Connie Bergstein Dow

Stomping through mud puddles!

 

 

HERE COMES SPRING!

This blog post is a creative dance activity to welcome spring 

For ages 3-7

Time: 15-25 minutes

 

 

Dance about a spring shower!

 (Music suggestion: "When It's Showery," by David Jack; an upbeat instrumental; or any song about the spring season)

 

 Movement prompts: (Call out the prompts one by one, allowing enough time after each one for children to fully explore their movement ideas)

 

*Time to put on our raincoats and boots. Don't forget your rain hat!

 

*Let's go out and play in the rain. Make footprints in the mud. Stomp in the puddles.  Can you try to run between the raindrops? *Float in the sky like you are a big storm cloud. Change from shape to shape as you soar through the sky.

 

*Now imagine you are a raindrop. First, you are a light drop blowing in the wind. Now be a fat raindrop that plops to the ground and makes a big splash.

 

*Imagine you are a seed waiting in the ground.  The gentle shower helps you to open and begin to grow.  Slowly push up through the moist soil, and grow tall. What kind of plant are you?

 

*Shake all over like a doggie playing in the rain

 

Rainbow

(Music suggestion: "I Can Sing a Rainbow" -- various versions, or an upbeat instrumental selction)

 

 

 

*The storm is over! Let's paint a big rainbow! Grab your magic paint brush. Let's start with red, then orange. Paint your bright colors across the blue sky. What color comes next?  

 

*Now let's dance about the rainbow! Trace its shape in the air. Run under and around the rainbow. Can you try to jump over it? Can you hop over it? Leap over it? Climb up one side and slide down the other side.

 

*Now dance about all the different colors!  

 

 

Sun

(Music suggestion: "Mr. Sun," by Raffi, or a lively instrumental selection)

 

 *Think of all the things you like to do outside on a warm, sunny spring day. Now dance about your ideas! 

 

*To finish the dance about spring, make your body into the shape of a rainbow!

Do your little ones love to move, groove, dance, tap, rap, play, bend, twist, stomp, chant, freeze, balance, make silly shapes, jump, hop, slither, stretch, crawl, leap, tiptoe, twirl, and gallop? 

 

Our new picture book TAP AND RAP, MOVE AND GROOVE (Free Spirit Publishing) will inspire them to do all of these and more, plus they will use their imaginations while having fun.

 

The fourteen original dance chants, like "Tappity Rap," "Thumbs Up," "Lively Feet," and "Quack, Quack, Quack, Moo!" provide everything you need for a creative, playful dance activity, while at the same time, reinforcing early literacy skills. The activities also nurture important developmental skills such as body awareness, spatial awareness, listening to and following instructions, multi-tasking, and problem solving.

 

One of the best parts about this book is the gorgeous illustrations by talented artist Debbie Palen. The beautiful, colorful pictures truly capture the joy and energy of children in movement. Little ones will love all of the lively and fun characters Debbie created.

 

TAP AND RAP, MOVE AND GROOVE is coming in October, 2023, and is available for pre-order now:

 

 

Bookshop.org

Free Spirit Publishing

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Target

 

 

Debbie and I are excited to share our fun-filled book with you!

 

 

 

Keep on dancing,

 

Connie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Post Here

Hello, and Happy Winter!

 

 

 

For this blog post, I have assembled a collection of many of my past posts about winter. They are all published in the SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Editors) 2020 Holiday Activity Guide -- Winter Activities for Grades PreK-Kingergarten, Ages 3-6, where you will find lots of other children's authors' ideas for winter fun.

 

 

By clicking this link, you will find the following winter movement activities:

 

 

Footprints in the Snow: A Movement Exploration Inspired by Winter
Winter provides endless inspiration for imaginative movement ideas. This activity addresses science, nurtures creativity, and encourages large motor skills practice.

 

 

Bird Count Picture Book, with a READ AND DANCE Lesson Plan
Susan Edwards Richmond wrote a beautiful picture book about the Audubon winter bird count, and I have created a playful movement activity about her story.

