Shake, Shimmy, & Dance: 7/12

It’s summer time again, which means eight weeks straight of Shake, Shimmy, & Dance!

The Plan

Book
I Ain’t Gonna Paint by Karen Beaumont
I think the parents and caregivers laughed the loudest I’ve ever heard right before we almost said “butt”. It seemed to be one of those days when the book and the crowd were perfectly matched. The kids had fun pretending to paint themselves with their imaginary paintbrushes and it was good body identification practice. It was a good warm-up before we started dancing.

Props
Shaker Eggs!

The Playlist

Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Hands Are for Clapping — Jim Gill
Everybody’s Jumping — Aaron Nigel Smith
Heartbeat — Laura Doherty
Milkshake — Old Town School of Folk Music
I Know a Chicken — Laurie Berkner
Maraca Cha-Cha — Monkey Monkey Music
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins

How It Went

This was an ambitious playlist. I wound up skipping the song “Maraca Cha-Cha” because we were already over time and still had to say goodbye. I typically aim for my playlists to be between 16-18 minutes. With the book, introductions to each song and time to pass out/collect the prop, this works out well 95% of the time. Sometimes we end a little early and sometimes we have to skip a song.

Today’s first three songs all have instructions in the lyrics. My favorite was definitely Laura Doherty’s “Heartbeat” and I really enjoyed watching the caregivers/kids hug during the chorus of the song. My ultimate goal for this program is that parents and caregivers love it just as much as the kids!

For our shaker eggs, I pulled out two classics: “Milkshake” and “I Know a Chicken”. The kids loved these and really enjoyed hearing some favorites. “I Know a Chicken” is just one of those perfect Shake, Shimmy songs.

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