Introduction to Creative Movement- Primary Grades

Skills Taught:
 Creative Expression
 Spatial Awareness

Skills Accomplished Through:

 Dramatic Play
 Exploration
 Movement

The students will be able to:

 Use language to describe movements before executing them.
 Demonstrate the difference between “static” and “dynamic”.
 Safely explore movements and space.

Materials:
 Music player
 Music selections of various speeds

Discussion:
 What are opposites?
 Have students name some opposites that they know.
o Discuss what makes these things opposites. (For one, they can’t
occur at the same time)
 What is the opposite of moving?
o We want them to get “being still” or “stillness” here.
 Some other words you can use for movement and stillness are Static and
Dynamic.
o Static means to be still and dynamic means to move.
o A good device for remembering is that static and stillness both start
with st- and dynamic sounds like dynamite. When someone lights
dynamite, you should move out of the way!
Activities:
 Warm Up
o Play some flowing music and have students stand in their own space
and stretch their entire bodies into long and large shapes.
o With more upbeat music, call out a body part and have students
move only that body part.
 Freeze Dance
o Play upbeat music and allow children to dance any way they would
like. When you pause the music, students will freeze in a statue.
o Make sure to use the terminology “static” and “dynamic” during this
part to remind them!
o If space allows, have students move around the room. If not, an
unfolded newspaper can be used as a “stage” for each student to
stand on while they are dancing.
o Vary the amount of time they have to hold their statues so they can
practice “static”.
o To add some variety, suggest a character that the students must
represent with their statues.
 Red Light/Green Light (different rules for safety in the classroom than as a
playground game!)
o Split students into two groups and have one group be an audience
and one be the performers.
o The performers will line up shoulder to shoulder on one side of the
play space. When you say “green light”, they will begin to move in a
safe, but silly way across the floor. At the “red light” cue, they will
freeze.
o When they reach the end of the play space, they will turn around and
return. Back and forth across the space.
o Emphasize that this is not a race like it would be outside. Their goal
is to entertain their audience with their dynamic movements and their
static choices! Switch groups so both get an opportunity to be an
audience and a performer.
 Classroom Freeze Tag
o This one’s a little harder to set up because it is important to
emphasize that the purpose here is to get caught so you have to
freeze! This will keep things safe and slow.
o Two students are “it” and will begin at opposite sides of the play
space.
 o Using silly walks and movements patterns (no running), the “it” will try
and tag the other participants. When tagged, the performer will
create a dramatic statue that they will hold for the remainder of the
game.
o When everyone except the “it” people are frozen, the game ends and
can start another round.
o Encourage big, elaborate statues. And don’t forget to use the words
“static and dynamic” while side-coaching and throughout the activity!

If there’s time:
 Still a few minutes until the bell? Try these short activities:
o Have one student at a time come up and make a statue of somebody
doing something. Other students will guess what they are doing.
o Take statue suggestions from the students. Have a student
demonstrate an idea for a static pose that represents that character
or action. All students copy the statue. At your cue, the statues will
come to life and use dynamic movements like the character or
complete the action. Another cue from you freezes everyone into
another statue.