Maybe you want to be more active with the kids in your life.
Maybe you need some new ideas for encouraging cooperation or organization or FUN!
Maybe transitions are hard or… boring.
Maybe you know that a strong movement foundation sets kids up for learning in school.
Whatever your reason - you know you want to dance more. But… you don’t even know where to start.
Here’s the thing - adding more movement to your day doesn’t need to be hard. There are opportunities and invitations to dance all around you, all the time.
And dancing with kids? They don’t care if it’s imperfect.
Which means the key to dancing more with kids is… to dance more with kids.
I know that sounds overly simple. And maybe you’re thinking “easy for you to say, you’re a dance teacher!”
Which is why I want to share 10 super EASY ways for you to get started.
Here they are:
1. Have a 1 song kitchen dance party. Pick a song. Put it on. Dance until the end. Bonus points for being as silly as possible. Oh - and you don’t even have to ask the kids to join you. In my house, if I start dancing, 9/10 times everyone else starts dancing too.
2. Make up arbitrary dance rules. A while back, my kiddo was terrified of the blender. So I started shaking my whole body every time I made a breakfast shake. It was silly, but it did the trick. Now we all do a short shake dance every morning. You could also try jumping 4 times after you put your shoes on or spinning around before you walk through the doorway.
3. Listen to “activity songs” that have the dance moves built into the lyrics. Some of my favorites are “Run, Baby, Run” by Casper Babypants and “Shake your body down” by Laurie Berkner.
4. Go on a “dance word scavenger hunt” the next time you read a book. As you read, look for words that relate to dance/movement. Take dance breaks throughout the story or have a Book Boogie party at the end.
5. Invent dances for the theme songs of your kid’s favorite shows. This is a quirky thing I started doing years ago. I was visiting my parents and Law & Order SVU came on TV. The theme song started and I started doing this super slow motion walk. I think I had a specific hand motion too. From then on, I’d frequently get inspired to make up a move to go along with the theme songs of shows. The trick to this one is to keep it simple. All you need is one short move that you can repeat over and over until the song is done.
6. Pick a dance word/phrase of the day/week and look for opportunities to use it! To get you started, here’s a few to try out: tiptoe, fast, hop, low level, swing, small.
7. Ask questions about movement in combination with your kid’s interests. How do you think a dinosaur moves it’s legs? Let’s be a meteor flying through the sky! How do you move your arms when you mix the cookie dough? Let’s start and stop like a train arriving at and leaving the station!
8. Go for a dance walk. As you walk around your neighborhood or park, look for shapes and movements to copy with your body. Make the shape of a tree. Zoom down the path like the car going down the street. Hop like the bunny on your neighbor’s lawn.
9. Say “Let’s Dance!” and ask your kids for ideas. You can start them off with the first move and then just keep asking “what next?” (Pro-tip: if this one gets repetitive and your kid keeps suggesting the same move over and over, say “great!” and add a descriptor to the move. Then you can do a big gallop, small gallop, backwards gallop, gallop in a circle, slow gallop, etc and expand your kiddo’s movement vocabulary and skills while still letting them be in charge.)
10. Play a dance/movement game. Red Light Green Light can be done with all kinds of movements, not just running. Simon Says is fun and has the added benefit of building listening/focus/attention skills. And of course, you can play my favorite dance game of all time which you can snag by clicking here.
Whatever you do, keep it simple and make sure you’re having fun! And if you found this list helpful, I’d be super grateful if you passed it along to another parent/caregiver you know would love it too.