Egg Shakers

Usually before my ballet class starts families show up early. I try really hard to keep the dancers waiting outside the room. This way they don't get all wound up before I need to try to get them organized to start class. But this week, I had a 18-24 month ballet class (so much fun and a new experience for sure!). They just could not wait to come in and explore the room in their tiny pink tutus! So I let them in while we waited for everyone to show up. To give them something to do, I put out egg shakers. I turned on ballet music and we danced around the room with the shakers. Of course they put them in their mouth too (that's how they tell the shape of things when they are that little) but they absolutely loved them. I think I will continue to do this every week!

Do you let the students explore the room before class? Do you put something out for them to explore? Or do you let them in right when class starts? I would love to hear!

Cones

The other day I was in target, and found these in the dollar section! Yahoooo! They have the neatest stuff in that section. Don't you think? I find a lot of stuff there! Anyway, I am planning summer classes today that will be in full swing next week. Here are some ideas I thought we could do with cones:

1) Make pathways to explore locomotor movements in. (ex: straight line, or curvey snake)

2) Leap over them, of course

3) Weaving (with a little prep and practice, I think 3 year olds could do it!)

4) Ice cream cones!

5) Funny shoes...

6) Microphones (I like to sing yeah... yeah... yeah!)

7) Very tall shape statues, use it as the base.

What about you? Do you use cones in your classes? I would love to hear your creative ideas!

Little Helpers

Today in ballet, my 3 year olds became super helpful! It was all their idea. I am sure they get the idea from school. Every time we used a props or star spots, they offered to help me collect them! What a great idea, and a great lesson to incorporate into class. I will add it in from now on. I love when they come up with ideas that enrich the class! I love when they teach me things!

Now I must keep a rotating list of who collected what, when. I am happy to do it, all because they are happy to help!

Do you have little helpers? Star helpers, maybe? I would love to help, ... oh, I mean hear!

Table Cover Prop

Can a plastic table cover be a prop? Have you ever used them in dance class? I am thinking of trying it out but wanted to see if my fabulous readers have ever tried it? I remember going to a workshop with Ann Green Gilbert (total dance education guru) and she recommended cutting them into squares. She says they have a different feel and different look than a scarf and also make noise! I bet the kids would love them! Here's another idea! Use it in one piece to teach teamwork and explore different ways of moving underneath and around it! What do you think?

I would love to hear your ideas on plastic table cover props! (that sounds so silly to say) xo

Purple

Purple, (2nd to pink) the color that 3 year old little girls NEED to have! Yesterday, I taught an important lesson about using different colors. I usually allow the dancers to pick the colors that they want. If I run out of a certain color then they have to pick a color I have. I tell them that sometimes we don't always get the color we want. I find this works for me better than, "you get what you get, and you don't get upset." I always seem to have more upset children with that saying than just picking colors. So, I do it this way.

Yesterday I only had four purple ribbons, and they ALL wanted purple. Usually we can work it out, someone will share their purple and pick another color, but yesterday it was not the case. So we eliminated the purple. Then they wanted pink, the ribbons do not come in pink, so I said "what about red, it's close to pink" (haha) They looked at me like I was crazy!

It all worked out fine in the end, I told them we can still have the same amount of fun no matter what color we dance with. And we did, it was really supper fun! I am pretty sure they will forget about this lesson and want purple all over again next week, but at least I feel like I taught a life lesson with something as simple (big deal for them) as the color purple!

What about you? How do you handle colors? What works best for you? I would love to hear!

Until Next Time...

I have been thinking a lot lately about the way I end my dance classes. For ballet, I sing a song or we do our reverence nice and slow. For creative movement, we become a bear or rabbit or dance our way out with a prop. For tap, we talk about what we are going to practice over the week. I wonder what other creative ways I can explore ending a dance class?

What about you? How do you end your class? Do you have something special you do? Say names, do solos? I would love to hear!

Sharp Hands, Soft Hands

This lesson is shared by Tiffany Braniff of the popular blog Dancing Branflakes! Tiffany says this lesson was adapted from Royal Acadamy Dance Syllabus a long time ago!


Sharp Hands for 3-5 year olds

I have the children sit in a circle and pretend we are about to make a "witches brew." Then I ask, in my witch's voice, what witches wear. We put on our cloak, hat, and pointy nose and begin throwing things in the pot. We throw dragon eye balls, poisoned apples, and whatever gross and scary things we can think of. I make sure we throw them with "sharp hands" with stretched out fingers and palms. We make plopping or sizzling sounds depending on what's getting thrown in. The point is to get the kids to think about their hands and what they are doing. And at the end, we of course drink our poisoned brew then collapse to the ground.

