5. STRETCH – moving and dancing to music: “Move your body”

These types of activities may be useful to use when children and young people are feeling energetic or aggressive and need calming down. Stretching and moving slowly can help the body to regulate itself to a calmer stance.

5.1 Moving to songs

Action songs are songs which have specific body movements to fit parts of the song and get everyone moving, here are some examples:

Calming exercises – breathing and stretching to music:

If your school is a Sing Up subscriber, you could also use songs from their Action Songs bank.

5.2 Body movements to match the pulse

Following on from the activity above, this is when you can get creative with any favourite songs – together with the children and young people, you can make up movements to match the pulse. It can be just one continuously repeated movement or a combination of 2 or more – but keep it simple so that the sequence can be repeated. Different movements can be chosen on different days, according to the mood of the day.

5.3 Dancing

One of the favourites activities that humans have to enjoy music with their bodies, it does not really need any further explanation! Try these examples:

• Hoedown Throwdown – Instructional Video (Charanga Subscription required)
• Sing Up: Let’s Dance Playlist (Subscription required)
• YouTube – Just Dance – Can’t Stop The Feeling

Don’t forget that dancing also links with the PE curriculum!