Today's Shake and Swerve was a tad hit and miss. There are a couple of reasons for that. First, I run all my activities in a 2 week loop. We take one week to learn them and get used to them and the second week we really get into them all. The other reason is that there were a few new parents there. Most of the kids who attended are the regulars. The ones whom I've gotten to know since September. I love them, they love me and we all get along really well! With the two new adults, it took a little time to loosen up. It never ceases to amaze me just how out of sync a child can get when one little thing has changed. Oh well.
We greeted each other with the super simple song: Hello! How are you?
Afterwards we stretch each arm across our bodies and count to 5. We stretch up high and down low to our toes. Then we finish our warm up with a little chant called dance your fingers.
Dance your fingers up
Dance your fingers down
Dance your fingers to the sides
Dance them all around
Dance them on your shoulders
Dance them on your head
Dance them on your tummy
Now put them all to bed!
Once warmed up, we went into our first couple of activities
First was Tooty Ta! By Dr. Jean.
Very repetitive, but kids this age thrive on repetition. It creates security and comfort. They're more apt to participate when they know what's coming. Anyway, it's great fun.
Next we played a sit down game called Who has the magic hat? I used the magic hat I use for storytimes. It's a game to learn names better and with a group that's as small as mine, it's quick and easy to. You start with the hat on your head and you chant
I have the magic hat. What do you think of that? x2
Take it off and pass it to ________. You name another child or adult in the group. They then walk over and pass the hat. Continue until the hat comes back to the first person who had it.
The next song with did was Boom Chica Boom! By the learning station. Honestly, I thought this would be more popular than it was. A couple of the kids simply stopped participating. Luckily it's short and we had the parachute coming next.
Ok, if you've never experimented or used parachute play in your story times or other programs, I highly urge you to consider it. You can find a relatively inexpensive 10' by 10' parachute at Bed Bath and Beyond for under 25$. I won't go over the activities we used for it, suffice to say that you can easily find some for your programs with a simple google search. We had so many giggles, smiles, and belly laughs. Even I chuckled a number of times as we made waves, played catapult, popcorn, and mushroomed underneath the parachute. It was awesome! I can't wait to do it again!
We then experimented with interpretive scarf dancing. I played a variety of music including some of my favorite tunes like The Pink Panther Theme, Peanut Butter Jelly Time, Jump in the Line, and Do You Like Waffles? The kids really responded well to the fluid freedom that the dancing and scarves gave them. When allowed to explore their space, free from constraints and fear, they really open up and you can witness how creative they can be in their play. I'll use this many times in the future.
Finally, we closed with our usual ABC action dance from Heidisongs and sang our Goodbye song
We wave goodbye like this (The Farmer in the Dell)
We wave goodbye like this
We wave goodbye like this
We clap our hands for all our friends
We wave goodbye like this
I repeat this 3 times using fun and silly waves.
Thanks for checking this out! Look for a new post on Wednesday!
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