DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY Part 2: A Circle Time Dance Activity

DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Part 2: A Circle Time Dance Activity

Hello EC Community,

As a way to further my passion for offering many different dance opportunities to children, this blog entry is the second in a series of activities based on the daily routine of young children.  They are simple and ready to use!

Movement is a wonderful way to reinforce many of the important concepts of circle time, such as cooperative learning, taking turns in an activity, sharing ideas, and feeling included as part of the group.  Pass the Movement helps children focus on the movements of the other children, contribute ideas, and participate with the group.  The final dance is the accumulation of all the movement ideas contributed by the children.

                                       

                           Pass the Movement

Adapted from One, Two, What Can I Do?  Dance and Music for the Whole Day (Redleaf Press, 2011)

While the children are sitting in the circle, say to them:  Do you know how to play the game Telephone?  You play it with words, by whispering a word into your neighbor's ear, and she passes it along by whispering the same word in the next person's ear.  This game is like that, except we will be passing movements instead of words!  I will think of the first movement, and then one at a time, we will pass it all the way around the circle.

Begin with something simple, such as crossing your arms over your chest and opening them.  After the movement has traveled all the way around the circle, the next person will think of a movement and pass it around.  Once everyone has contributed a movement, try to remember all of the movements with the children, and then do them in sequence.  

Play a selection of music and try all of the movements in order, then try it standing in the circle.  This movement sequence becomes a dance!  You have each contributed a movement idea to the dance, and then put them all together, and performed them with the music of your choice.

PASS THE MOVEMENT!

LET'S TRY ANOTHER ONE!

Tips for expanding the activity:

*Try the same sequence, this time allowing the children to move throughout the shared space, rather than standing in a circle

*Try different musical selections with the movement sequence

*Ask the children which movement in the sequence was their favorite.  At the end of the music, suggest to them that they freeze in a shape from that movement.

Next up in the DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY series: 

Part 3:  A Fun Transition Activity

Keep on Dancin',

Connie

Copyright 2012, Connie Bergstein Dow