Mommy & Me class series: Ribbon Dancers

This week’s theme was “moving and shaking,” which includes dancing, learning movement and grace, discovering how to move your body, gross motor skills, and physical development. Interestingly, physical activity is very much tied to brain development and health, as well. As we age, one of the main ways psychologists suggest keeping your mind from deteriorating is to stay physicall active. With babies, cross-lateral movement can help all those developing brain connections to grow and increase. (Cross-lateral movement is when a body part from one side of the body connects with the other side, e.g. touching a baby’s left foot to their right hand, and vice versa.) So, our craft this week is very girly but also encourages movement with kids’ whole bodies and learning about how things move in space, as well. Ribbon Dancers! (I always wanted one as a kid…)

1. Gather up any ribbon or fabric you have around the house, as well as a ponytail holder, scissors, stapler, tape, and a popsicle stick. We used ribbon remnants and tulle.
2. Cut the ribbon to the lengths you want, anywhere from 8 inches to 2 feet, and tie them around a regular hair band/ponytail holder. (For younger kids, I recommend stopping after this step so no one risks getting poked or hit 🙂
3. Staple the ponytail holder to the end of a popsicle stick.
4. Wrap tape around the staples so they don’t snag the fabric or cut a dancer.

Voila! You are ready to dance!

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury; this is a great book for reading while your kids act out the motions that go with the “swishing” and “squelching” and “tip-toe-ing,” etc!

 

SONG RECOMMEDATIONS: Here’s two songs that have motions that really work on gross motor skills, especially the tipping over of the Teapot song and the stretching from head to toes!