things that you can buy for your toddler to practice their gymnastics at home. But this can be worth it in order to teach your child as much about gymnastics at an early age as possible. All of these things put together can become much like a playground for your child, but let me break up the cost so that you can see the cost of the individual things that you should consider buying.
The Gymnastics Mat
If you get nothing else for your toddler then one of the most important things that you should get is a gymnastics mat for them to practice rolling around on. These usually cost somewhere between $30.00 to $80.00 but sometimes you can get them on sale for cheaper or can get a really expensive one that costs more than this.
At the toddler age they will not be doing anything technical just yet, so mostly they will be working on things like their forward and backward rolls and things like that. For this reason it is more important to pick a gymnastics mat that has plenty of cushion to it and less important to pick one that is stiff enough for them to do the more detailed skills.
Having plenty of cushion when they are first starting out will get your toddler used to doing their rolls and things without any hesitation or fear that they might get hurt and it also lets them practice a lot more comfortably than they would on a hard or even carpeted floor.
Finally, the gymnastics mat will also continue to be used as your gymnast gets older. It will also be something that is needed with the other gymnastics equipment that you will need to get, like the floor balance beam just in case they fall off of this so that they do not get hurt.
The Gymnastics Bar
A gymnastics bar is another one of the things that your toddler can practice swinging on at home and, though they are probably still too young to really be able to do this, they can even try to do pull ups to the bar – or, more likely, to pretend that they are doing pull ups to the bar.
The bar is something that can cost anywhere between $70.00 to a few hundred dollars for one that you can have at your home. However, if you go with one of the more expensive options then you are likely to end up getting one that allows the bar to be adjusted higher as your young gymnast grows, therefore letting you keep it longer when you would otherwise have to buy a new one.
Getting one like this will make it much more cost effective, but you also would have to take into consideration the quality of what it is made out of as well as the amount of weight that it can support. Even if it can be adjusted higher, if it is not durable enough to last until your toddler grows then it will wear out before your young gymnast is tall enough for a taller size.
Then again, there is also the fact that if you are very good with your hands you also have the option to build you own. Though this will still cost something for the tools and materials that you would need in order to do it, this can make the cost much closer to the $70.00 and can be made to adjust the bar higher.
The Gymnastics Floor Beam
Since you should not have your toddler practicing on a balance beam off of the ground just yet – even if they could get up onto it – a beam that is on the floor and is raised only a few inches is a great option. These cost anywhere between $30.00 to $200.00 for one that has a setup so that it can be attached at the ends and raised up when the gymnast gets old enough for them to need this.
If you buy a good beam that can be raised up as your gymnast grows and gets to the higher levels, this can save you from having to buy one that is raised later on. On the other hand, buying one that does not do this will often let you fold it up when your toddler is not using it which can be great if you are tight on space.
Either way, it can be dangerous to have a raised beam that your toddler could potentially fall off of, which is why having one that is only a few inches off of the floor is so important since it keeps them safe while getting them used to the width of the balance beam while they practice doing various things on it or even simply walking back and forth on it to get comfortable around it.
The Gymnastics Clothes
This is one that can vary quite a bit in price. Sometimes toddlers are allowed to wear anything that is comfortable and not too loose to gymnastics classes as long as these do not have any snaps, buttons, or zippers that might catch on anything. In this case you will likely not need to buy anything at all for your toddler to wear.
Most of the time, however, toddlers are required to wear leotards or something like a leotard. These usually cost somewhere between $20.00 to $80.00 for a toddler size and can sometimes be the gym’s way of making sure that everyone is wearing what they are supposed to.
One thing that is really important when getting a leotard is getting one that fits and not one that your toddler will grow into. Getting one of these that does not fit right will be almost sure to rub in places which is certainly not something that you want to happen.
Not only can this giver your toddler a bit of a rash in that spot from the rubbing, but it can also make it harder for them to focus on learning and can even make them learn to dislike gymnastics in general if their young minds learn to associate the gymnastics with pain and discomfort due to a poorly fitting gymnastics leotard.
Other Items
Finally, there are a few other optional items of things that you can get for your toddler to help them with their gymnastics at home. One of these is something called octagon barrels that can be played with and which in particular can help your toddler learn to do things like backbends as they stretch backwards over it. These can come in a wide variety of sizes and are a great way to help get a young gymnast comfortable with going backwards.
A small springboard is another piece of gymnastics equipment that you can get and this one will help your toddler get used to bouncing up and down on it, which is something that they will need to be comfortable with by the time that they get old enough to start working on the first of their vaults.
Then there are also wedges and stairs that are made out of a soft material, both of which can help your gymnast work on their coordination and balance without risking them falling down any actual stairs that they might try to climb.