With young children almost always in motion, all it takes is to get them dancing is some music! Let kids enjoy expressing themselves with their own movements and with these dance moves inspired by Dr. Seuss.
- If you’ve read The Cat in the Hat, you know the Cat is very good at getting people to do things they aren’t sure they want to do. Have the Cat help kick start your dance party! Provide a Cat in the Hat hat and designate one player to be the Cat. All the other players must perform whatever movements the Cat says to do. The Cat commands every action by saying “The Cat says hop on one foot” or “The Cat says spin around.” Everyone must do what the Cat says! If the Cat says only “Clap your hands” and not “The Cat says clap your hands,” players who clap are out. The Cat should try to trick players by giving a command that doesn’t start with “The Cat says.”
- Put a focus on dancing feet with The Foot Book! With music on in the background, read the book aloud. As you read, have kids interpret the words and improvise dance moves that complement the book. Help them by demonstrating a few steps while you read, lifting and shaking your “Left foot. Left foot” then “Right foot. Right.” Show them how to pantomime too with a “Wet foot” raised and lowered as if dipping it in water or “Dry foot” as you pretend to dry your foot with a towel. Be ready to read and dance again as kids get the hang of it.
- Pull together dance moves straight out of Dr. Seuss’s books. Put on music and call out to dancers to:
- Ooze and wiggle like Oobleck
- Swing an arm like Horton’s the elephant’s trunk
- Jump up and down to hop on Pop
- Run for fun in the hot, hot sun
- Frisk about like the Brown Bar-ba-loots
- Hum and splash like Humming-Fish
- Run and fly a kite like Thing 1 and Thing 2
- Go bump, bump and jump on the hump of the Wump of Gump