Scarf dancing fun for all ages

What you need

• Scarves/ribbons
• Music of your choice and the means to play it out loud!

Benefits

• Improving hand-eye coordination and physical gross motor skills - this dance is all about getting toddlers ready to write when they are older.
• It also sparks imagination and creativity.

The experience

• Clear some space and put on some music that either you know your child already loves or take the opportunity to introduce them to something new.
• With your child, pick up some thin scarves or ribbons and wave and move to the music. Good moves to try are anti-clockwise circles in the air, straight lines from top to bottom and wavy and zig-zag lines. These are all movements that relate to the children’s pre-writing skills, and making these movements in the air, using gross-motor movement helps develop confidence in producing these on paper.
• Let your child move in different ways and try out different dance moves. Vary the tempo of the music - can they move really fast to a fast song and then respond to a slower one?
• You could also turn this into a game of musical statues. When you stop the music, everyone dancing has to freeze. Who froze the quickest? A fun competition the whole family can get involved in.