A wide selection of warm up activities suitable to get the children moving in a fun and engaging way. The warm ups would suit Dance, Drama or PE activities.

A step by step guide to enable those who lack confidence in delivering dance. The lesson is clearly structured but allows the children to be fully active throughout the lesson, creating their own movement in response to ideas from the story. The plan includes a guide of what you hope to see for each element of the lesson to help you to assess the children and develop their skills. There is a short of list of music that would suit this lesson for you to select from. This lesson would fit with themes such as Traditional Tales or Forests.

This pack includes 6 dance lessons aimed at Reception/year one. Three of the lessons link to the book ‘Dinosaur Roar!’ by Paul & Henrietta Stickland. Each lesson comes in an easy to follow step-by-step format, with hints & tips along the way & a clear indication of the skills they will be focusing on in every section of the lesson. At the end of the plan there is a suggestion of a piece of music that will complement the lesson (with the link to Youtube) to make it easy to access. The final lesson is a consolidation lesson - but the other lessons can be completed in any order - and you don’t have to do all of them!

Suitable for lower KS2 these step by step dance lessons use themes from the story - the first looks at the Iron Man on the farm & eating machinery, the second is the arrival of the Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon & the final uses the battle. All are highly creative lessons that requires the teacher to simply ask questions & set tasks, which in turn allows the children to create their own actions & to keep moving for the duration of the lesson. The plans comes with a suggestion of suitable music.

For anyone teaching the Ancient Greeks or Greek Myths here are 3 easy to deliver, creative dance lessons that will have your students active, fire their imaginations and develop their creative skills and team working. The first lesson uses the sailing ship crashing onto the island of Crete; the second explores the maze and the third lesson uses the theme of the battle. These could be developed further by being linked together to creative the narrative & then further still by being repeated in reverse order to show Theseus leaving the maze and returning home. The lessons come with suggestions for instrumental music that can be accessed through itunes or YouTube. If you require any further help or support I deliver inset to help your school devise and deliver high quality dance lessons linked to curriculum themes.

A step by step guide to enable those who lack confidence in delivering dance. The lesson is clearly structured but allows the children to be fully active throughout the lesson, creating their own movement in response to ideas from the story. The plan includes a guide of what you hope to see for each element of the lesson to help you to assess the children and develop their skills. There is a short of list of music that would suit this lesson for you to select from. This lesson would fit with themes such as Traditional Tales or Forests.

Creative dance lessons in a step by step format for those under confident with teaching dance. The lessons include ‘Sparklers’, ‘Rockets’, ‘Helicopters, Pistils and Comets’ & ‘Guy Fawkes’. The lessons come with a suggestion for music that is easily sourced via the internet. The lessons include guidance for the teacher - e.g. when to add music, the sort of feedback you might give and how you might arrange sharing/feedback opportunities. If you require any further information or support please feel free to email me - my address is included with the notes. Each lesson has been tried and tested in a number of primary schools & they do not require the teacher to dance a step!

This pack includes 4 step by step creative dance lessons suitable for KS1 or lower KS2. Each lesson links to ideas from a poem ‘Under the Sea’ and enables the children to explore a wide range of actions & physical skills. The lessons come with music suggestions that are easily accessed through the internet, alternatively feel free to add your own choice. The lessons are written with the non-specialist in mind & hints and tips are included to help you to create a positive working environment without having to dance a step yourself! Lesson 1 looks at swimming, limpets and coral reefs; Lesson 2 links with octopus, jellyfish, starfish & dolphins; Lesson 3 uses sharks, sea snails and hermit crabs & Lesson 4 explores building sandcastles, gathering shells & paddling/splashing in the sea & these can be performed in any order.

Suitable for y3 and above, these three lesson plans use the structure of castle buildings and how they were attacked and defended. The lessons are creative and allow the children to devise their own movement material (rather than learning any step pattern) as a solo and in groups. I would suggest that suitable music might be Phat Planet by Leftfield, Battle Without Honour or Humanity by Electric Samurai or Theme from the film The Matrix & these lessons could complement themes such as buildings, the middle ages or invaders. I have assumed that lessons run for approximately 45 minutes, so you may well find that you have more than 3 lessons here if you hall time is less or that your children have little prior experience of dance.

