NDEO鈥檚 Guest Blog Series features posts written by our members about their experiences in the fields of dance and dance education. We continue this series with a post by Connie Bergstein Dow, MFA. Guest posts reflect the experiences, opinions, and viewpoints of the author and are printed here with their permission. NDEO does not endorse any business, product, or service mentioned in guest blog posts. If you are interested in learning more about the guest blogger program or submitting an article for consideration, please .
There are so many benefits of creative movement for young children! 听One of the most important is the fostering of social and emotional learning (SEL) in young children. 听Some of these SEL skills include:
Self 鈥揂wareness听(body awareness, spatial awareness, control of one鈥檚 speed, and control of one鈥檚 direction in space)鈥�
Understanding Personal Space vs. Shared Space鈥�
Group Cooperation
鈥⊿elf-Control and Delaying Gratification鈥�
Listening, Understanding, and Responding to Instructions鈥�
Reasoning and Problem-Solving Skills听(individually or in a group)
鈥⊿别濒蹿-贰虫辫谤别蝉蝉颈辞苍
This post is about one of these:听听the importance of nurturing a child鈥檚 ability to听delay gratification听and strengthen听self-control.听听This generation of children is growing up in a world where they have instant access to information, technology, and media.听听Structured activities can help counteract this frenzy of stimuli, and help children to slow down, tune into their bodies and surroundings, and learn that sometimes waiting and anticipating an outcome can be fun and rewarding.
Lauren Tamm, writing for the听University of Cincinnati website听Kids Activities Blog听听asks this question:
What if I told you听holding your boundary firm听and making your child wait was the听single most important skill听you can teach your child. . .听
Tamm continues:听Research shows that children with worse self-control (less persistence, more impulsivity and poor attention regulation) at ages 3-11 tend to have worse health, earn less, and commit more crimes 30 years later than those with better self-control as children.听(Source: the book听Zero to Five, by Tracy Cutchlow).
Sarah Ramirez, writing for the website听, says her article听5 Easy Ways to Teach Kids Self-Control听outlines some more of the reasons it is so important to nurture this trait in children:
- Better emotional coping skills
- Higher rates of educational attainment
- Higher SAT scores
- Lower BMI听
- Lower divorce rates
- Lower rates of addiction
WOW! 听Amazing. 听And yes, research shows that children can be taught to delay gratification.
Ramirez explains that the above conclusions are the result of long-term follow-up research from the famous 鈥渕arshmallow test鈥� conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel and other researchers in the late 1960鈥檚 and early 1970鈥檚 at Stanford University:
One by one, 4-year-old children were presented with a marshmallow and informed that they could either eat a marshmallow now, or wait 15 minutes and receive two marshmallows. Some children gobbled the marshmallow immediately, while others managed to wait the full 15 minutes and receive the reward of a second marshmallow.
The researchers continued to follow up with the children for the next several decades.听听They found that the 4-year-olds who had successfully waited for 15 minutes differed in significant ways from the children who couldn鈥檛 wait . . . Walter Mischel concluded that 鈥榩reschoolers tended to wait longer when they were given effective strategies.鈥櫶齀n other words, self-control and delayed gratification are essential life skills 鈥� but they can be learned.
MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES听 鈥�
I have taken ideas from the marshmallow test, Sarah Ramirez, and Lauren Tamm's听University of Cincinnati Kids Activities Blog,听and created four simple movement activities, along with some ideas for variations: 听
鈥�1. 听MIRROR GAME 鈥�
This activity is a type of听follow-the-leader game, which helps children listen and respond to instructions. 听It also allows children to practice controlling their body movements, and become aware of the speed and direction of these movements.
