Apennines: playing on the snow, courage rises to high altitude
What is the best way to teach children to ski? In this phase, the figure of the ski instructor assumes great importance, external to that of the parents who usually are loaded with expectations and with whom the children concentrate less because of too much confidence. The instructor or instructor, on the other hand, is proposed as a "guide who applies educational strategies specific to the analysis of behavior. Modeling, positive reinforcement, fading, chaining, are just some of the procedures used to facilitate learning, which promote motivation and strengthen self-efficacy, a necessary building block for building self-esteem ". At high altitudes, with skis on, it is also easier to stimulate proprioception, also known as the sixth sense, or the "sense of position and movement of the limbs and body that occurs independently of sight". This is because skiing is an activity that develops agility and neuro-motor coordination and balance. It is not based on strength but on stability, which in children is favored by the low center of gravity.
Today there are teaching aids that make snow sports more fun than ever. Matteo Pulli, director of Gea Fun Experience, knows something about it: "The equipment we put in the school camps are not just funny figures, but they help simplify learning and stimulate the beginner's acquisition of the basic motor sequences of skiing through play ". Arches and passages are used, for example, to make children flex on their knees and learn the movement of the legs to bend, while the cones are positioned to teach them to avoid them by making curves ». Also in Schia (PR) there are Gea's didactic games that encourage children to repeat the path and therefore to play longer.
But the mountains are not just skiing: «You can experience the slopes in an adventurous way - concludes Pulli - even aboard bobsleds, sleds, rafts or snow bikes without pedals. Safe and easy to use, they give emotions right from the first descent ». The whole family can fully enjoy the equipment that GEA includes in the numerous Baby Parks and playgrounds in the snow throughout northern Italy. The closest to Parma, reachable in a couple of hours, are in Piane di Mocogno (MO) and in Cimone (MO) area.
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