Many activities that we naturally do with infants and toddlers incorporate elements of performance art. Singing songs and dancing are favorite toddler activities. Here are a few specific activities that you may be able to incorporate into your day:
- Follow the leader – Play different types of music from around the world. Encourage children to move or dance to the music. Give children turns being the leader and encourage other children to follow the child’s movements. You can play this game with an individual infant or toddler as well – copy their movements and see where the game leads.
- Recycled Material Instruments – Check out this website for ideas for instruments (Avoid materials that may be choking hazards): https://www.howweelearn.com/spectacular-homemade-musical-instruments/
- Dancing Fast and Slow – Play music with different tempos. Encourage children to move their bodies to match the music.
- Music painting- Provide fingerpaint or paint and brushes. Play music of different tempos and encourage children to move their fingers or brushes in time with the music.
- Art Stories – Encourage children to tell you stories about the pictures they create. Write down the stories and attach them to the piece of art.
- Story Prompts – Show children interesting pictures, either drawings, painting, or actual pictures. Ask the children, “What’s happening in this picture?”
- Puppet play – Provide a variety of finger and simple hand puppets for children. Model for children how to act out songs and nursery rhymes using the finger puppets.
- Expand fingerplays- In addition to introducing fingerplays, encourage children to act out fingerplays using their whole bodies, rather than just their fingers.
Check out more ideas on our Pinterest page here!
For the Main Article on Performing Arts in ECE, CLICK HERE.
For Preschool Activity Ideas, CLICK HERE.
For School-Age Activity Ideas, CLICK HERE.
For Director’s Corner Activity Ideas, CLICK HERE.
