The Thuderstorm Jitterbug!

Summer is here and with summer heat comes summer thunderstorms.  Some children can find thunder and lightning very scary.  A lot of the fear has to do with the unpredicatable nature of the sound and light.  Some people can even jump sky high when startled by thunder sending their nerves all a jitter!  So how do you combat jitters in your bones and belly - dance of course!!


The Thunderstorm Jitterbug!


What you will need:

• Grab some tambourines, egg shakers, or pots and pans 
• Find a big sheet, tablecloth or blanket
• Pull out a flashlight
• Grab some scarves, streamers or a water spritz bottles

Here we go:

1. Drape the sheet over you and your little ones .*
2. Have each child hold a percussion instrument and slowly move up and down as if you were a raincloud filling up with moisture ready to pour down on your neighborhood.
3. When the excitiment builds say "I see lightning" and flash the flashlight up to the ceiling. 
4. Then ask the kids "what happens after lightning?"  Thunder of course!  Have them bang away at their instruments.
5. Count and see how long before the lightning strikes again!
6. Repeat this as many times as you like.  You can start with 10 seconds between each "lighting strike" and have the thunder and lightning get closer and closer until....
7. After the thunder and lightning comes the rain. Throw off the sheet and dance around with scarves, streamers or even water spritz bottles.  You are the raindrops dancing down from the clouds.

*If you have extra adults handy, you can also hold the blanket up and have the little ones stand on one side of the blanket.  They can push on the sheet to expand the cloud as well as move up and down.  The children can come out from under the sheet when it is time for the rain to dance.


We learn through our experiences.  If you do a Thunderstorm Jitterbug with your kids then maybe the next time there is a big storm instead of hiding under the bed they will run for their tambourines instead!


Have fun making storm clouds with the kids in your life,
Sincerely,
Stacey

Water dance: Float, Sink and Bubble!

Floating is an amazing sensation.  It is one that we can visualize and observe but to truly experience it you got to jump in; to water that is.  I love to move and dance in water because I can feel my body so differently and can move with an added sense of buoyancy.  I experience breath differently to because I am more conscious of how I breathe underwater.  I slow my breath down and deliberately  breath through my nose or mouth.

Water can be a great tool to explore new and unusual ways of moving.  It can assist you in performing movements that would be quite difficult or impossilbe to do on land.  It also helps in developing body awareness and spatial awareness.

Explore:

• twist, twirling, rolling
• floating, sinking
• kicking, splashing, bubbles
• pushing and pulling
• diving, jumping, bobbing

One of the most important teaching tools in water is patience, trust and safety.  It sometimes can take children a very long time to be comfortable in water.  Let them explore at their own pace.  Learning and discovery is not on any artificial timeline.  As children develop confidence, they build self esteem and a sense of awareness of what their bodies can do.

After swim time is over, see if the children can take the movements they explored in the water and translate them to land.  How can they float, sink, bob, dive and splash?  How can they jump, twirl and roll?  Does it feel different?  How?

Have fun dancing to the pool, in the pool , on and  land and with the children in your life!

Sincerely,
Stacey