Children practise controlling their bodies by contrasting locomotor actions and stillness or holding their body shape. A phrase of movement is like a sentence with punctuation at the end. Shapes and Balance One way for children to practise their balance and stability is by making shapes with their whole body. Basic body shapes are small, tall, wide and twisted, but all kinds of shapes can be made emphasizing things or different body parts. Shapes can be made on the floor, sitting, kneeling, standing and even in the air.
Children can copy shapes or move one another into shapes.
Similarly, snow swirling around frozen statues or fish swimming amongst the seaweed provide a structure for children to practise their locomotor and stability skills within a playful environment. Naming a Dance While very young children are gaining knowledge about functional movement, their playful wiggling and jumping responses may not be considered dance. However, with sufficient practise, it is not long before children can identify which parts of their bodies are moving, that there are different steps that their feet can do, that their body can change size and travel in different directions, and that their bodies sense a variety of tension and flow as their imagination takes them through creeping, sneaking or pouncing exploration. Now the children are able to remember and refer to the dance when they want to do it again. The technique of naming a dance is very similar to a child's remembering the names of songs or stories.