How to Get From A to B

Have you ever heard kids sing "Don't step on the crack or you'll break your mother's back?"  Well, if you haven't let me explain.  Kids love to step over cracks in the sidewalk, pavement, floor tiles, you name it.  I don't particularly love the phrase (especially because I am a mom and don't need any back problems!)  This game as silly as it is, is great for movement exploration.

When choosing to move from point A to point B, the possibilities are endless. You can choose to move in a straight line, a curve or a zig-zag pathway.  Or you can choose different steps to get there: hop, skip, tip- toe, jump,etc.  You can move fast or slow.  You can choose to move in different levels (high, middle and low) and you can choose to move over cracks, around cracks and through them.


Movement Activity:
Dancing On, Over, Around and Through
I love painter's tape.  It is such an easy tool to use.  The tape can be applied to the floor easily, and it comes up without a mess, won't leave a mark and takes seconds to remove.  Especially if you work in so many different spaces, it can be invaluable because you can mark off you movement space ( I make a square and call it the movemet square.)

This activity uses painter's tape to makes "cracks" on the floor.  You can design zig-zags, curves and straight lines on the floor.  You can do shapes or even letters or numbers. The choice is yours.

1. Design the floor with various lines, shapes and letters.  Ask the kids what they see.  Observation is a great skill and children can learn a lot by verbalizing what they see.
2. The children can dance on any of the lines.  See if they can walk on the lines.  After they have mastered this challenge ask them to jump, tip-toe, skip, etc.on the lines. 
3. Next,  change the tempo.  It's fun to continue an activity and change the music.  Ask the kids if they notice a difference in their movements with the different tempos and music selections.  Observations are always encouraged!
4. You gueseed it.  Try it again moving in different levels.  Is it harder to move in one level then another?
5. And lastly can they jump over lines, can they move around them without touching them and can they run, hop, skip and leap through them? 

Like many activities, you can choose to do some or all of the steps.  Never be afraid to repeat activities either.  Kids learn by repetition and master skills by practice. 

Have fun and let all the moms out their know what you are exploring in case they feel a twinge in their backs!

Keep exploring and observing all the up down movements with the children in your life!

Sincerely,
Stacey

A New Year for New Adventures (How About a Space Adventure?)

Hi. I am very excited to share a post entitled 10 Questions with Stacey Pepper Schwartz on www.4dancers.org.  I was honored to be interviewed and wanted to share this article with you.  While you are there check out this site, it is full of wonderful resources and information.

In other news, I am looking forward to a New Year and sharing many movement adventures with you. Here is a little adventure you can take with the children in your life and see if you can reach the stars.

Space Adventure: Become space explorers! 

1. First before you explore outer space, explore the space all around you.  Stay in your spot and reach your arms as far as you can.  Reach and stretch one leg and then the other.  How about an elbow or a knee?  Can you reach high, middle, low, underneath yourself??
2. Next see how high you can jump.  How high can you reach.  Try to stay up as long as you can.  What is pulling you back down?? GRAVITY! (the force that pulls us to the earth)
3. Next, put on your space suits (pull on your pants, pull on the arms, zip up the suit from low to high and make sure you twist the helmet on.
4. Crouch down low and count down - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 blast off!  Travel through the space exploring all the various places in the room until you land on planet NO-GRAVITY!
5. Now explore the first step of this adventure again, this time without gravity. You will have floating arms and legs, elbows and knees.
6. Now, explore traveling through the space, slowly floating since there is no force to push against.
7. When you and your explorers are ready crouch down and blast back to earth!

Enjoy your adventure.  You are working on the concepts of space, time and force. Have an out of this world New Years!

Keep moving up down and all around together!
Stacey