Shake, Shimmy, & Dance: 9/22

The Plan

Book
A Hop is Up by Kristy Dempsey
This rhyming picture book is one that I used a while ago and was so happy to bring back to the Shake, Shimmy programming. I love the urban setting, the diversity of the characters, and the great opportunities for interaction with the kids. I just recently added this to our books-you-can’t-miss-section and all of those copies are checked out!

Props
Wrist Ribbons!

The Playlist

Hello & How Are You? — Old Town School of Folk Music
Get Your Move On — Mr. Jon & Friends
Subway — Bari Koral Family Rock Band
Friends Give Friends a Hand — Fresh Beat Band
The Countdown — Jim Gill
Paint the Day Away — Imagination Movers
My Butterfly — Joanie Leeds
Shake Hands With Friends — Ella Jenkins

How It Went

I spend a lot of time thinking about the best opening songs and ways to capture my group’s attention from the get-go and Get Your Move On is a great suggestion to do so. I love the countdown aspect and the free dance. That lets the littles (who are almost always raring to go) immediately show off their best dance moves.

Subway was a fun way to introduce a new vocabulary words and let us form a train around the room, ensuring that ALL the grown-ups were up and moving. I highly recommend doing such an activity if you need to get the grown-ups to buy-in. Friends Give Friends a Hand was a great way to promote social-emotional development at this month’s event. I also love to talk about consent here — some friends love to give high fives, but some friends prefer waving so ask before you say hello! And then I get to model it around the room. SO GOOD.

Jim Gill’s newest CD has some great material on it, but my favorite might be The Countdown. I love practice waiting in an easy, friendly environment. And reminding caregivers that they can use these kinds of songs to practice while out and about in the world too.

Our wrist ribbons today became two different kinds of imaginative play: paintbrushes and butterfly wings. I like to see the different kinds of movement the kids use and how it changes from one song to another.

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