Books

Safari Theme Mommy and Me Dance Class

June 13, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

Mommy and me dance classes! They’re so hard and so simple. I am always nervous because the moms are in the room. But, those 18 month old dancers are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!!! Here are some ideas for a safari theme mommy and me class. My mommy and me classes always LOVE animal days.

First we’ll gather in a circle and do a movement rhyme I got from Anne Greene Gilbert’s book Creative Dance for All Ages.

Bounce, bounce, bounce like a ball.

Put your back and your arms and your neck up tall!

Hands in your lap. Look back at the wall.

Balance on your seat! And fall, fall, fall.

Next, we do follow the leader around the room, taking turns being the leader.

Then, we’ll move into our safari theme! I love to hide the pieces of this puzzle around the room. Then, students will take turns finding the pieces. We do a dance activity for each puzzle piece (listed below). If your students can’t take turns, sometimes I’ll have everyone grab a puzzle piece at once and we’ll put together the whole puzzle first. Other times, I’ll keep the puzzle pieces in my bag and let one student at a time grab a piece out of the bag and put it in the puzzle. Grab your own puzzle here!

Zebra: Zebras are a type of horse. They love to gallop! Let’s go galloping throughout the room. Can you gallop with knees up high? Can you gallop with straight legs (i.e. chasse)?

Hippo: Hippos like to hide under the water and open their mouths wide. Then they snatch up a fish for lunch! Can you sneak down low under the water when the music starts? Be super sneaky and slow! When the music stops, FREEZE!

Elephant: What does an elephant say? That’s right! Elephants are pretty noisy. Everybody grab a shaker (maracas), and let’s do a parade! (Follow the leader in a parade. Switch leaders and instruments if you have different kinds). This is what we use for instruments. But, I’ve also used dollar store maracas with great success!

Rhino: Rhinos point their horns forward and CHARGE! at their prey. Can you run as fast as you can when I say CHARGE!? Place moms on one side of the room and kids on the other side. When you say CHARGE!, kids run as fast as they can to their moms!

Alligators: Alligators open their mouths so wide, then SNAP! them shut! Can you open your legs wide (to 2nd position)? Then, SNAP! them shut (jump up and legs snap together). Try this jump (also known as an echappe) several times.

Lion: Lions love to hunt at night, when you’re asleep! Let’s do one of our night time songs! Both of these songs have times when you “go to sleep” then wake up, and do a dance! Check out the details at Late Last Night and The Goldfish Song.

Ostrich: Ostriches bury their heads in the sand! Let’s bury our heads in the sand too! Sit in butterfly (soles of feet “glued” together, knees out wide) and stretch your head down to your toes. This is also a great opportunity to go through your usual stretching sequence.

Giraffe: Giraffes are super duper tall! How tall can you be? Can you tip-toe walk all around the room? Can you tip-toe walk down the balance beam?

Then we read this book:

Eric Carle’s book From Head to Toe is so great for young children! Just go through and do what the book says! For example, “I am a penguin and I turn my head. Can you do it?” Everyone turns their heads side to side.

We usually end class with a tumbling segment. Moms help their kids to do forward and backward rolls on wedge mats, jump off a tall mat, do star jumps off the springboard or trampoline, walk down the balance beam, crawl through a tunnel, and climb over other mat obstacles.

If your students need a break from dancing or a treat to bring home, grab these coloring sheets!

Hope you enjoy!

Shapes Day Dance Class with Skippyjon Jones!

March 30, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

This book is so easy to dance to. It’s one of those books that has a million possibilities! I love to use it with my creative movement and mommy and me classes (ages 1-5). This book goes through several different shapes: rectangle, square, circle, oval, etc., and lists all the ways Skippyjon Jones moves around/through/with those shapes. I created a printout of each shape listed in the book. Grab the printable here! Then, I hung those shapes around the room. After reading through the book and doing a few movements that we felt inspired to do by the book, we took turns picking a shape off of the wall. Then, we did a dancing activity for each shape. Check out the list of activities below.

Get your own copy of Skippyjon Jones shape up here.

Circle: Run in a circle! Hold hands and make a circle. Chasse in a circle while holding hands. Run in a circle while holding hands. Sit down in the circle and go through your usual stretching routine.

Square: Skippyjon salsas on the square. A salsa step looks like this. Can you do it? In salsa you must move your hips. Can you move your hips in a big circle? Can you shake them? Can you move your hips in slow motion? How else can you move your hips?

Triangle: Pick a balancing shape and freeze. Skippyjon was teetering. Teetering means to hold your balance as hard as you can, even if you feel like you’re falling. Can you hold your frozen shape so hard? Let’s go teetering across the balance beam (or across a tape line)!

Oval: Skippyjon orbited an oval. To orbit means to go around. Can you dance around the chair/box/stick/mat/etc. in the middle of the room? Can you spin around it? Kick around it? Can you jump around it?