Four lessons for KS2 students using the theme of Tribal Dance - linking to the Haka and African dance. The lessons come in a simple step-by-step format with the first exploring different formations & analysing the types of action typically found in traditional tribal dances like the Haka. The following lesson uses Question & Answer to communicate the competitive situation. The third lesson uses contrast and complement to create a battle & the final lesson reflects celebratory dances of Africa. All the lessons come with a suggestion for the music that could be used and they can be linked to create a narrative dance. There are links to examples on YouTube to help you illustrate the cultural links - but the lessons do not require the teacher to dance - but please feel free to do so if you feel confident!

Easy to follow step by step lessons that cover the ideas of pirate ships, setting sail over the seven seas, treasure maps and making shelter on a desert island. Each lesson allows the students to generate their own ideas & encourages the children to keep moving, be imaginative and develop their team working/choreographic skills. Comes with a suggestion for suitable music.

This pack includes 4 easy to follow dance lessons that cover cave paintings hunter gatherers moving from caves to simple houses into the Iron Age with the creation of weapons (battles). Each lesson comes with a link to suitable music as well as hints and tips along the way to help you to keep the children on task and challenged. There is also a side column indicates the key skill for each section of the lesson. The lessons are in step-by-step form that require the teacher to simply ask questions & set tasks - this allows the children to be very creative & it is also a very inclusive way of working. If you require any further support please feel free to contact me at cpring@live.co.uk

For those of you who feel a little apprehensive about teaching dance I have tried something a little different. A power point that takes you through the lesson step by step by simply going from slide to slide & reading out the tasks for the children to do. (Alternatively you could project the tasks onto a whiteboard for them to work more independently). It is a creative lesson aimed at year 2, 3 or 4. The teacher just asks the children to ‘find a way…’ & it is up to them how they respond. I have suggested a piece of music to suit the lesson - but it would suit any gentle instrumental piece.

A step by step guide to enable those who lack confidence in delivering dance. The lesson is clearly structured but allows the children to be fully active throughout the lesson, creating their own movement in response to ideas from the story. The plan includes a guide of what you hope to see for each element of the lesson to help you assess the children and develop their skills. There is a short list of suggested music that would suit this lesson for you to select from. The lesson would fit with themes such as Traditional Tales or Food.

A series of 5 detailed lesson plans suitable for key stage one, that take inspiration and ideas from Mick Inkpen’s lovely story. Each lesson allows the children to create their own movement ideas so the teacher is free to guide, observe, describe and enjoy. The lessons are themed around the story & follow the narrative, they are ~ Lesson 1 - Penguin Small watched his friends plop into the ocean & swim away Lesson 2 - The polar bears were in a terrible mood Lesson 3 - The island was a wonderful place Lesson 4 - All night long the storm blew Lesson 5 - I can fly! I can fly!

Suitable for y3 and above, these two detailed lesson plans use seed dispersal methods to encourage the children to travel using a range of dynamics. The lesson on life cycles of plants encourages the children to develop their sequencing skills and movement memory whilst embedding their understanding of the process. The lessons are creative and allow the children to devise their own movement material (rather than learning any step pattern). The lessons come with suggestions for suitable music & could complement themes such as our environment, life cycles, Spring, plants. I have assumed that lessons run for approximately 45 minutes, so you may well find that you have more than 2 lessons here if you hall time is less or that your children have little prior experience of dance.

For KS1 & KS2 teachers delivering dance. The document looks at the skills that I would be hoping children would achieve by the end of each academic year - I’ve broken them down into Physical Knowledge; Physical Skills; Creative/Choreographic Skills and Interpersonal Skills. The overview spans from nursery to Y6.

Three easy to follow dance lessons based on ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ by Julia Donaldson. The lessons allow the children to create their own movements based on ideas from the text & each section of the lesson focuses on a particular (identified) skill such as balance, control, sequencing or travelling. The lessons could be amalgamated to create a short performance piece & music suggestions are included with each lesson plan.

I have delivered many, many dance cpd sessions over the years & the common question is ‘where do you find your music?’ So I have put together a list of my regular ‘go-to’ pieces, complete with the name of the artist, a direct link to that song on iTunes & themes that I think they could match with. This is obviously not a complete list but it is a really good start and I recommend building up your own library of 'music for dance - it makes finding suitable music so much quicker! But if I can give you one piece of advice when finding music for dance… don’t look for the perfect piece of music (it doesn’t exist!) - just look for a good match - then stop looking! Another tip - a good place to start are film scores - they’ve been written with a visual image in mind - doing The Romans? Then something on the score of ‘Gladiator’ will probably suit. This is mainly aimed at KS1 & 2, but a good piece of music doesn’t have age boundaries… I hope you enjoy them.