Hello EC Community,
The Chinese New
Year in 2013 is February 10th.
We are saying good-bye to the Dragon, and entering the Year of the
Snake! Here is a lively movement lesson for young children that is based on ideas and traditions of the Chinese New Year. It is designed for a large, unobstructed space, such as a gym.
CHINESE NEW
YEAR
A Dance Celebration
Copyright 2013, Connie Bergstein Dow
MOVEMENT
CONCEPTS COVERED IN THIS LESSON
Body
Awareness, Spatial Awareness, Rhythmic Awareness, Movement Quality, Prop Design and Exploration
SUGGESTIONS
FOR MUSIC FOR THIS LESSON
Selections of Chinese music, preferably cuts that are upbeat and rhythmic
MATERIALS
NEEDED FOR THIS LESSON
A large cloth (red color is preferable), small red (dessert-size) paper plates, black markers
Optional: Visual aids, such as pictures of a
Chinese New Year parade, and pictures of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac
DESCRIPTION
I. Greeting
Dance
Start out the class by asking the children:
Do you know of a special holiday that many
people celebrate this time of year? Explain
that Chinese New Year is very similar to New Year in the United States, but it
doesn’t happen at the same time, and many of the customs are different.
Introduce the greeting dance. This is inspired
by the custom in which families go door-to-door and greet their families and
friends, as a way to start off the New Year. Put on one of the selections of music, and ask the children
to walk to the beat. Then, stop
the music periodically. Each time
you stop, ask them to greet the nearest person. First let them greet them with a “hello” and a wave, but
then ask them to greet someone without words, and then ask them to wave with
different body parts, such as a foot or an elbow.
II. Gross Motor Skills Practice:
Continue the activity by
leading the children in a gross motor skill exercise based on the many animals that represent different years in the Chinese Calendar. (Show the pictures of the various
animals if you have them):
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit,
Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar.
Line the children up on
one side of the large space with plenty of room between each child. Tell them that they will go back and
forth across the space, responding to your instructions. Use the prompts below as a framework
and add your own ideas. Allow the
children to develop each prompt before moving on to the next one.
- It is the year of the Snake -- how does a snake move?
- How would a Monkey move?
- Now can you go across the floor like a Rooster?
- Imagine you are a Dragon. What do you look like? How would you move? Would you fly? Or are you a water dragon?
- Imagine you are a Rat on a dark night. Would you move quietly and swiftly?
- Can you move slowly through the field like a Sheep?
- Now can you gallop through the field like a Horse?
- Imagine you are an Ox pulling a heavy load behind you. How does that change the way you move?
- Can you move like a playful Dog, doing tricks as you go across the floor?
- Can you dart and dodge in a zigzag pattern, imagining you are a Boar?
- Can you run slowly and quietly, and then leap and imagine you are a Tiger?
- Let’s all hop across the floor like a Rabbit!
III. Dragon Parade
For the remainder of
this lesson, you will prepare for the class’s Chinese New Year
celebration. First, ask the
children to make their own dragon faces.
(Bring out the small red paper plates and black markers). Suggest to them that they design the
dragon face on the plate, and then set them aside. Red is the color of Chinese New Year which symbolizes good
luck, so you might want to discuss that as they are drawing. You can also play one of the musical
selections while the children are designing their faces.
Another custom of Chinese
New Year is parades, so explain that they are going to make their very own
parade. Bring out the large
cloth. The children will line up,
and each child holds the cloth either to the side of them, or over their heads
(but not covering their heads). The lead person holds his or her dragon face up high, and the line becomes the "dragon." Play some music, and then let each child take a turn being the dragon's "head" by holding her dragon face high in the air as she leads the line.
For a final celebration
dance, ask the children hold the dragon face he or she has designed, and while the children move freely throughout the space, prompt them to dance about all of the ideas you have talked about: greetings, animals of the Chinese
calendar, parades, dragons, etc.
 |
| MOVING IS LEARNING! |
Happy 2013, and Keep On Dancin',
Connie
What I love about your blog is that you engage children with questions and ask them how an animal moves, etc. I think many adults forget the importance of engaging the child and using questions as the gateway to critical thinking....bravo!
ReplyDeleteYes, I get as many ideas from the children as they get from me! I love to throw out prompts, and have the children interpret the task however they want to approach it. That makes a movement experience much richer while nurturing creativity and problem-solving skills.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Enrique!