 

 

Snow Day! Indoor Activities to Supplement Outdoor Play
Playful and lively indoor creative movement activities about winter: Draw and Dance, Indoor Snowballs, Dance and Freeze in Snowflake Shapes.

 

 

A Winter Dance Story: The Most Perfect Snowman
A dance story about the picture book The Most Perfect Snowman by Chris Britt–a lively activity that's perfect for an interactive winter story time.

 

 

 

Christmas Story and Dance Activity: Sparkle the Snowflake
A lively holiday activity, built around an original story about a valiant little snowflake, with simple instructions for retelling the story through dance and music.

 

 

 

 

Keep on Dancing,

 

 

Connie

 

 

 

 

 Hello, Halloween!

 

 

Here is a lively poem, SHAKE, RATTLE, AND ROLL, that I wrote in honor of Halloween. It accompanies the dance activity below. Have fun grooving at the

     

Skeleton Jamboree and Monster Ball!                

                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shake, Rattle and Roll

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I go, clackety, clop,

I'm gettin' ready for the skeleton hop.

.

I'll be gleaming from head to toe.

Shining my bones 'til they sparkle and glow.

 

Cranium, maxillae, mandible bones, 

Humerus, radius, trapezoid bones,

 

Pectoral girdle, scapula bones,

Tarsus, talus, cuneiform bones.

 

Waxing my skull to shine like new,

Wearing my mask and top hat too.

 

 

Look at my pale, unearthly gleam,

Under the moon, I grin and beam.

 

Shake those sacrums and ischiums now,

Rattle and roll, curtsy and bow.

 

Clavicle, vomer, and palatine bones.

Pelvis, ribs and ischium bones,

 

 

Femur, patella, tibia bones.

Phalanges, ulna, cuboid bones

 

 
Shake and shimmy and strut and swing,

Rock and rattle and do our thing.

 

 

Jam and jitterbug, jive and jig.

Move and groove at our jamboree gig!

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween Dance Activity
 

 

 Here is your invitation to dance like a monster, a skeleton, or a witch with a broomstick!

 

Imagine you are invited to a monster ball. What monster would you want to be? What would you look like?  What would you be wearing?  Show how you would walk, how you would run, and how you would dance.

 

Now think about all of the other characters at the ball. Let's try moving and dancing like each one.  Here are some ideas, and you will have a chance to think of your own and explore those movements too.  

 

 

(Call out the Halloween characters on the list one by one, and give children plenty of time to explore their movement ideas before moving on to the next prompt. Play any of these musical selections while children dance about the different characters).

 

 

Witch with a broomstick

Zombie

Frankenstein

Skeleton

Ghost

Black cat

Bat

Jack O'Lantern

Spider 

Robot

 What else?  

 

Which was your favorite? Let's do one final dance, so everyone can dance about their very favorite Halloween character!

 

Music suggestions: 

 

 

 

Monster Mash, (Bobby Pickett, 1962)

 

Monster Boogie (Laurie Berkner Band, from the 1998 Album Buzz Buzz)

 

Night on Bald Mountain, Mussorgsky, from Pictures at an Exhibition (any rendition)

 

For very young children: Halloween Shark (Pink Fong Halloween Special) Apple Music

 

 

Keep on Dancing!

 

Connie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall is here!  For today's post, I have created a poem and a dance activity inspired by the beautiful sunflower.  

 

READ POST HERE

Hello!

 

 

I was invited by Kids & Company, of Toronto, Canada, to lead a thirty-minute video movement session for young children in May. Kids & Company requested a presentation that would get children up and moving while spending more time indoors during the Covid quarantine. 

 

I thought it would be fun to create a short activity for each letter of the alphabet. I devised 26 movement prompts that children and families can do together. This creative movement session will definitely use a lot of that great kid energy!

 

 

Watch the Video Here: DANCE THE ALPHABET! 

 

 

For more ideas about movement, the alphabet, and early literacy, check out my picture book

 

From A to Z with Energy! 26 Ways to Move and Play

 

Keep on Dancing, Everyone!

 

Connie

Read Post Here

 

*Named one of Free Spirit Publishing's Top 20 Blog Posts of 2020!

Fun with dancing and numbers: Read post here

Read post here