Festival of Dancing Lights

Thanksgiving is gone and the winter holidays are right around the corner - literally.  Chanukah starts this Wednesday night and lasts for 8 days.  Here are a few Chanukah movement activities you might like to try  with your students and children to bring the festival of lights to life!

A fun exploration of Chanukah
The story of Mama mouse and her little children discovering the tastes and sightsof Chanukah in the book Hanukkah Mice by Ronne Randall  is an easy introduction to different ways families celebrate this holiday.  I love reading this book to my classes.  After we read the book we explore some of the themes through movement.


Melting Candles Slowly Burning Bright
The mice are looking for the Chanukah lights and at the end of the book they find all the candles burning bright. Pick one child to be the first Chanukah candle.  Ask the child to stand nice and tall as you "light" her.  Ask your student to dance bright and glow in her spot and then slowly melt down to the floor.  Next, this child should pick a student to be the second Chanukah candle.  "Light" them both and watch as they dance and glow in their spot and slowly melt to the ground.  Repeat this until all eight candles are burning bright.   (This is a great activity to focus on moving slowly because melting candles take their time!)

Information about the candles:
There are 8 candles along with the Shamas, or helper candle.  This candle is usually placed in the middle of the menorah and lights all the other candles ( which would be the teacher in this activity).  The 8 candles represent the 8 nights of Chanukah.  On the first night you light one candle with the Shamas, on the second night 2, etc.  Each night you light the newest candle first.  The candles are put in the menorah from right to left.

Whirling Dreidels Quickly Spin 
What is the opposite of a melting candle?  A dancing dreidel spinning fast as can be!  If you don't have a dreidel you can pick one up in most pharmacies or grocery stores for very little.  It is a spinning top.  And you spin it to win chocolate coins.  I don't teach the game to the students even though it is a lot of fun.  What we focus on is the action of the dreidel.  It spins uncontrollably and then stops.  Completely the opposite of the candles in the menorah.  It is very hard to spin and then stop.  It takes great muscle control and concentration.

Spin the dreidel for the children.  Ask them what they see.  Have a child demonstrate .  Focus the classes attention on the start and stop of the activity.  At first have them start and stop to the sound of a tambourine or your voice.  Ask them how it feels to spin like a dreidel.  How is it different then moving like a melting candle?

Candles and Dreidels Dancing together
Put on some music. (Klezmier music for this is fun!)  Have the children dance around anyway they like.  Then yell out candle or dreidel and see if they can put the slow melty feeling in their bodies or the fast spinning energy of the dreidel.  Remember, they can choose to put the energy into their entire body or maybe just one body part.  Can one body part be a candle while the other is dreidel?  Which do they like to do better ( slowly melting or spinning fast) and why?  You might learn a lot about your students/children by what the choose and why!

Have fun exploring some fun ideas about Chanukah with the children in your life!

Sincerely,
Stacey

Ready, Set, Don't Move!

I am sure we have all said to a child at some point in our life, “Stop moving” or “don’t move.” And I am equally certain that a majority of the requests were met with more wiggling. What does it mean to actually not move, what skills are you asking a child to use by being still?

The first thing is to change the understanding of not moving. When a person does not move or otherwise “freezes” he or she is using a great amount of muscle and brain power. I tell my students that they are in charge of their bodies. Their brain has the power to tell their bodies what to do, and there muscles have the ability to make this happen. Instead of not doing, I ask them to do. Do something amazing while you stop moving, have superpower control over your body. Connect your mind and body together to “freeze” and become as still as a statue. The other thing I confide in them is that this is a very difficult task. When you stop moving, gravity wants to take over. Your muscles have to fight gravity in order to keep still. This means your muscles are working just as hard as if you were doing jumping jacks or push-ups.

Next, I ask them to become aware of how there body FEELS. I ask my students to put their hands above their heads and then not to move. I cue them with “you are in charge of your body,” “your brain tells your body what to do” and then we wait. I compliment them on how hard their bodies and minds are working to keep their body still. Then I ask “how do your arms feel?” Their arms will feel tired, and might even feel sore from working so hard. I tell them the muscles in their arms are fighting gravity; gravity wants to pull them down. The longer their arm muscles resist gravity, the stronger they become!

They are basically doing isometric exercises.

Then I ask them “what is the muscles job?” This is an important question because if you ask a child not to move, then the child needs to know HOW not to move. This is the job of the muscles. I ask them to tap on their upper arm or bicep muscle and then I direct them to bend their arm at the elbow a few times. The muscle made the arm move by contracting and lengthening. Muscles are in charge of moving bones or keeping bones still. The more we activate our muscles the stronger they get!

One more fun activity I do with my students is I ask them to stand very still on one foot. At first kids get very silly and fall down a lot. They might even say that they have a hard time balancing. Then I give the control over to the students. I tell them “you are in charge of your body. If you feel you are falling tell your brain to tell your body to put your foot down.” The result is amazing. Not only do the kids balance longer but they quietly put their foot down if they are falling and try again. Permission and personal control are powerful things.

With little control children have in their lives, the power of controlling their bodies is a very important one. And instead of telling a child “don’t move,” give them permission to use all the muscles in their body at once. This can become empowering, fun and can help them develop important body skills. So, the next time you say “don’t move” explain to the children in your life how hard this actually is, how much brain and muscle power this takes, and how much they are doing by not doing. They’ll want to impress you with their amazing not moving abilities!

This activity works on muscle control, balance and body awareness.

Keep moving (or not moving) up down and all around together!
Stacey

Give the Gift of Movement, No Batteries Required!

As a movement educator, I teach parents and teachers how to incorporate movement and dance into everyday activities.  Not just for overall health, which is crucial, but for other essential learning concepts and life skills like spatial awareness, body awareness, creativity and gross motor skills.

So here is a challenge I present to you. Everyday give the gift of movement to the children in your life as well as to yourself. Integrate movement ideas into the lives of you and your children. Sounds hard? It’s not and I will give you the tools you need.

Movement is broken down into four basic elements: body, space, time and energy. Today let's focus on the body. It is important to understand how your body moves. You may be thinking that you already know how your body moves but do this simple 1 minute challenge with the children in your life and see how you do!

Answer these 5 simple questions:

1. How many body parts can rotate or circle? What are they?
2. How many can bend? What are they? How many can bend in more than one direction?
3. How many can swing? What are they?
4. How many can stretch? What are they?
5. How many can do more than one of these suggestions. What ones can do the most? What body parts can do the least?

By completing these questions together with your children, you are discovering your bodies range of motion, enhancing flexibility and muscle control.

See how many people you can get going on this one minute challenge! Moving can be great fun, especially when you are discovering new things together. 

Keep moving up down and all around,

Stacey