Today we had Get Low Dance Company come in to do a dance workshop enrichment class for our children. All three rooms had great fun with Amanda, and we were so happy to have her visit us at Learning Garden Childcare!
The Juniors and Toddlers started off doing some warm ups to loosen the body. They stretched, wiggled their bodies, and reached for the sky. After they were nice and loose, Amanda taught them some new dance moves like the “ice cream scoop” and the “wave” and performed them to the fun music. Amanda then took out some shakers for the children who had a blast shaking and moving to the music. The Juniors played a game of sleeping bunnies to end while the Toddlers sang and danced to Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes before they all got special Spiderman and Frozen stickers for a job well done!
The Seniors had a more advanced workshop as they learned new dance moves from different cultures and styles of dance. They started with the Cha Cha Slide to warm up, then learned some African dance moves, Hip Hop, Break Dancing, and Pop dance moves all done to invigorating music. The Seniors finished off by playing a fun game of freeze dance mixed up with partner posing. All the children had a great time moving their bodies!
Movement and music are so important to a child’s development. The children are able to develop their Physical / Gross Motor Skills as they jump, balance, and move their bodies. For the Toddlers, exploring music and movement enables the children to coordinate their senses with motor skills in increasingly complex ways. This also helps foster development in the social, emotional, and communicative domains as the children are showing social interest as they observe and imitate their peers, and are also developing their attention and behaviour regulation as they connect connect different verbal and visual cues with their bodies.
For the Preschoolers, the children are increasing control over their movements and exploring how to express themselves physically. They are learning to match their movements to the rhythm and mood of the music while working together in shared dance and movement activities. The preschoolers are also interacting positively and respectively as they learn music and art forms from different cultural groups, and demonstrating positive attitudes toward learning as they express satisfaction and joy while learning and accomplishing new tasks.
And most importantly of course, they’re having a lot of fun!
We will add some pictures and videos of this fun dance workshop to the password protected parent section soon.
