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Here is a list of some of the many reasons for learning circus skills:
 
Fun – First and foremost children really enjoy both watching and learning circus skills.
 
Concentration – Learning a circus skill encourages you to focus on one task for a long period of time. It is easy to focus on the circus skill because it is fun, and the goal of being able to do the skill is highly appealing. Then this new found ability to concentrate can be applied to less exciting tasks.
 
Coordination – Learning these circus skills improves hand-to-eye coordination. This can help with other sports and has also been shown to be related to reading and writing skills.
 
Confidence and Self-Esteem – Being able to do impressive things improves your confidence in yourself. The fact that other people will also find the skills impressive increases confidence and self-esteem even further.
 
Exercise – it encourages children to be active. It gets them away from the television and computer by giving them something fun and constructive to do that’ll help keep them fit. It’s also great because it doesn’t require much space.
 
Relaxation – Some people compare learning circus skills like juggling to meditation. It encourages you to clear your mind of other things and focus on the slow, repetitive and calming pattern of the juggling balls rising and falling in front of you. A great form of stress relief and ideal as a break while studying other things.
 
Non-Competitive – Or, to look at it another way, instead of competing with others you’re only competing with yourself. Most physical activities have a competitive element but circus skills do not. They are creative and artistic while still being energetic.
 
Leveller – Circus is a great leveller. In general, boys aren’t better than girls and smart kids aren’t better than sporty ones. People of different sizes and shapes are not at an advantage over other people. Everyone is equal. The people who do the best at circus skills are merely the ones most determined to learn. This is especially good because it engages children who are less enthusiastic about learning other sports.
 
Limitless – You can never reach a stage where you have a mastered a circus skill. There is always room for improvement. No matter how good you get you can always make a skill more difficult.
 
Open – There is no right and wrong way of doing things. You can be as creative as you like, or follow a set path – whichever appeals to your nature.
 
Learning How To Learn – Learning circus skills teaches you how to break down problems into manageable chunks. Accepting that dropping is an important part of learning gives you a healthy attitude to the learning process. It teaches you that when something is difficult that can be a good thing because when you’ve finally learnt it you’ll have a tremendous sense of satisfaction.
 
Every Child Matters – Two of the Every Child Matters outcomes which your school needs to achieve are “being healthy” and “enjoying and achieving”. Circus skills are an ideal activity to get children away from the television or computer and out playing actively in the sun. They are fun and non-competitive and it’s easy to measure achievement and break it down into small sections so they can see how well they are progressing.