Toddlers are developing by leaps and bounds! By 18 months, they are walking alone. They are running, climbing, walking up and down stairs. Around 2 years old, many toddlers can also stand on their tippy toes and also kick a ball!
Pre-Lesson Planning Goals Worksheet
Lesson Planning Worksheet for Traditional and Social Distanced Classes
Lesson Planning Worksheet for Online Classes
Coming up, we’ll cover various elements to include in your toddler dance classes, along with examples of how to bring a little magic and imagination to them.
Below is an overview of our recommended toddler dance class structure that we will cover in the following sections.
You don’t have to include every element of class listed below. In fact, there can be an element or two you choose to never do, and you can add your own! Think of your goals (from your Pre-Lesson Planning Goals Worksheet) as the food you want to make—let’s say chocolate chip cookies. Think of your lesson plans as your recipes for chocolate chip cookies. And think of these dance class elements as the ingredients you can use in your recipes. There’s more than one recipe out there to make chocolate chip cookies! You can also switch up the order of these class elements as you create your own lesson plans.
I start with the following order, but I let my story or theme guide any changes when I plan so my class will flow easily from one activity to the next. I try to keep my activities alternating between ones that don’t move much and ones that do move a lot. And of course, during class, if I find I need to change the order, modify an activity, or add a backup activity to keep my students learning and engaged, I’ll do so.
Make sure you know your curriculum and materials well. Have your pre-lesson plan goals filled out and your lesson plan filled out. Also be sure you have your music playlist ready, as well as any props or other materials you may need for class.
Greet your students and their parents in a positive way. A little positivity can go a long way! This is a great time to connect with them—the students AND parents. Take roll once class starts. If you decide to read a story, this can be a great time for that too. I like to take my students through a story or imaginative theme during each class. Reading them a quick story or showing them a book with images relating to the theme (such as Oceans) helps us transition into the story or theme as we start class.
For toddlers, I like to do a quick welcome chant and song followed by an imaginative BrainDance sequence.
This is where we briefly explain a dance concept and explore it. We often explore dance concepts most during free dance, but I do try to include the concept in other class activities as well.
This is where we cover any technique. For me (because I’m ballet-based), this section is centre barre. (You could work on precursors to other skills here if you are at a much more contemporary studio, although a “barre” will still benefit your students even if you’re contemporary.) For toddlers, I rarely make this part technical and I rarely even say the terminology. I’ll use an imaginative sequence that takes us through the same or very similar movements to what 3 year olds do in the preschool level class. The goal here is exposure to steps as opposed to technical execution of them.
My favorite games for traveling are obstacle courses, using movement cards, or using finger puppets to inspire the movements. For toddlers, I also include what I call “centre allegro” in later levels. These are sautés and échappés in parallel. (Sautés are jumps with the feet together. Échappés are jumps with the feet landing apart and then together.) Some toddlers will not be able to jump yet. For them stepping or having a parent lift them slightly works as an alternative.
This can be a great break for your toddler students later in class. This section may not always fit with your theme or story for the class. Nursery rhymes and songs are stories in themselves. Finger play is great for fine motor development and counting.
In the preschool levels, I like to teach my students a short dance that tells a story. This dance is often what we show for a parent observation, or even a recital at the end of the year. For toddlers, we can begin to introduce that to them by simply guiding them through a “dance” (or set of movements) that tells a story.
Music is a wonderful activity for children! This is a great time to explore a musical concept that relates to your dance concept earlier in class. (For example: exploring tempo with music after exploring speed earlier for dance; or exploring loud/quiet for music after exploring size earlier for dance.)
Ending your class in the same or a similar way each time can help your toddlers anticipate class is almost over. This can be a lullaby, a toddler-appropriate version of a reverence, a goodbye song or dance, or blowing bubbles for your students.
Greet your students and their parents in a positive way. A little positivity can go a long way! This is a great time to connect with them—the students AND parents. Take roll once class starts. This is also a great time to review your classroom rules.
