Movement and Imagination

The Orff-Schulwerk method stresses the importance of movement as part of a child's music education.  In fact, when I take the Orff Training Courses, we have an hour a day of movement class!  Movement incorporates the elements of play, creating, and expression.  We move to music and also without music.  With Kindergarten and PreKs this month, we have moved with the Russian Dance, "Trepak" from The Nutcracker.  We used scarves to help the students "see" their motions.  

My apologies for the shaky camera--I was using my scarf while filming!

I also found a series of Christmas Movement Flashcards on Pinterest that are wonderful!  (I have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to school ideas--thanks, technology!).  Each card features a child-friendly Christmas picture and an instruction for creative movement.  Some of my favorites are "Melt like a Snowman," "Sneak like an Elf," and "Fly like an Angel."  With some classes, we kept the scarves from "Trepak" and used them with our movements.  Since these are so much fun and so easy to use, I'm linking to the blog page with the FREE printout of all the cards.  Use them as a family and see how creative your kids can be! 

 This Kindergarten class is "Spreading their Branches Like a Christmas Tree."

Here is a sample of the awesome movement cards!  And, click here to go to the blog and print out your own set for FREE!  If you scroll to the bottom of the post, she has a link where you can download the whole set.