Shake, Shimmy, & Dance: 4/18

It’s back to school and back to the monthly format for Shake, Shimmy, & Dance!

The Plan

Book
From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
A classic Shake, Shimmy book. I always like to use it after a “re-boot” and since we take off March because of tax seasons and room reservation conflicts, April always feels like a soft-launch for summer to me. The kids always love this book and when I do Shake, Shimmy I can do all the pages and not skip the donkey kick page since we have enough room during the school year! Also since I was introducing a brand-new prop, it was nice to have a familiar book.

Props
Wrist Ribbons

The Playlist

Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Get Your Move On — Mr. Jon & Friends
The Airplane Song — Laurie Berkner
Wiggledy Woo — The Learning Groove
Jump, Jump — Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights
Roller Coaster — Bari Koral Family
Mixing Up Colors — Yo Gabba Gabba
Wave Your Ribbons In the Air — The Wiggles
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins

How It Went

I am in love with the wrist ribbons. These are great for my babies and toddlers because we can focus on large arm movements and gross motor skills without having to master the fine motor skills of pinching at the same time. For “Roller Coaster”, we practiced lifting our arms up and down while having our wrist ribbons on, making a “whooo” noise along with the song. In “Mixing Up Colors”, we found a friend to mix our colors with promoting social interaction. And “Wave Your Ribbons In the Air” was the first time I used the song and felt correct. (I had previously used scarves with it.) I had a great time with this group today and definitely look forward to using the ribbons over the summer!

(For an example of the Powerpoint and handouts that I made for each Shake, Shimmy please visit the original post.)