Background information

Notes on child development

Play is crucial to the development of children’s gross and fine motor skills. Through play, children practice and perfect control and coordination of large body movements, as well as small movements of hands and fingers. Gross motor skills involve control of the arms, legs, head, and trunk. Fine motor skills involve the careful control of small muscles in the hands, feet, fingers, and toes. Controlling the muscles of the tongue and lips in order to speak or sing is also a fine motor skill. Find out more here.

Everyday moments can be fun learning opportunities for kids. Pretending, creating and helping allows children to discover new things. Play helps children learn about themselves and where they fit in the world. Evidence shows that play can support learning across physical, social, emotional and intellectual areas of development. Find out more here.

Activity outline

Step 1.

Play this video:

Rajio Taisou（ラジオ体操第１) (youtube.com/watch?v=d9yw2WVzLWM)

Invite children to follow along with the movements.

Step 2.

Play this video:

The Wiggles Nursery Rhymes - Hot Potato | Kids Songs | Food Songs | Action Songs (youtube.com/watch?v=0v4-eAefurY)

Invite children to follow along with the dance steps.

Step 3.

Now for the really fun part. Play this song:

I Like To Move It (youtube.com/watch?v=PLEQRIisP_Q)

This song has a great, pumping beat, and children will probably recognise it from the popular movie Madagascar.

There are no dance moves in this video; the aim here is for children to free dance. Encourage them to really move their whole body, perhaps by jumping to the rhythm of the song, and moving around the space.

Step 4.

Pause the song. Ask children to freeze! You could play an impromptu game of musical statues or just move on to the next step.

Step 5.

Set some movement challenges for children.

For example:

Can you dance using only your arms?
Can you dance using only your head?
Can you dance using only the top half of your body? This means staying still at the hips and keeping your legs straight, but still moving your torso and arms.
Can you dance using only your legs? Like a kind of Slavic squat dance, or a can-can.

Step 6.

Ask if any children have a great dance move they really want to show everyone. Bring them to the front of the group and have them perform their move while everyone copies them.

Step 7.

You might end with some more free dancing.

There are a lot more incredible dance move-based ideas in our Learn@Home lesson Dance Dance Move Playlist

Evaluation

Complete analysis of learning, listing evidence about:

Belonging	Finding something of interest
Communication	Expressing an idea or feeling
Exploration	Engaging with challenges and persisting when difficulty arises
Wellbeing	Being involved

Dance Moves and Songs - Physical Movement Game

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