If you decide to read a story, this can be a great time for that too. I like to take my students through a story or imaginative theme during each class. Reading them a quick story or showing them a book that relates to the theme helps us transition into that as we start class.
For toddlers, using the same welcome chant or song in each class can be a great way to let your students know the dancing part of class is starting. I like to include a short welcome chant and song followed by an imaginative BrainDance sequence to get their brains and bodies ready for the rest of class.
This is the welcome chant I use first. We count the number of students in class.
I follow the welcome chant by a welcome song that uses the students' names.
You can use just a chant or a song if you like. You can create your own. You can also search online. There are lots of examples on YouTube. Search “toddler welcome song”, “preschool welcome song” or “circle time welcome song” and you’ll get lots of ideas.
Next we dive into our BrainDance. I used to do a circle stretch—even for my toddlers. Recently, I’ve rediscovered the BrainDance and have been using that instead. I can still include quite a few of the circle stretch movements in the BrainDance, but I think the braindance helps my students focus better in class AND my parents love the science and benefits behind it
Here’s a quick article on the BrainDance:
Getting Started with BrainDance
I like to use the class fairy tale, story or theme for my BrainDance. Below is an example of a BrainDance from our Oceans themed Dance with Me lesson plan set.
Video correction: I mislabeled! The crab movement is a core-distal movement and the cat-cow poses are head-tail movements. They are correct in the text below. (You can still use the exercise as shown in the video, I just mislabeled when speaking.)
Breath: Start out laying down as sleeping fish in the reef. Sit up, stretch and take a deep breath. Lay back down. Repeat 3 times, ending sitting up.
Touch: Let’s tap! Tap your body from your head down to your toes, asking students if they know where each body part is. Can you wake up your head? Your shoulders? Your arms? Your tummy? Etc. Now let’s brush! Do the same thing with a brushing pattern.
Core-Distal: Have you ever seen a crab hide inside his shell? Pretend to be a crab going in and out of his shell. (Hide and seek)
Head-Tail: Let’s be water flowing through the reef. We’ll go over and under, over and under, etc. (Cat/cow poses) Now can we be coral, swaying through the water current? (Side-to-side version of cat-cow)
Upper and Lower Body Halves and Body Sides: Octopus tentacles! Do you know many arms and legs an octopus has? Eight! Did you know these are called tentacles? Let’s wiggle our right arm like an octopus tentacle! Let’s wiggle our left arm as a tentacle. Can we do the same with our right leg? How about the other leg? Can you wiggle ALL of your tentacles? (Remember, kids this age don’t know their right from left. As long as they are wiggling one side, then the other side, that’s what’s important.)
Cross-Lateral: Let’s stand up with our feet wide apart. Can you pretend your hand is a fish? (Hold your hand up and pretend it’s swimming.) Can your fishie swim down and across your body to your opposite foot to find some fish food? Let’s have it swim back up to the surface. (Repeat this a few times with the right hand reaching down to the left foot. Then a few times with the left hand reaching down to the right foot.)
Vestibular: Have you ever seen a jellyfish flow through the water. Let’s pretend we are jellyfish. (Wiggle your arms slightly to indicate a jellyfish.) Can we float to one side? The other side? Can we be turning jellyfish?
In this part of class, we briefly explain a dance concept and explore it. We often explore dance concepts most during free dance, but do try to include the concept in other class activities as well.
Here are the dance concepts we covered in Module 1.6:
Handout: An Introduction to Dance Concepts
For this age group dance concepts AND storytelling/themes are just as important as each other. Dance concepts are going to be a more technical concept in class for this age group to learn. But we need to spark their imagination. Would exploring size and doing a big jump be fun? Probably, but would pretending we are fireworks or the water shooting out of a whale’s blow hole be more exciting and engaging?
Below, we continue with our Oceans themed Dance with Me class for toddlers, explaining the exploration and free dance activity for class. We explore spatial awareness (self space vs. general/dance space) as jellyfish. Just make sure you don’t get stung!