Explain to the children that when they watch you, they will do the same things you are doing, by imagining they were looking into a听mirror. Practice a few easy movements with your arm or leg, making sure they use the corresponding mirror-image arm or leg.听Put on some upbeat music, and, starting out slowly, move as the children mirror your movements. 鈥�
You can begin by trying the game sitting on the floor and using upper-body movements while the children get the hang of the mirror game, then progress to standing. 听Challenge the children by turning, bending, jumping, moving side-to-side, and trying balancing shapes on one leg.鈥ㄢ�ㄢ��
2. 听DANCE AND FREEZE
鈥═he wonderful thing about dance/freeze activities is that they are easy and accessible (all you need is music!), children love them, and they are great for helping the children practice following instructions, listening, and body and impulse control. 听 听听
Stop Sign Dance and Freeze
Choose an upbeat musical selection. 听Use a homemade or purchased stop sign. Ask the children what it is, and what the word means. 听Explain that when you hold up the stop sign, they should freeze: 听Don't move a muscle until you hear the music again. While the music is playing, you may dance, but each time I hold up the stop sign, you freeze! 听
Variation: 鈥�
Expand the game with different ideas for the freeze: 听The next time the music stops, prompt them to freeze in a twisty shape, or an upside down shape, or a shape with only one hand and one foot touching the floor. 鈥�
Here is a Dance/Freeze variation with additional practice for children to control the speed at which they are moving:听 听听
Traffic Signals Dance and Freeze
Instead of a stop sign, cut out three large circles from construction paper or cardboard, one green, one yellow, and one red. 听Use a lively musical selection. 鈥�
Explain to the children: 听When I hold up the green light, you may dance as fast as you like. 听When I hold up the yellow light, you will dance slowly, like a slow-motion action scene in a movie. 听When I hold up the red light, freeze, and don't move a muscle!鈥ㄢ�ㄢ��
3. 听CHOOSE AN ANIMAL AND TAKE A TURN
Helping children to master the skill of waiting their turn can easily be accomplished through movement activities. 听Here is a simple lesson that also allows children to practice large motor skills. 鈥�
Start with the children in a line or gathered on one side of a space. 听Ask one child to name an animal, and then to move across the space like that animal.听 You can then have the other children try that same movement all together across the space. 听Then move on to the next child鈥檚 turn to choose an animal and show the movement. 鈥�
Free Dance: 听Once the activity has been accomplished, and children have waited their turns to go across, play some music, and allow them to dance freely about animals. 鈥�
4. 听DANCE A STORY
Books, stories and poems provide a wealth of material for sparking young children鈥檚 imaginations. 听Explaining that they will listen as you read the story, and then they will dance about it, helps children to learn to listen quietly and attentively. 听Then they can unleash their creativity and energy as they respond to the story in movement. 鈥�
5. 听CAMPFIRE* 鈥�
Calm an energetic class at the end of the day with a game about settling down, helping听children to tune into their bodies, be aware of their senses (sight, smell, hearing), and relax.
This can also be used as a transitional activity, to quiet children down before moving on to something else.
Say to the children:
鈥� Have you ever been camping in the woods?听听Have you sat around a campfire?听听Let鈥檚 imagine we are spending the night out in the woods.听听It is a cold, clear night.听听Let鈥檚 build a campfire to get warm!听听We will build it in the center of our circle.
Continue with the following movement prompts:
Let鈥檚 imagine we are gathering wood. 听Bring it to this spot in the center of the room.
Put the small pieces in, and now I will pretend to light it.听听Now let鈥檚 put some big logs on the fire!
Warm up your hands and feet.听 Do you smell the wood fire? 听Pine needles? What else?
Let's lie back and climb into our sleeping bags.听听Look up at the sky.听听What do you see?听听Be very quiet.听听What sounds do you hear in the forest at night?听Be aware of your breathing, and feel your heart beat.
Note from the author: 听The photos are my property and I have permissions from the school and parents to use them. 听The photo shoot was at North Avondale Montessori, in Cincinnati, and the photographer was Kevin Wauligman. 鈥�
Connie Dow grew up in Cincinnati, attended Denison University, and then received her MFA from the University of Michigan. She performed professionally for ten years in dance companies in both the US and Latin America. She has been active in the field of dance education for more than forty years. She has written two books, both published by Redleaf Press: 听Dance, Turn, Hop, Learn! Enriching Movement Activities for Preschoolers (2006); and One, Two, What Can I Do? Dance and Music for the Whole Day (2011). 听She has written articles in journals and magazines, and a picture book about movement that will be published by Free Spirit Publishing next year.听Her dance journey, from training to performing, to teaching children and adults, to writing and appreciating all forms of dance, has led her to an understanding of the importance of movement in our lives. She continues to share her passion for dance by writing, teaching, volunteering, and creating community dance projects, as well as offering movement workshops to early childhood professionals. She feels strongly that dance, and the other arts, are not 鈥榚xtras;鈥� they are essential and transformational forces in our lives. 听