Snow Around the Clock - Let's Dance!

    Hello from snowy, cold Chicago! It's Miss Carole of Macaroni Soup, and I've got a lively dance for you to warm up your students AND encourage them to listen to instruction.

   I recorded "SNOW Around the Clock” on my Season Sings cd, but you could use any lively music that you can stop and start. No, it’s not a freeze dance exactly, but it does have an element of “freeze” – to listen for the instruction. On a wintery day if you can’t get outdoors, this activity will get some of the wiggles out!

The song (yes, the original which I recorded with permission was sung by Bill Haley, new lyrics by me):

"Freeze!  Blue!"

1-2-3 o’clock, 4 o’clock – SNOW!

5-6-7 o’clock, 8 o’clock – SNOW!

9-10-11 o’clock, 12 o’clock – SNOW!

When is it going to stop?  FREEZE!

I’ve got snow on my hands, snow on my toes

Everywhere I look there’s more snow snow snow!

I’ve gotta shake my hands and shake my feet

I’ve gotta shake snow off to this jazzy beat

I’m gonna shake’n’shake’n’shake from my head down to my feet!

   You’ll need:  colored circles or shapes in 4 or 5 colors.  I picked up the 6” fun-foam dots pictured here in the clearance bin of a teacher store - cheap!  You could use construction paper, but it probably won’t be good for more than one use. You could also buy the foam and cut squares or circles.

I invite the children to name the colors we’ll be using, then help place the dots on the floor. The rules of the game:

1. You can dance anywhere without stepping on a dot while the music plays.

2. When the music stops, listen for the teacher to call out a color.  

    (I pause the music until everyone has found a dot.)

3. Put one foot on a dot of the called color. Dots can be shared.

4. When the music resumes, DANCE!  Repeat sequence.

  

Be-bop together!

   It’s that simple! Some children dance together. Some solo. Everyone has fun!

   I love it because we share, we listen, we communicate (“Hey Martin – there’s room for you on my dot!”) AND we are getting our brains and bodies fired up with Active Music!                          Hooray!

   At the end of the dance, each child brings me 1-2 dots and we’re ready to sit and do something less active, but just as exciting – a fingerplay, song with motions or sing-a-book. How about The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats, with a Snowball Freeze Fight in the middle?  Check out my FEBRUARY 16, 2014 BLOG for that one – it’s my claim to fame!

   "SNOW Around the Clock" is also fun at home or for a birthday party!  Come on, let's have fun and celebrate winter - whether you live in a snowy part of the country or not!

    I'm working on booking a tour in Colorado at the beginning of July! Want to have a Macaroni Soup concert at your camp, library or summer school program?  

...AND I may be heading to Upstate NY at the beginning of May - call me if you'd like to bring fun and learning through music and movement to your town!

Yours for a Snowy Song!

Carole Stephens

Macaroni Soup! Active Music for Active Learners!

847.384.1404