Wee Dance! Party - April

I had another Wee Dance! Party this morning, and it went very well.  They were a very well-behaved group, which was good because I was trying something new that could have gotten a little crazy with a bigger or wilder group.

Today's Wee Dance! was about bears, partially because my manager Abby gave me a new book called Tiptoe Joe by Ginger Foglesong Gibson.  This book worked great for Wee Dance!  It features animals moving and making noise in different ways: an owl goes "swish swish," a donkey goes "clop clop," etc.  I also chose bears because I wanted to try the famous action song, "We're Going on a Bear Hunt."



Now, traditionally, the participants go on a bear hunt in order to "catch a big one," and when the bear is finally spotted in a cave, the participants scream and run (in place) back the way they came.  I wanted to attempt the bear hunt for its action elements and review of prepositions, but I had to tweak it for two reasons.  First, I wanted to actually move around the room instead of just doing actions in place, and second, I didn't want kids to scream and freak out and start running everywhere.  So in my version, we were looking for my friend, Benny the Bear (a black bear puppet), and we encountered a "bump in the road" (rolled up tablecloth) to go over, a "tall forest" (two stand-up signs) to go through, and a "big hill" (large table) to go under.  This worked great!  And everyone got to hug Benny when we found him.

The other elements I used were the books Make a Wish, Bear (by Greg Foley) and This is My Dance: A Move-to-It Book (by Susan James - a board book), and the songs "Dance with Your Teddy Bear" (from Jumpin' and Jammin' by Greg and Steve) and "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" (from Wee Sing 25th Anniversary Collection by Pamela Beall).





One thing that really helped control the kids this time was that I made a line on the floor with blue painter's tape, and with me on one side, they had to stay on the other.  Normally, I get a crowd of kids who creep closer and closer to me as we go, and it gets harder to hold a book for them to see or demonstrate a dance move.  I will definitely be using the painter's tape again!