Shake, Shimmy, & Dance: 5/12

The Plan

Book
Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas
This is a classic Shake, Shimmy, & Dance book that always manages to get my preschools and toddlers up and engaged. I think that the silliness and pretending aspects of the book are absolutely fantastic and that preschoolers in particular love the twist ending.

Props
Stretchy Band!

The Playlist

Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Can’t Wait to Celebrate — Jim Gill
Get Your Move On — Mr. Jon & Friends
It’s a Doo Da Day/You Are My Sunshine — Wendy & DB
Roller Coaster — Bari Koral Family Rock Band
Rainbow — Milkshake
Row, Row, Row Your Boat — Charity and the JAMband (Putumayo Rock N’ Roll Playground)
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins

How It Went

One of two May editions of Shake, Shimmy, & Dance! Since we were on hiatus in both February and March, I scheduled two events to take place in May. And for the first event, I decided to try out our stretchy bands. We purchased bands (two XL Latex-free bands) last summer and one of my co-workers has used them in outreach events to much success. I used the stretchy bands in our Romp & Rhyme program (more info on that program coming soon!), and also had great feedback. It was time to try it as a Shake, Shimmy prop.

To start our day though, I picked another classic Jim Gill song, “Can’t Wait to Celebrate” that gave me an opportunity to pass along a great caregiver tip about using this song as a game to practice patience and waiting. I continue with “Get Your Move On” by Mr. Jon & Friends, which also has directions in the lyrics.

For “It’s a Doo Da Day/You Are My Sunshine”, I encourage the kids to find a grown-up to dance with for a free dance. “Roller Coaster” involved me leading a group of kiddos around in a circle as we lifted our arms up during the “wheeee!” lyric of the song.

And then it was time for the stretchy bands! Since we have two of these bands, I asked one be a less active band (aka babies and young toddlers) and one be a more active band (older toddlers and preschoolers). My less active band sat down on the floor and my more active band had grown-ups on the floor, kiddos standing. My groups did a great job splitting up and using these new props!

During “Rainbow”, I had the kids practice working together with the stretchy band and lifting the band up and down in the air as the song played. And for “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, they pretended to row a boat while pulling the stretchy band back and forth. This was a fun activity, and I was happy that I had separated the groups as my preschoolers tended to pull much harder than my littles.

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