LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Children will learn:

1. To maintain a personal bubble of space while moving
2. To respond correctly to tambourine and musical cues
3. To imitate teacher-led animal movements
4. To imitate animal sounds
5. To recognize six locomotor movements by name and demonstrate each one

MUSIC:

"Happy Day" | Download Audio

Get Moving (2 Minutes)

What You Will Need

• Tambourine
• 4 cones
• Music - Happy Day

Activity: Warm-up

Jog to Music: Tell the children to start to jog as soon as they hear the music. When the music stops, instruct them to listen for sounds on the tambourine telling them how to move.

Talking Tambourine: 

Use tambourine taps and shakes to cue three different movements. The signals will always be one tap, two taps, shake. Give the signals in order at first and then mix them up so the children must listen and think before moving. Today’s three-movement sequence is: jog forward (one tap), jog backward (two taps), twirl in place (shake).

Instruct the children to listen for the tambourine sounds and, based on the sound, perform the movement. Give the signals in order at first and then mix them up so the children must listen and think before moving.

Can You? (5 Minutes)

Activity: Move Like the Animals

Review the animal movements learned so far. Ask the children if they can move like a crab (in all 3 directions), jump like a frog, jump like a kangaroo, and move like a puppy. Also, have the children move like a puppy with a “hurt paw” (practice lifting the left foot and right foot for the “hurt paw” and remind the children to make puppy sounds).

Introduce a new animal movement to the children. Ask the children if they think they can move like a bunny. Ask them what movements they think a bunny makes. Demonstrate to the children how a bunny moves. (From a squat, reach forward with both hands and put all the body’s weight on them. Once the weight is over the hands, jump both feet forward so they catch up with the hands. The verbal cues for the bunny are “hands - feet - hands - feet.” It may take awhile for the children to master this skill, but keep modeling the correct technique and repeating the verbal cues).

Crab

Start from a sitting position with knees bent, feet flat on the floor, hands touching the floor behind the shoulders, and fingers pointing away from the body. Lift the hips as high as possible so the torso is almost flat like a table top. Once in this position, move in one of three directions – hands first, feet first, or sideways.

Modifiers: fast, slow,

Benefits: arms, shoulders, core

Expansions: leg lifts, leg extensions, carry bean bags on stomach and shake off

Frog

Start from a squat with hands touching the floor in front of the toes. Push off of both feet and jump forward landing in a squat again.

Modifiers - big jumps, little jumps, high jumps low jumps, many, few,

Benefits - legs

Expansions - frog jump contests, animal movement combinations (alternate frog/bunny)

Kangaroo

Stand erect with hands pulled in against the chest and elbows close to the body. Keeping arms in this position, push off from both feet simultaneously and give several small consecutive jumps. Each jump should propel the body forward.  

Modifiers – forward, backward, sideways, high, low, big small, fast, slow

Benefits – legs

Expansions – animal combination movements (kangaroo/pony)

Puppy

Start from a weight-bearing position on all fours (hands and feet, not knees) and move forward by alternately lifting and moving hands and feet. Weight must be equally distributed on both hands and feet. Let children practice moving slowly and then more quickly. Talk about how a puppy would move if it had a “hurt paw.” Let the children problem solve and see if they can continue to move with only 3 body parts touching the floor. They may choose whether to lift a hand or a foot for the “hurt paw.” 

Modifiers - fast, slow, forwards, backwards, sideways, straight path, curved path

Benefits - arms, legs

Expansions - switch the “hurt paw” to each hand and foot, animal combination movements (puppy/bear)– animal combination movements (kangaroo/pony)

Zoom In (7 Minutes)

Activity: Practice

Teacher: Call out the following movements in any order (jog forwards, jog backwards, slide, hop, and jump) and give the children 15-20 seconds to demonstrate each one. 

If children seem to have difficulty with a particular movement, model that skill for them and give appropriate verbal cues (i.e., “step-together-step”, for the slide or gallop). Shake the tambourine when you want them to stop and listen for the next skill.

Tap and Change: (NEW) Use the tambourine to signal a change in direction. Tell the children that every time they hear a tap on the tambourine, they should move in a new direction --- march, jog forwards, jog backwards, slide, hop, and jump. Example: “Every time I tap my tambourine, gallop in a new direction without bumping into anyone else. When you hear the tambourine shake, stop and listen for the next movement.”

Jog Backward

Alternating feet, small steps, lift knees slightly, land on ball of foot first, and then lightly touch heel to the ground. Glance frequently from side to side and back over the shoulder to make sure there are no collisions.

Modifiers – fast, slow, big steps, little steps, straight path, crooked path, loud, soft, high knees

Benefits – legs

Expansions – combination movements cued by tambourine taps

Slide

Feet and shoulders face straight ahead while feet move sideways in a “step-together-step” motion. As the feet come together, the first foot comes off the ground, momentarily producing a small bouncing motion before that foot takes another long sideways step. Arms are held out to the sides at shoulder height for balance and to help indicate the direction of travel. If moving sideways to the right, the first long step sideways is taken with the right foot (“step”). As the left foot closes next to the right foot (“together”), all the weight goes on the left foot and the right foot lifts off the ground as it extends sideways for the next long (“step”). (This produces a small bounce). Eyes look straight ahead and the chin is up. Practice the slide going both to the left and to the right.

Modifiers – fast, slow, big steps, little steps, straight path, curved path 

Benefits – legs

Expansions – left/right directional movements cued by tambourine taps, combination movements cued by tambourine taps

Hop

Hop - Repetitive bounces on one foot. The word hop always means pushing off from one foot. Practice on each foot.

Modifiers - fast, slow, high, low, big, small, straight path, crooked path

Benefits - legs, balance

Expansions - combination movements cued by tambourine taps

Jump

Jump – Repetitive bounces on two feet. The word jump always means pushing off with two feet.

Modifiers – high, low, big, small, forward, backward, sideways, geometric patterns like in a circle, square, triangle, etc.

Benefits – legs

Expansions – kangaroo games, combination movements cued by tambourine taps

Jog forward

Jog forwards - a slow run, alternating feet, toes pointed straight ahead, small, light, springy steps, arms relaxed and bent at a 90 degree angle moving rhythmically with the feet.

Modifiers - fast, slow, big steps, little steps, straight path, crooked path, loud, soft, high knees

Benefits - legs  

Expansions: tag games, object searches, combination movements cued by tambourine taps

Wrap-Up (2 Minutes)

Teacher: God is a our Creator-He designed us to move. It's fun to see how our bodies are made to move. In some ways we move differently from animals and in other ways similarly, or the same. But we do know that God made you and me and the animals to move. 

Conclude by alternately practicing the bunny and the frog. Ask the children to show you the new animal move they learned today (bunny) and conclude with the Celebration Huddle and Cheer. “1,2,3, God made me. 3,2,1, moving is fun!”