It’s quite a challenge learning to juggle and definitely quite addictive! It takes up all of your focus so it’s a great head clearer for stressed adults and brilliant for encouraging concentration and perseverance in children. I’ve heard it described as relaxing and therapeutic as well as frustrating and infuriating!
You don’t have to have the fastest reactions and be the most accurate one handed catcher, to master the basic 3 object juggling pattern, called cascade. When I teach in primary schools I’ll usually use juggling scarves because they have lots of slow floaty material for little hands to easily grab at.
Younger years such as nursery and reception can master normally tricky one handed catches, with just a little encouragement, Years 1-3 will usually manage the cascade pattern with 2 scarves. Years 4-6 can achieve a 3 scarf cascade in about 20-30 minutes. It’s fantastic to watch their sense of achievement.
Teaching secondary pupils and adults I’ll go straight in with juggling balls working from 1 up to 3. As it’s trickier we’ll do lots of fun warm up tricks with 1 ball initially. It’s a great ice breaker to get the teenagers on board. Being the fantastic, different individuals that we are as humans, everyone will have their own progress rate when learning to juggle.
It’s actually quite mathematical as it’s down to numbers and patterns. It often isn’t the most dexterous sporty individuals that get the hang of it first. This is why it’s particularly great in schools, it’s a real leveller. If I had a pound for every time a class teacher has quietly said to me that they were surprised that so and so really took to it, I’d be able to retire!