Did you know if you touch a jellyfish, you’ll get stung? (Pretend to touch another student or a picture of a jellyfish and say, Ouch!) Right now, we’re moving in our own self space as jellyfish. We can lean to the side and the other side. We can turn. But we’re not traveling through dance space as we move! Let’s practice traveling through the dance space. This is also called general space. We’re going to move through the ocean as jellyfish. Just remember, don’t touch another jellyfish or you’ll get stung! Ouch!
1: Play music as you let your students and their parents move through the dance space as floating jellyfish.
2: Play music as you let your students and their parents move through the dance space as floating jellyfish. Pause the music and have them move only in their own self space as jellyfish. Continue to play then pause the music.
3: Play music as you let your students and their parents move through the dance space as floating jellyfish. Pause the music and have them move only in their own self space as jellyfish. Continue to play then pause the music, however, each time you start the music again, pick a different ocean animal for your students to move as.
This is where we cover any technique. For me (because I’m ballet-based), this section is centre barre. (You could work on precursors to other skills here if you are at a much more contemporary studio. A “barre” will still be beneficial to your students, however.) For toddlers, I rarely make this technical though and I rarely even say the terminology. I’ll use an imaginative sequence that takes us through the same or very similar movements to what 3 year olds do in the preschool level class. The goal here is exposure to steps as opposed to technical execution of them.
Let’s on our diving suite. Then get in the submarine.
Pliés: Our submarine goes down, down, down under the water. (Repeat 4x)
Tendus: It can be very dark deep in the ocean. Let’s shine a light—kind of like a flashlight—into the sea. Tendu RLRL, pretending your toes are shining light into the deep.
I see a stingray, swimming along the bottom of the ocean! He looks like he has big wings helping him fly along the ocean floor. Can we fly with him? Rise and raise your arms up to a high V, lower, repeat, Repeat then add a turn. Repeat all, turning to the other side.
Do you know what else I see? I see a starfish! Can you show me a big starfish? How about a little starfish? Big? Little? Now let’s do some starfish taps. Hold your arms out to the side and tap 3x with each leg.
Here are a few notes on teaching “technique” to toddlers:
Keep this very simple and imaginative. Don’t worry so much about their execution at this age. This is more of an introduction to the steps.
As an example, we’re not striving for our students to do an actual passé. You can use the curriculum guide as a guide for what you should demonstrate. And then at this level—in our passé example—students may use their parents for balance and simply lift their knee. Or they may even want to be in their mom or dad’s arms and watch everyone else do a passé movement.
Keep it quick and keep all of your movements linked to something imaginative. In an example video, we are going on a submarine adventure under the sea.
Even if you don’t teach at a ballet-based dance school, there are benefits to students for doing this kind of barre exercise-like activity. Even if your focus is something more contemporary, like jazz, modern, or even, well, contemporary, these steps will still be important to your dancers’ technique later on.
Don’t be afraid to use props for this section—whether it’s bean bags or stickers to point their toes to, or scarves or ribbon streamers for rises and turns. Props can help students with their own body awareness and are great for tactile learners.
The “centre barre” steps described in the above video can also be found in our Dance with Me curriculum guide that was provided in Module 1.4: Progressions in Technique.
Dance with Me Curriculum (18 to 36 months, with a parent or caregiver)
Obstacle courses, using movement cards, or using finger puppets are great ways to inspire traveling movements for toddlers. For toddlers, I also include what I call “centre allegro” in later levels. These are sautés and échappés in parallel. (Sautés are jumps with the feet together. Échappés are jumps with the feet landing apart and then together.) Some toddlers will not be able to jump yet. For them stepping or having a parent lift them slightly works as an alternative.
*Correction: There is no obstacle course diagram as mentioned in the video above.
The traveling and “centre allegro” steps described in the above video can also be found in our Dance with Me curriculum guide that was provided in Module 1.4: Progressions in Technique.
Dance with Me Curriculum (18 to 36 months, with a parent or caregiver)
Don’t forget, even when children move and jump as animals, there’s still intention behind it!
