It’s summer time again, which means eight weeks straight of Shake, Shimmy, & Dance!
The Plan
Book
Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia
It occurred to me during storytime this past spring that this book would be an excellent Shake, Shimmy book because of the active movement that all the construction vehicles go through. So the kids got up and dug, mixed, lifted, tipped, pushed, and rolled along with me and the book. It was also a good choice because of the short length of the book — after a holiday weekend with lots of excitement, the kids were ready to move!
Props
Activity Bells!
The Playlist
Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Stomp the Floor — Monkey Monkey Music
I Just Want to Dance — They Might Be Giants
We Are the Dinosaurs — Laurie Berkner
Are You Happy? — Alison Faith Levy
Shake With You — The Learning Groove
Oh Children Ring Your Bells — Kathy Reid-Naiman
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins
How It Went
Today’s SSD saw lower numbers than normal, but I expected that coming off of a holiday weekend. But everyone that attended had a really great time!
We did a lot of stomping in “Stomp the Floor” — loud enough that our first floor computer bank heard us. “I Just Want to Dance” was a silly, fun free dance opportunity for my families. I challenged my grown-ups to teach the kids a dance from their childhood. I then proceeded to demonstrate the Macarena, mashed potato, and YMCA. I led the kids around the room during “We Are the Dinosaurs” and had everyone sit down during “Are You Happy?” to practice our emotion faces. (Full disclosure: this was the least successful song of the day, more preschool than all-ages.)
The bells today were used during “Shake With You” and “Oh Children Ring Your Bells”. Both songs have instructions in the lyrics, although “Shake With You” does say shakers and not bells. No one seemed to mind!
(For an example of the Powerpoint and handouts that I made for each Shake, Shimmy please visit the original post.)
storytime katie 
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