Stars: Reach as high as you can for the stars. Can you reach higher? I know a song about a star. It’s called Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Do you know it? Will you sing it with me? While we sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, we do a “dance” to it based on the traditional motions. Twinkle (Lean left and twinkle your fingers) , Twinkle (Lean right and twinkle your fingers) Little star (Squat down into a tiny ball, then explode up into a star jump). How I wonder (arms out and shrug your shoulders) what you are (cross your feet and turn around). Up above the world so high (reach as high as you can), Like a diamond in the sky (make a diamond with your fingers and arc your diamond fingers overhead). Twinkle (Lean left and twinkle your fingers) , Twinkle (Lean right and twinkle your fingers) Little star (Squat down into a tiny ball, then explode up into a star jump). How I wonder (arms out and shrug your shoulders) what you are (cross your feet and turn around).

Crescent: Skippyjon Jones rocked the crescent. Can you sit down in tuck position and rock and roll? (Hold your knees in to your chest and roll back onto your back, then forward back to sitting). A crescent shape is like the moon. When the moon comes out, it’s dark outside. Let’s dance in the dark! (Turn off the lights and get out your flashlights! The flashlights I use are in this post). OR, when it’s dark outside, it’s time to go to sleep. Let’s dance to this song about going to sleep: Late Last Night or The Goldfish Song.

Heart: Skippyjon Jones tugs at your heart! Sometimes we’ll do a tug of war for this. Or, we’ll do turns with our hands on our hearts. Or, we’ll do a “reverence” from ballet, because that means thank you from my heart. Or we might sit on my heart blanket and read a story. Or we might notice that Skippyjon Jones has a heart shaped balloon in the book and play The Balloon Game!

Two Rectangles: Skippyjon jones pumps two rectangles to get super strong. Can you do push-ups with me to get really strong arms?

Diamond: Do you remember a song we sang that had the word “diamond” in it? (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star). Let’s do it one more time! OR, Skippyjon Jones balances a diamond on his nose. Can you balance this bean bag on your nose? Can you balance it on your shoulder? On your head?

Octagon: Skippyjon Jones STOPPED at the octagon stop sign. Let’s play freeze dance. When the music stops, make sure you STOP, too!

Have fun dancing shapes with Skippyjon Jones Shape Up!

Dancing a Book About Birds

March 19, 2016 by Erika 1 Comment

Birds are so fun to dance about! I mean, they’ve been done a few times before (Swan Lake, Firebird, Rockin’ Robin…), but my preschoolers love them, too! The book Birds by Kevin Henkes has great illustrations and a lot of movement evoking words! It’s a great book for dance class. The illustrations are just awesome! Here’s what I do when we read this book in class:

Read the first six pages through “just their shapes”. I love this picture of silhouetted bird shapes.

In my class, we always practice moving for eight counts, then freezing in a shape for eight counts. Sometimes we’ll do freeze dance. We also sometimes play the Body Parts Shape Game. But, what I really want to try sometime is doing backlit shapes with a spotlight and a sheet. I just need to get a powerful light to shine on the back of a dancer, while the dancer is standing behind a hanging sheet. Then you could see their silhouettes and try to make the same shape as them. I think that idea would be so cool! I just need the right equipment…

Read the next page through “or any size in between.”

For this page we do Big Land/Little Land, an idea I got from Anne Green Gilberts’ book Creative Dance for All Ages. I set up cones down the middle of the room (you could also do small mats, dance spots, a tape line, etc.). On one side of the line is “little land”. When you dance on this side of the cones, show me how small you can be, like a tiny hummingbird. How little can you move? If you’d like to cross the cones do a one foot hop (or step of the cat, leap, tuck jump, etc.) to go to the other side. On the other side of the cones is big land! Over here, move as big as you can,like the big pink flamingo! Remember, if you want to cross to the other side, do a one foot hop over the cones!

You could also go through different movements for the different birds (Flamingo: stand on one leg. Hummingbird: small and quick movements. Owl: swoop and dive. Seagull: jump and peck).

[Read more…]

The Snowy Day

February 17, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

I don’t know about where you live, but here in Tennessee, we’ve had a LOT of snow lately. Too much, in my opinion. In fact, when I see snow on the ground, I prefer to do something like this:

Unfortunately, my kids like to do something like this:

So, for the children’s sake, I think it’s time to pull out an old friend: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

This book is the BEST for teaching pathways! I love to follow the footprints in the story and then follow footprints on the ground in our classroom. Here’s how I do class with this book:

Welcome to Class and Warm Up:

Who can show me how snow falls? Does it fall heavy and hard? Or soft and light? When I turn on the music, I want to see lots of dancers like falling snow. Can you fall quickly and slowly? How can you move very lightly and quietly like snow? Snow is not loud.
What else happens when there is snow? Is it warm? Or is it cold? And what happens when water gets really, really cold? It turns into ice! It freezes! When I turn on the music, walk around the room lightly on your toes, like a very, very light snowflake, but when the music stops, freeze in an interesting shape! If shapes are not very interesting, remind the children that every snowflake is different. Therefore, all the shapes should be unique and interesting.

