A great way of dancing with young children is putting on some of their favourite music and giving them a scarf or ribbon.
One day Kate did this activity with a ribbon to the song "How Far I'll Go" from Moana, which is her cousin Cara's favourite song.
Free dance is a wonderful way of including physical activity in the program for the children. It also encourages the children to express themselves. Dancing with a ribbon is more engaging. It helps the children with their fine motor skill development and with their coordination too.
Some possible moves with the ribbons that teach the children different things are:
Twirling the ribbon helps with wrist and arm strength
Moving the ribbon above your head helps with stamina and muscle strength as children find it hard sometimes to put their arms above their heads for a long period of time
Passing the ribbon under our legs standing on one leg helps with balance
Writing our names in the sky/air with the ribbons helps with early literacy and acknowledging the children's identity.
Dancing with the ribbon strengthens the children's fingers, hands, shoulders and wrists and it also makes their "core" strong (that is their tummy area) and all this helps the children be strong enough to hold their pencil or pen in the right way when they are older and write properly.
TASK: Can you think of a couple of other songs that you could dance with ribbons or scarves to with the children? Can you think of 4 different moves you could explore with the ribbon or scarf? Try this out one day with your coach to practice and then do it with the children one day.
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