As Caitlin Reed took a running jump over Austin Anderson, he grinned. Clearly, the young boy enjoyed being not only the jumper, but also the jumpee, at least for a few minutes.

The children are two of the participants in the Tonganoxie Recreation Commissions six-week Tots Tumbling course taught by Jenee Wilbanks, Tonganoxie.

Each Tuesday evening, two sessions of children ages 3 to 5 line up for their gymnastics workout in the cafeteria of Tonganoxie Elementary School.

Abby Reed said her daughter, Caitlin, 3, loves the classes.

Lisa Scheller/Mirror photo

“She calls it ‘dancenastics,'” Reed said. “She has one other little friend, Sammy, who goes there, so they go together they love it.”

The event is a social outing, she said.

“I’m staying home now,” Reed said. “So she’s not getting to do a lot of social things or going to daycare now. I thought she and Sammy could do this together and meet other kids their age and have a good time.”

And for another of the peppy pupils, Darius Shockley, 3, it’s a chance to run off steam.

“It’s pretty neat for him to get out and participate in something, to get active and get the energy out,” said David Shockley, Darius’ father.

But even so, the little one doesn’t seem tuckered out afterward.

“I could run him all day and he still doesn’t like to go to bed,” Shockley said, chuckling.

This marks Wilbanks’ third year of teaching the class for the rec commission.

“I try to keep them active,” she said. “They’re very rambunctious. They have lots of energy.”

The goal of the short course isn’t so much to teach gymnastics.

“Our goal is just for them to have fun and be able to play on the mat and enjoy each others’ company,” Wilbanks said.

And, she also teaches the basics such as how to stand in line, take turns and follow instructions.

The classes, which are taught in the fall and spring, only last 30 minutes.

“We used to try to do a 45-minute session,” Wilbanks said. “Oh, that was just a little too long.”

Wilbanks is assisted by Tonganoxie teen Lauren Donnelly, and by her own daughter, Grae, 9.

Wilbanks, who graduated from Tonganoxie High School in 1990, participated in gymnastics throughout her childhood. She has taught gymnastics to children of all ages in nearby cities.

Currently, she works full time as a medical assistant at a Lansing clinic, so she limits her gymnastics teaching to the two six-week classes.

“It’s very time-consuming,” Wilbanks said. “You have to think of many activities to keep them occupied.”

Some of the basics of the class include skipping, hopping on one foot, front and backward rolls and an occasional cartwheel, Wilbanks said.

Children also pay games such as leapfrog and duck-duck-goose.

“They’re fun activities where they’re able to run and be free for a while but yet learn to come back and listen,” Wilbanks said.

Along the way, she observes their social progress.

“It’s fun watching the kids evolve,” Wilbanks said. “I’ve had some kids start at 3 years old. They used to stand by their mom afraid to get in line and now they run into the gym and say, ‘Bye, Mom.'”