STORYTIME!

Read beginning of story through “…pointing in, like that:”

Look at the foot prints in the snow. Every time he walked, he made a foot print. Look how his feet point in and out. Everyone stand up. Try turning your toes in and out. Can you walk like Peter with your feet pointed in and out? Are you leaving in and out footprints behind you? Can you turn around and walk backwards in and out? What about sideways?

Continue reading the next page through “…that made a new track”

What does the word “drag” mean? Usually it means heavy and slow. Can you drag your feet? When I beat my drum (clap my hands, shake maracas, turn on music, etc.), show me how you can drag your feet very heavy. What else can you drag? Can you drag an arm, a leg, an elbow? Remember that dragging is heavy and slow.

[Read more…]

Dinosaurumpus!

February 8, 2016 by Erika Leave a Comment

This book is so great for classes that are getting into a rut. I love it because boys and girls both enjoy the story, you can throw in technique as you go, and have a big creative portion at the end, right along side the book!

Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton is my “grand finale” of a dinosaurs themed class. First, I’ll put up pictures of six dinosaurs, printable here. Then, I have cut out some leaves and flowers out of green and orange poster board. I cover up each dinosaur picture with a large leaf or flower. Written on the back of the flowers and leaves are different parts of our warm-up and technique portions of class. These could include: warm-up, stretch, kicks, movement rhyme, barre, etc. When students arrive, I tell them that we have come to the jungle today! There is something hiding behind all those flowers, but I don’t know what it is. Have students take turns removing the flowers and leaves and doing the activity on the back. Slowly, they’ll uncover all the dinosaurs. Then, we get to pick dinosaurs!

This is Deinonychus. She loves to run super duper fast! How fast can you run? Kick? Gallop? Chasse? Let’s do fastland/slowland. Line up some cones, mats, or a piece of tape across the middle of the room. One one half of the room, do movements as quickly as you can. You can dance any way you want (kick, wiggle, jump, roll, big, small, etc.) as long as it is fast! On the other half of the room, move as slowly as you can. Can you slow motion walk? Kick? Balance? (This idea is from Anne Greene Gilbert’s Creative Dance for All Ages).

Sometimes, instead of Fastland/Slowland, we’ll do animal races instead. Details here.

Pteranodon swoops and swirls in a loop. A loop is like a circle. Can you run run leap in a big circle around the room? Hold hands and make a circle. Let’s chasse together in a circle. Can you squish together little circle? Pull out big circle?

Apatosaurus swings his tail with a thwack, thwack, thwack. Today I have a ribbon tail for everyone! Give a ribbon to each child. Dance with your ribbon. Draw a rainbow overhead. Turn and make a circle around your body with your ribbon. Run and let your ribbon fly behind you! Throw and catch your ribbon. Shake and wiggle your ribbon. Put your ribbon on the floor and jump over it! Show me your favorite way to dance with a ribbon! Then, smash your ribbon into a little ball inside your hand. Put the ribbon back in my bag.

Stegosaurus loves to clatter her bony back plates. Everyone come get a shaker (maraca, plastic jar with beads inside, bells, etc.). Let’s shake to the beat of the music. Can you march and shake? Shake up high. Down low. Let’s make a shaker parade. Everybody follow me this way! Give each student a turn to be the leader.

T-Rex loves to dance in his very own way! Everyone close your eyes and think in your head, what is your favorite way to dance? Don’t tell me! Just think it inside your head. Do you like to jump? Turn? Crawl? Explode? When I turn on the music, show me your best way to dance!

For older students (4 and up…ish) make a dance that goes from this wall to the mirror (or this corner to the speakers, etc.) that has your two (or 3) favorite ways to dance in it. Add a beginning and ending shape. Practice it lots of times until it’s perfect! Take turns sharing your dances with a partner or the class.

Triceratops has three horns on his head. He likes to do dinosaur hops! Let’s do dinosaur hops going one foot, one foot, two feet! (Or, front, front back, or two feet, two feet, turn around, etc.) Do a hop sequence that your class is capable of.

Finally, read the story: Dinosaurumpus! As you go through the story, review the steps that you did for each individual dinosaur as you found them in the jungle. As time permits, create a class dance that puts all the dinosaur steps together. This will be your class “dinosaurumpus!” Maybe you will go, march in a parade, dinosaur hops, leap in a circle, run to the side, pick up your ribbon, and do your own dance across the floor.

Then, the dinosaurs are so tired, they all fall asleep. Everyone lay down. Do either Late Last Night or The Goldfish Song (click for details) as your goodbye dance.

And if you still have time (or want to send them home with the kids), here are some dinosaur coloring pages.