Soft hands for 3-5 year olds
The opposite of sharp hands, we sit in a circle and pretend we are either princesses picking flowers in the ground or fairies picking stars from the sky. We have to do it with gentle fingers as to not crush the flowers or stars, depending on who you are that day. We put either the stars or the flowers back into our baskets for safe keeping. The girls love to tell me what color dress and tiara they are wearing. Then we all get up and pretend we are throwing the flowers onto the ground like flower girls and tossing the stars back into the sky so we can see them later.

Like sharp hands, this exercise helps students pay attention to their fingers and helps with fine motor skills.

Thank you for sharing this lesson with us Tiffany!

Listen, Draw, Move

The third lesson of the week is from Lauren Warnecke of Art Intercepts! Thanks Lauren for sharing this creative lesson!

Lauren says she has tried this lesson on ages 3- adult and has had success!

This lesson plan is a great way to develop sensitivity for musicality and characteristics in movement and music such as accent and tempo. First I have the kids lay in a circle with their heads into the circle. I turn off the lights and play them a piece of music that has a specific quality I want them to grasp. They practice active listening with their eyes closed. While they are listening, I set out a big piece of butcher paper and colored markers or crayons. We then open our eyes and listen to the music again—this time I ask them to “draw what the music looks like” paying attention to what colors they use, what their lines look like (strong and jagged or soft and curved), and taking into account that all of the dancers are making a collaborative piece of art. Once the music ends I hang their art as a back drop and play the song one more time and this time they get to free dance to the music trying to incorporate the qualities we listened to and drew in our artwork.

For contrast, I’ll repeat the entire activity with a totally different song that exhibits opposite qualities from the one we just did. This lesson takes about 30 minutes to complete and is always really fun!

(photo via Menomonee Club)

Pancake Cafe

Props: large tubes with cardboard circles for table tops, coasters, scarves and cushions with parts of plastic tea sets.

The story is that the dancers are visiting the Cafe on a bad day when the toast was burnt and had filled the Cafe with smoke. They had to enter single file holding onto a scarf held by the dancer in front of them. They then had to use the scarf to blow away the imaginary smoke. The pancakes (coasters) were ready to be served but they were very hot so fingers got burnt and pancakes delivered to the wrong tables so there was much changing over from table to table and dropping and picking up of pancakes. Next dance was a slow one where the pancakes were weighed in each hand as there had been some complaints from patrons about not getting the same quality pancake. Other parts of the body became involved in the weighing process. Finally the pancakes were thrown away on the ground and the "sparrows" flew around pecking at the crumbs. After this we tried to be good "waiters" but kept falling over before giving up work and just dancing!





Roz Avent Dance is located in Victoria, Australia. Thank you Roz for this wonderful lesson! Check out Roz's blog for more amazing creative ideas here!

(photos via Roz)

Dora and Diego

This is a lesson shared by Christina Ratatori, a K-5 dance teacher at Elm Creative Arts Elementary School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Christina uses this lesson for her 4 and 5 year old dancers.

To teach pas de chat, I use floor dots (called "dancing dots" with my dancers). We pas de chat over the dots. Before this occurs...

All the girls in the room are referred to as Doras; the boys Diegos. We yell out 'backpack' like in the show (put on our imaginary backpacks) and yell "map" as well. When we take our our maps, I tell the story of how there is a treasure to be found. Uh oh. But there is a hill in the way. We try jumping over the hill. Then marching over the hill. And tip toe over the hill. Nothing works. (This is a great review of our locomotor skills.) The only movement that will work is the special pas de chat. All the Doras pas de chat... then the Diegos... then everyone. The dancers love this! And the lesson ends with a celebration dance using creative movement.


Thank you Christina for sharing this wonderful lesson!

Breakthrough

Have you ever had a child in dance class completely surprise you? Today it happened to me and the result? A big grin on my face! One little boy in my preschool class has not participated in movement since the school year began in September, but today, TODAY! He participated! He danced a duet, he explored with a prop, and shared his ideas as we made a delicious pretend sandwich! It completely made my day! I hope now this breakthrough will carry on for the rest of the school year! Wouldn't that be just fabulous? I think so!

Have your students made any recent breakthroughs? I would love to hear!

Prop Shopping

I have been feeling a bit down today, I think I am sick of winter! Anyone else? While trying to pull myself out of the slump, I thought I would do some fun prop shopping! The props I use are really wonderful but I have been using them for a while and I think the kids are getting used to them. I thought if I could find something exciting and new, it might help put a smile on everyone's face!

The hoops above you can assemble together! Perfect for someone like me who carries all the props around! What creative props do you use?

(props from Oriental Trading Company)