Last updated: October 24, 2026
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Okay, I may have done some outlandish things in the name of child development, but my kids aren’t actually joining the circus.
Officially, anyway.
We have been working on walking on stilts, juggling, and I may or may not have just ordered a unicycle.
Why?!
As a pediatric OT and self-proclaimed child development nerd, I keep stumbling upon studies about how this type of “circus training” may help with things like focus, impulse control, confidence, and emotional regulation.
Here’s the short answer: circus skills for kids, like juggling, stilt walking and balancing, challenge bilateral coordination, visual tracking, timing and motor planning all at once. In a qualitative study of about 50 young people in a social circus program in Turkey, researchers observed less impulsive behavior, better turn-taking and growing confidence within a few months.
You KNOW I’m going to try anything that makes building these skills more fun. So let’s talk about what the research actually says, why juggling is one of my favorite brain-body activities, and how to work on the same foundations at home (no unicycle or ER visit required).
What Are the Benefits of Circus Skills for Kids?
Early research suggests circus skills for kids may support impulse control, focus, confidence and social connection. The best-known example comes from social circus, the use of circus arts to support personal and social growth rather than to train professional performers.
In a study published in 2019 in the Journal of Refugee Studies, researchers from Radboud University observed about 50 children and teens at Sirkhane, a social circus school in Mardin, Turkey(Van Es, Rommes, & De Kwaadsteniet, 2019).
Most participants were Syrian refugee youth ages 12 to 16 who practiced juggling, acrobatics, aerials and balancing. Through observations and interviews, researchers reported some pretty interesting benefits:
- Reduced impulsive behavior
- Improved ability to wait their turn and stay focused
- Increased confidence and self-esteem
- Better control of their movements and energy
- More positive social interactions
The authors call this preliminary evidence and note that some changes may come from structured activity in general. Pretty fascinating, right?!
Why Does Walking on Stilts Build Trust?
Stilt walking builds trust because beginners can’t do it alone. When you’re wobbling around on stilts, suddenly you have to trust the person helping you stay upright!
The Sirkhane researchers saw this play out in real time. One teacher described how new stilt walkers grip a helper’s hand tightly at first, then lean on that support less as they discover the instructions actually work. Before long, kids were helping each other strap on their stilts and walk, which teachers read as growing trust between peers.
That matters developmentally. Trust, cooperation and co-regulation (borrowing calm and steadiness from another person) are part of how kids learn to handle hard things. Stilts make that lesson very literal.
The takeaway: the helper’s hand is part of the activity, not a crutch. For parents, your spotting doubles as connection, built right into the movement. It gives your child a safe base to try something hard, wobble, and try again.
Why Is Juggling Such a Powerful Brain-Body Activity?
Juggling is a powerful bilateral coordination challenge, meaning it requires both sides of the body to work together. Unlike activities where one hand takes the lead, juggling requires both hands to work together rhythmically while the eyes track moving objects and the brain constantly anticipates what comes next.
The two hemispheres of our brain have different areas of specialization, but they are constantly communicating and working together. Juggling challenges the brain to coordinate information across both sides of the body, engaging networks involved in timing, attention, visual processing, and motor planning.
These aren’t just skills we need for juggling! Efficient coordination between brain networks helps us shift our attention, adapt when something doesn’t go as planned, organize our movements, and respond more flexibly to the world around us.
In other words, the goal isn’t to raise a great juggler. It’s to support a more organized, adaptable brain for LIFE.
What Happens in the Brain When You Learn to Juggle?
Learning to juggle produces measurable changes in brain structure, at least in adults. In a 2004 study in Nature, Bogdan Draganski and colleagues at the University of Regensburg scanned adults before and after three months of juggling practice (Draganski, et al., 2004).
The jugglers showed increases in gray matter (the brain tissue where processing happens) in areas that handle visual motion and spatial attention. A non-juggling comparison group showed no change. When the jugglers stopped practicing, those increases shrank again.
A 2009 follow-up from Heidi Johansen-Berg’s team at the University of Oxford, published in Nature Neuroscience, found changes in white matter (the brain’s communication wiring) after six weeks of juggling training (Scholz, et al., 2010). The changes didn’t depend on how skilled people became. Time spent practicing seemed to matter more than performance.
The takeaway for parents: the brain responds to the practice, not the performance. These studies involved adults, so results in kids may differ.
Which Foundational Skills Does Juggling Build?
Juggling challenges SO many of the foundational skills we work on in pediatric OT. I love how Sally Goddard Blythe, author of The Well Balanced Child, puts it when discussing juggling: “A well lateralized brain is a more organized brain!” (A lateralized brain is one where each side settles into its specialties and the two sides communicate efficiently.)
- Bilateral coordination: Getting both sides of the body to work together.
- Visual tracking: Following moving objects with the eyes and coordinating what the eyes see with what the hands do.
- Timing and rhythm: Learning to anticipate, sequence, and time movements.
- Motor planning: Organizing and adjusting movements in real time.
- Attention and focus: Staying engaged while coordinating multiple moving parts.
All of these skills play a role in how efficiently children navigate everyday activities, from classroom tasks to sports, play, and learning new things. Retained primitive reflexes, like the ATNR (asymmetrical tonic neck reflex), can make these same skills harder, which is why reflex integration sits at the heart of my approach.
