Movement Ideas for "Those" Days

It can happen during the week before Christmas, the days before Spring Break or during each and every sunny day in May.  Your students come to music class with an overabundance of energy and a deficit of attention.  It is tough for them to concentrate and they need to move!  In this post I'll share some of my favorite wiggly activities to get through "those" days: creative movement, watch and wiggle and dance party.

Creative Movement

I've been using these posters for quite some time.  Last year I turned them into something a little prettier and now have several sets in my TpT store.  These movement sets each have a theme and come with two different activities:  Freeze Dance and Creative Movement.  Freeze Dance is probably self explanatory, but the creative movement cards may need a little more explaining. I either project the file or print it out and just hold the posters up while students dance.  I actually prefer printing them out so that I can come back to a really fun move over and over.  I start the music (Suggestions are included, but almost anything works!) and then hold up a creative movement poster.  Students look at the picture and/or the name on the card and then decide how to interpret it.  This is SO much fun that kids ask for it every week.  Sometimes I mix and match the sets to keep them on their toes.  Here are a few samples from different sets:

 You can click each of these pictures to learn more about the sets.

Watch and Wiggle

Teacher Confession #1:  Sometimes, especially at the end of the school year, I just need to sit down for a few minutes.  I need to sit and rest because there is just no tired like end-of-the-year-tired.  For me, it is a great time to pull out my watch and wiggle videos. Teacher Confession #2:  I have quite a few student favorites saved on Symbaloo and until this day, I have never shared my list with anyone.  Why?  This visual playlist ups my cool factor by about 50 degrees.  Kids love it that much.  So, be careful and use it wisely.  :-) Click here to check out my Movement and Dance Symbaloo board with links to some of my favorite wiggly songs.

Dance Party

This is the most exhausting but exhilarating options for "those" days.  It is time to wear them out with an all out dance party! WooOoOooT!  On dance party days (or days where the last half of class is a dance party), I have students stack their chairs and leave a ton of open space.  We talk about acceptable dance behavior, personal space and rule #2 in the music room "Don't touch Mrs. King's stuff!"

Then, we dance.  I usually dance with them as they need a leader for some of the dances.  Here are some of our favorites:
Cha Cha Slide Macarena Cupid Shuffle Chicken Dance The Bunny Hop C'mon Ride the Train (Here's a great tutorial.) The Hokey Pokey (Yes, even with the big kids!) Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) Next dance party I'm going to try:
The Wobble (Tutorial here.) The Cotton Eyed Joe (Tutorial here.)
Warning:  This option can be pretty exhausting, but I must admit that I always feel better and sleep really well that night!