Here are our ocean animal movement cards used for traveling and jumping movements in our Oceans themed Dance with Me lesson plan set. The movement cards explore locomotor and non-locomotor movements to support our dance concept of spatial awareness in this lesson plan.
Rhymes, songs and finger play can be a great break for your toddler students later in class. This section won’t always fit with a theme or story for the class. When I can make it relate, I do. But nursery rhymes and songs are stories in themselves. Finger play is great for fine motor development and counting. Finger play can be imaginative gestures like picking stars from the sky, or set to a song like 5 Little Speckled Frogs.
In addition to being a part of your planned class, these can be perfect for backup activities to always have on hand.
Here are some examples of nursery rhymes and songs that can be a great sing-along using movement or finger play while singing. There are really countless examples out there. These are just a few.
Where is Thumbkin? Where is Thumbkin?
Here I am! Here I am!
How are you today, sir? Very well, I thank you.
Run and play! Run and play!
The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout.
Alternately touch the thumb of one hand to the index finger of the other.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Hold both hands up and wiggle the fingers as the hands are lowered.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.
Bring the arms up over the head and open them (port de bras through 5th and 2nd positions).
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.
Alternately touch the thumb of one hand to the index finger of the other.
Five little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log.
Hold your hand up showing 5 fingers. Sway your hand back and forth as you sing.
Eating some most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
Rub your tummy like you ate something yummy.
One jumped into the pool,
Hold your hand back up showing 1 finger.
Where it was nice and cool.
Drop that finger down.
Then there were four green speckled frogs. Glub! Glub!
Hold your hand up showing 4 fingers.
Continue the song until you have no more frogs left!
In the preschool levels, we teach my students a short dance that tells a story. We call this a “story dance” in the Once Upon A Ballet curriculum. This dance is often what we show for a parent observation, or even a recital at the end of the year. For toddlers, we can begin to introduce that to them by simply guiding them through a “dance” (or set of movements) that tells a story.
Baby sea turtles hatch on the beach and have a long way to go to get to safety! Today, we are going to learn a story about a baby sea turtle. What should his name be? (Allow students to decide on his name, or name him yourself. For this example, we’re going to call him Wiggly the Baby Sea Turtle.)
Wiggly starts in his egg. (Begin by being the shape of a small ball, like an egg. Begin to wiggle then pretend to hatch out of your shell.)
He cracked out of his egg! Now he needs to climb out of the turtle nest. Can we show him how? (Pretend to climb).
Do you see what I see? (Pretend to look in the sky.) There’s a bright full moon out tonight! (Bring your arms up to 5th position and then open to 2nd position to indicate a moon.)
Now Wiggly needs to get to the ocean. Can you show me how a sea turtle might crawl in the sand toward the ocean? (Crawl.)
Uh oh! I see a bird! (Make flapping motions with your arms and encourage your students to too.)
I also see a crab! (Make pinching motions with your hands and encourage your students to too.)
Do you think Wiggly can make it past the bird and the crab to the safe sea waters? Let’s show Wiggly how to crawl fast! (Crawl fast.)
Wiggly made it! Now he’s in the ocean. Can you show me how gentle ocean waves might move? (Have your students transition into a short free dance as the ocean. You can let them dance freely, or suggest whether the ocean is calm or has big waves. You can also use scarves or ribbon streamers for props for this section of the dance.)
Music exploration is a wonderful activity for children. Including it in a dance class can have so many benefits for them. “Music” can be an extension of the Rhymes, Songs and Finger Play section of class. You can have your students clap and tap different body parts and the floor. You can also have them use simple instruments like shakers, tambourines, bells, clappers or drums. Rhythm sticks can be a great option too. This is a great time to explore a musical concept that relates to your dance concept earlier in class. (For example: exploring tempo with music after exploring speed earlier for dance; or exploring loud/quiet for music after exploring size earlier for dance.)