Can Juggling Improve Focus or School Performance?
Juggling won’t automatically improve a child’s focus or grades, but it challenges the underlying skills that support them. Does learning to juggle automatically improve a child’s focus, flexible thinking, or school performance? Of course not. It gives us a really fun way to challenge some of the underlying skills involved.
Circus skills are just one fun way to engage these systems that support development, attention, and self-regulation, including skills that can be particularly challenging for kids with ADHD. Rhythm and timing work, like the metronome activities we use in Focus in 15®, targets similar foundations.
Think of movement as one piece of the foundation. It works alongside whatever support your child already has, whether that’s teachers, therapists, or the plan you’ve built with your child’s doctor.
The takeaway: movement supports the foundation that learning sits on. You can’t build a house on a shaky foundation, and playful practice is one of the most enjoyable ways to shore it up.
Why Did My Son Pick Up Circus Skills So Much Faster?
My son learned circus skills faster than my daughter, and I suspect years of foundational movement practice played a part. Many of you know that Focus in 15® was born out of the activities I started doing with my son to help him with some of the challenges he was facing in school and beyond.
Because of that, I’ve done these exercises with him much longer (and more consistently) than I have with my daughter. Something interesting happened when we started practicing our circus skills.
He picked them up SO much faster.
Now, some of that is absolutely because he’s a few years older. Still, I can’t help thinking that those few years of working on balance, bilateral coordination, timing, and motor planning may have something to do with it, too.
I can’t prove it, of course, but as an OT, it’s pretty fun to watch and it’s inspired me to refocus these efforts with my daughter!
How Can You Build Circus Skills at Home Without a Unicycle?
You don’t actually need stilts, juggling balls, or a unicycle to work on these foundations. Everyday household items can challenge the same systems in a few minutes a day. Here’s how each circus skill translates:
| Circus skill | Foundation it challenges | Easy at-home version |
|---|---|---|
| Juggling | Bilateral coordination, visual tracking, timing | Toss a balloon or rolled-up sock from hand to hand in a steady rhythm |
| Stilt walking | Balance, body awareness, trust | Walk heel-to-toe along a line of painter’s tape on the floor |
| Unicycle | Core stability, balance, motor planning | Stand on one foot while counting to 10, then switch |
| Acrobatics | Strength, body awareness, motor planning | Bear crawls and crab walks down the hallway |
That’s what we’re doing every day inside Focus in 15®. Through playful, purposeful movement, we’re challenging these same foundational skills in ways that are approachable for kids and easy to fit into everyday life.
If you don’t particularly feel like risking a trip to the ER trying to teach your child to ride a unicycle, I completely understand. 😂
FAQs: Circus Skills for Kids
Q: Are circus skills good for kids with ADHD? A: Circus skills challenge balance, timing, coordination and attention, areas that can be harder for many kids with ADHD. They can be a fun, supportive part of a daily routine. They aren’t a treatment for ADHD, and they work best alongside the care your child already has.
Q: How do I teach my child to juggle? A: Start with one scarf or ball tossed from hand to hand at eye level. Scarves fall slowly, which gives kids more time to track and catch. Add a second object once the rhythm feels steady, and treat drops as part of learning.
Q: Are stilts safe for kids? A: Stilts can be a great balance challenge with close supervision. Spot your child for those first attempts, practice on a flat surface, and start low. It is MUCH more difficult than it looks!
Q: What is social circus? A: Social circus uses circus arts like juggling, acrobatics and balancing to support personal and social growth instead of training professional performers. Programs like Sirkhane in Mardin, Turkey use it to build confidence, trust and connection among children facing hard circumstances.
Q: Does juggling make kids smarter? A: No research shows juggling raises intelligence. Brain imaging studies in adults show that learning to juggle changes brain structure in areas linked to visual motion and spatial attention. For kids, the value is practicing coordination, timing and focus in a playful way.
So C’mon…Join Our Circus! 🎪
Circus skills for kids are one playful way to challenge balance, bilateral coordination, timing and trust, and early research on social circus and juggling backs up what many OTs see in practice. You don’t need a big top to build these foundations. A few minutes of intentional movement a day is a strong place to start.
If you’d like a full library of OT-designed movement activities that do exactly this, join Focus in 15®.
P.S. If you decide to try stilts, PLEASE spot your child for those first attempts. It is MUCH more difficult than it looks!
Research mentioned:
Van Es, V., Rommes, E., & De Kwaadsteniet, L. (2019). Building resilience by becoming a circus artist. Journal of Refugee Studies, 34(1), 760–786. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fez091
Draganski, B., Gaser, C., Busch, V., Schuierer, G., Bogdahn, U., & May, A. (2004). Changes in grey matter induced by training. Nature, 427, 311–312.
Scholz, J., Klein, M. C., Behrens, T. E. J., & Johansen-Berg, H. (2009). Training induces changes in white-matter architecture. Nature Neuroscience, 12(11), 1370–1371. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2412
Goddard Blythe, S. The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning.
This post is for educational purposes only and isn’t a substitute for individualized evaluation, therapy, or medical care. Always supervise children during balance and circus activities.