PLaY & pReTend - spark imagination with books & dancing animals !

For me, one of the best things about being a dance teacher of preschool and kindergarten age students is this -- for 30 or 45 minutes at a time, I get to PLAY and PRETEND, right there with them!

I like to use a broad range of themes and ideas to dance about because, honestly, changing it up (beyond princesses and unicorns) is WAY more fun for me, as well as for them.

ANIMALS are a sure-fire theme that gets my students excited, and there are many different ways to explore this broad category.

Want to try out some animal ideas in your dance classes? Click the picture below to get a FREE copy of my top 4 animal themes, with more than 10 ideas to jumpstart your own animal lesson plan!

Teaching this age group also allows me to bring two of my favorite things together - DANCE & READING! When possible, I like to read a short book to my students to help them conceptualize and connect with our dance class theme.

Click the picture below for a list of 5 wonderful books about animals that dance & move, with links of where to purchase them or find them at your local library.

I have more ANIMAL themed resources for you too!

My Animal Theme Hooray for Dance Notebook has done-for-you preschool ballet and jazz combos, with song lists, detailed combos, short video clips, and visual aids for your class.  Little Wild Ones has class exercises for parent-tot dance & young preschoolers.  Check out the Animal Feet Tap Lesson Plan for ages 3-5! In it, the students will dance their way through the book Dancing Feet, as they make tap sounds like the animals in the book.  The Giraffes That Dance Tap Lesson Plan for ages 5-7 will capture the attention of your tap students, as they find their own musical voice just like Gerald the giraffe. Animal Rhythms is a tap skill game for elementary age tap classes, and Animal Actions is a great game to build strength and work on motor tools for preschool & elementary age students. Mixed Up Menagerie is a choreography & warm-up game that asks the students to create their own wacky and wild animal moves. Musical Mud Puddles & Piggy & Friends Freeze Dance are perfect for class, a dance camp, or even a dance birthday party, and are a big hit for kids who love Peppa Pig!

​​Visit my shop for more dance resources that support a creative, positive, and imaginative dance classroom. Keep in touch by signing up for my weekly newsletter, and join me on Facebook at dance dance HOORAY!