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Top 6 Reasons to Have a Daily Family Dance Party
- Gabrielle Fischer Posted On Sep 27, 2017 | Social-Emotional Learning
At the End of the Day, Kids Need a Brain Break
On the first day of kindergarten, my daughter’s teacher sent home a note to all the parents indicating what to potentially expect from our children during their first days of school. She said behaviors could vary from “withdrawn to over-excited, and to prepare for emotional outbursts and fatigue.” At back to school night she reiterated those expectations, and recommended the best medicine for kids at the end of the school day be a well-earned brain break.Top 6 Reasons to Have a Family Dance Party
In our house, our favorite brain break is a family dance party. It immediately changes the tone of the day, and turns everyone’s mood around. It is my go to for the witching hour – the lull between when the little kids wake up from naps or big kids get home from school and dinner time. And as it turns out, family dance parties have amazing educational and cognitive development benefits for kids as well.Music Leads to Movement
No matter what type of environment you are in – if you turn on some music, people start to move. Try it. And for kids, movement is critical for both their physical development and growth. So after your kids have been sitting for far too many hours at a desk at school, the best medicine is movement. And these kids dance songs are the perfect stimulus to get them moving.Music Stimulates the Brain
Not only does music stimulate your body to move, it also stimulates your brain. Music, and specifically musical training, has long been shown to be favorable correlated with IQ, improving literacy and even memory.Music Develops Memory
Ever notice the easiest way to teach young kids is through songs? How did your kids learn their ABCs? The melody and natural rhythm of music develops memory. My mom, as a 30 year early childhood teacher, literally has a song for EVERYTHING, from colors and counting, to the days of the week and months of the year. I still remember the names of the capitols for all the countries in the world from my high school geography class that our teacher taught us by song.
Music Encourages Listening Skills
The most often repeated phrase in our car? “Turn up the music, Mom!” Kids enjoy listening to music – they want to hear the words, learn them and sing along. And good news. Music encourages your children’s listening skills, a critical skill for academic achievement.Dancing Allows for Creative Expression
Music and dance are both very freeing forms of non-verbal, creative expression. Ever notice your child has difficulty expressing their emotions or putting their feelings into words? Sometimes giving them a creative outlet – be it through art, music, or dance – can be just what they need to help express themselves.Dancing Is a Social, Cultural Activity
Music, and by extension dancing, is intrinsic to culture. Styles of dance and music vary over history and different cultures. Expose your child to both through changes in your kids dance songs playlist. Your family dance party doubles as not only a brain break, but an opportunity to teach your kids different styles of dance to learn about different societies, geographies and cultures.
__________How do you help your kids unwind at the end of long day of school? Play the Learning Resources playlist for the perfect set of kids dance song to give your family a brain break at the end of a long school day. For more ideas to change the mood in your house, check out:15 Ways to Remove the Grump From Your Day
DIY Snowman Sensory Bottle!
Who doesn’t love a good snow globe? Each one is a spellbinding combination of swirling, swishing liquid, and falling glitter that is perfect for sensory play. As mesmerizing as they are, did you know that snow globes are actually an experiment regarding the scientific principle of viscosity?
Let’s apply the standard of viscosity by creating a Snowman Snow Globe. We’ll put it together and then explain why it works.
You will need the following:
- A water bottle (a clear glass water bottle was used here)
- Clear glue
- Tap water
- Glitter
- Black tape for the snowman’s top hat
- Markers, paper, and pipe cleaners to make the snowman face
- Craft items for the “floaters” inside the globe, like snowflakes, stars, buttons, or jingle bells
First, let’s get our snow globe looking like a snowman. Using a sharpie marker, draw on the eyes and buttons.
Second, you can draw on the carrot nose, but we used leftover orange sticky craft paper here.
Next, select a pipe cleaner to tie around under his carrot nose for a little scarf.
The man needs a top hat, right? Wrap the cap in black tape for his hat.
Now that he’s dressed and ready to go, squirt the clear glue into the bottle. We added more glue to one of our bottles. Will more thick glue make the glitter move slower or faster?
Next, sprinkle in your glitter and drop in the items that will float.
Now it’s time to watch the snow fly!
So what does viscosity mean for the snow globe?
The viscosity of a fluid is its relative “thickness.” Think of glue or maple syrup. Both are thick and slow. Viscosity is measured by its resistance to a stress factor. In the case of our snow globe, the stress is the water and shaking motion. Compared to the water, it is much thicker, slowing the fall of our glitter, snowflakes, and jingle bells.
The snow globe we made with less glue moved the objects much faster through itself. Less viscosity = easier movement of objects.
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