ECE Reflection Paper: The Power of Creative Dance

“The Power of Creative Dance” by Connie Bergstein Dow explains how powerful and effective using creative movement is. From circle time to transition time, movement develops a child’s imagination. Acting out stories is important for children. As they act they become a significant part of your illustration. This touches a child’s view of him/herself and promotes mental, emotional, and physical stability. Through pretending to swim, crawl, gallop, and soar movement is a way children explore, imagine, and become aware of their surroundings. Movement helps children understand flexibility and limits. Movement promotes exercise and a healthy lifestyle.
Dance is movement, space, time and energy (Stinson 1988). While engaging children in dance activities you may let the kids freely dance or have them follow your lead. Having children come up with their own movements, patterns, and ways of dance fosters creativity. Listening to instructions helps children learn to follow rules and directions. As children explore new ways to stretch, act, and dance their movements become more fluid and controlled.
You can make an ordinary task such as walking into something fun and extraordinary by including other body movements, varying how you walk, (backward, slow, fast), and act like your walking on something mushy or hot. Teaching children creative movement is important because it demonstrates that there is more than one way to accomplish something and that everyone’s ideas are valuable.
When teaching dance you preferably want a large gym so the children can move around, but any area will do. Moving a little is better than not moving at all. If you are working in a small area just modify the movements so they are safe for the space y...

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...ther I could show pictures, do a craft, and tell a story about weather, but during circle time I would have the children act out different forms of storms. I would have the children act like a wind storm by waving their arms back and forth to demonstrate the wind, twirl around to represent a tornado, and wiggle their bodies to act out lightning. Use sounds such as clapping to represent claps of thunder and make the sound of the wind in the trees, howling or whooshing.
Through reading this article I have more fully realized that it is my responsibility to prepare my class to be health individuals. The parents must do their part, but I can help by keeping the children active while they are in my care. Starting young, teaching them how to be safe and have fun can make a difference in the next generation. It starts with me first. I must do my part.