Anything you can introduce to your family that will get the kids moving can only be good!
Dance is a universal activity that almost every child intrinsically knows how to do, almost as soon as they can balance and walk. Just pop on some music and watch the magic happen.
Dance is such an easy and excellent way for kids to get moving, and it’s FUN!!
So, what could be better than to introduce an enjoyable activity that encourages coordination and teamwork and will likely foster a lifelong love of music. A simple web search will throw up loads of fun dances that kids will love and are so easy-peasy to learn at home. Below we highlight the most popular dance games for kids, so put on that music and boogie!
But first, let’s introduce you to the basic benefits of dance and why it’s so good for you at any age. It’s our opinion that you can’t be too young to start!
The Benefits of Dance
There are many benefits to having dance as a part of your weekly routine. Dance can improve confidence, self esteem, coordination, listening skills and generally increase feelings of achievement and happiness. Some key areas we see benefits from dance are
- in improved emotional development by creating and maintaining healthy and happy relationships in a group environment
- better social skills in building friendships and working in a group environment
- increased concentration span, improved listening skills and the ability to follow instructions helps to build cognitive skills in young children
- dance also has a highly positive physical benefit in improved coordination, strength, fitness and flexibility.
We discuss in further depth the cognitive benefits of dance in our blog
Here’s our list of a dozen fun dance games to get your kids moving and grooving!
- The Chicken Dance
Find the chicken dance song and get clucking around the room. This one surely needs no further explanation?
- Animal Dance
Expand on the chicken dance by getting the kids to take turns to call out an animal and then dance like that animal. You can add the animal noises to the dance too. It’s a great way to express yourself and for kids to learn about new animals.
- Mirror Dance
This requires focus, teamwork, and works best in pairs of two. Children face one another and take turns being the “leader”. As the music plays, the leader makes up dance moves that the partner copies at the same time. Use a slower song to make it a bit easier.
- Balloon Dance
Warning! This will have the kids rolling around the ground with laughter. Basically the game is to juggle the balloon instead of letting it fall.
Spice it up a bit by adding in some extra rules. The kids can’t use palms, or the person who keeps the balloon off the ground for the longest time wins the game, or the one who doesn’t bump into anyone else wins!
- Jumping Jack Dance
Ask the kids to jump as high as they can. The higher, the better! The best jumps from kids will be considered. Or you can try the weirdest jumps as an alternative. A great way to get rid of pent-up energy.
- Freeze!
Ready, set, FREEZE! Play some music for kids to dance to and then, at a random moment, pause the music. Everyone must stop dancing and freeze (stay as still as possible). Give it a few moments and then play the music where you left off. When the music starts again, everyone can go back to dancing!
- Paint Brush Dance
Write down the various parts of the body. You could write down hands, feet, nose, elbows, knees, or head. As each part is called out, the dancer needs to paint the floor, and everything around them using that body part. This ‘paintbrush’ then shifts to the next body part mentioned next.
- Remote Control
You pretend that you can control your dance troupe by using a pretend remote control. You might like to actually use a real remote or print off a card with remote buttons. You can either call out a word or use a flashcard with words.
The kids move with actions that reflect the words that are called out. Use remote terms like ‘Rewind’ for dancers to move back backwards, ‘Forward’ to move forward, “Double Speed’ for dance moves are quick, ‘Pause”, etc.
- Emoji Dance
Kids love this game because, hey, who doesn’t love an emoji! You can play this game by making your own emoji cards or download them online. The music reflects the emoji, so songs that express different emotions should be played.
Play a happy song to make your child smile, a sad song for the crying emoji, etc.
- Pass the Dance Move
Like pass the parcel, but for dance. This activity is best for a larger group of children and is great to practice memorization skills. To play, one child will start by choosing one dance move. The next child must repeat this move and then add their own, and so on. The more people you have, the more difficult it gets to remember all the previous dance moves, but that’s part of the fun!
- Ribbon Dancing
Buy a ribbon stick at your local store, or even better make your own. It’s just a simple stick with a ribbon on top. Turn the music on and let those ribbons swirl!
- High Fives
All kids love to give you a high five, it’s a universal thing. This dance is done in pairs, with a routine using hand gestures and body movements. They will need to make up their own dance using high fives, claps, double fives, low fives, and snapping. So much fun, either with or without music (but much more fun with). This game results in much hilarity.
What are you waiting for, play that funky music!
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.