For online classes, you can suggest common materials your students may have at home. Wooden cooking spoons or empty paper towel holders can be rhythm sticks. Pots and pans can be drums. Leftover plastic Easter eggs can become shakers
Here’s how you can further explore different dance and movement concepts through music concepts.
When it comes to spatial awareness, we focus a lot on locomotor and non-locomotor movements. We often do a freeze dance type of activity in which students do a locomotor movement (moving through space) while music plays, and a non-locomotor movement (moving while staying in on place) in silence. Take this concept on to music too by having your students make sound with their instruments or by clapping their hands then pause in silence.
A great music activity to reinforce the concept of body awareness is to tap different body parts using different rhythms. You can have your students clap out a rhythm first, then tap different body parts in that same rhythm.
Have students clap their hands or play their instruments loudly then softly. The different volumes of music mimic size in movement.
For level, we have students explore pitch. A high pitch for a high level and a lower pitch for a lower level. This concept lends itself well for the teacher to play an instrument or a track of music with a higher pitch followed by one with a lower pitch as students move from high to low movement levels according to the pitch. You could also have your students explore different instruments that have different pitches.
Have students clap their hands or play their instruments at different tempos to reinforce the concept of dynamics and speed. Allegro means fast and largo means slow.
With pathways, you can explore different instruments as you explore different pathways. As an example, you can have your students explore drums in a circle, rhythm sticks in a zig zag pathway, and shakers in a straight pathway. Another option would be for a teacher to play a track of music from a different instrument for each pathway—perhaps drums for circles, piano for zig zag pathways, and string instruments for a straight pathway.
Direction can also be explored with different instrument sounds. Different instruments could be played as students move forward, backward or from side to side. You could also incorporate tempo or volume with direction. A fast tempo moves forward while a slow tempo moves backward. Or loud volume moves forward while a low volume moves backward. Here, the concept of opposites (forward vs. backward) is mimicked in the music (fast vs. slow tempo or loud vs. quiet).
Under the Sea Music Time
Explore start and stop (just like we started and stopped the music in our free dance exploration).
Progressions:
Have students sit and play instruments
Have students move about the room while playing instruments, then freeze and pause their instrument playing. Continue several times.
Farm Animal Music Time
Ask your students if they can remember what animals live on a farm. Suggest different animals and ask your students if they are big animals or small animals. For big animals, have your students play their instruments loudly to reflect size. For small animals, have your students play their instruments softly to reflect size. You can encourage them to play quietly by talking very softly or even whispering to them while they should be playing softly.
Music Time with the 7 Dwarfs
Explore speed and tempo through different emotions. Ask your students (and of course parents) how each dwarf might be feeling. Are they happy, grumpy, silly, shy, sad, angry, joyful, calm, sleepy, etc.? Ask your students if they can make a face for each feeling, then play to a fast or slow tempo according to that feeling. (Because most toddlers don’t understand emotions yet, this is a great activity to get them to start thinking about that while exploring speed and tempo. You may need to ask your parents to show the different emotion faces to their children to help expose them to the concept of emotions.)
Ending your class in the same or a similar way each time can help your toddlers anticipate class is almost over. This can be a lullaby, a toddler-appropriate version of a reverence, a goodbye song or dance, or blowing bubbles for your students.
However you choose to end your toddler class, the most important thing is to end it on a positive note! How you end class will often be memorable to your student until the next class.
Once you’ve finished your last activity for the class, you can hand out stickers and/or coloring pages. Some teachers keep a sticker chart for each student. Some give each student a sticker for participation or good behavior. Some teachers give up to two stickers—one for attendance and one for good behavior. Some also do stamps instead of stickers.
Regardless of whether you hand out stickers, stamps or coloring pages, one of the best things you can do is tell each child (and their parent in the case of a toddler class) how glad you were to see them and let them know one thing they did well in class. This helps them to form a connection with you and feel good about their work in class. And even though toddlers are a bit young for this, they will still know you’re complimenting them by your tone and get a positive feeling.
