How can we keep our kids active and stimulated while stuck inside the home? Try this! We wanted to share some of our favourite music based movement activities help you through this time – we hope you’re ready to dance, groove and move!

At TumbleTown, we love to incorporate music as a tool to get the kids moving and having fun. We have a few go-to dance warm ups and activity songs we wanted to share with you. These activities develop many skills including creativity and self-expression, and encourage children to listen and respond quickly. You will need a bit of space – get rid of toys, move around furniture if necessary and make sure the area is safe before starting!

Have a Dance Party!
Put on some upbeat tunes and shake, twirl and groove to the music! Kids will have fun, let loose and fine-tune their dance moves! Try incorporating scarves, ribbons or shakers and more.

Do a Dance and Freeze
We love a good Dance and Freeze! This is a simple way to get kids active and responding to music. Put on a song and dance your hearts out. But when the music stops, don’t get caught moving!

Try these Activity Songs
We utilize a lot of command based activity songs which are easily available on Spotify or YouTube!

  • Mark D Pencil has some excellent songs which get your kids up and moving. Our favourite is The Exercise Song , which has kids listening and moving to the commands in the song. For those who don’t have much space to run around, try Stand In Place and Move !

Check out these fun Dance and Freeze games:

Many of the above are geared towards children 3 years old and up, however these can still be tailored to a toddler with a little help from their parents! And here are a few more interactive songs great for Toddlers!

  • Songs For Kids do a fun and active Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
  • Or try a faster, trickier version from The Learning Station!
  • What kid doesn’t love 5 Little Monkeys jumping on the Bed? And 10 Monkeys is even better! While we don’t suggest having kids jumping on the bed, try laying out yoga mats, blankets or pillows (nothing that will slip!) for the kids to jump on and off of while following along to the song!
  • And we will finish off with one of our favourites: Shake My Sillies Out with Raffi!

All these artists and channels have a lot of great active songs and dances, so take a moment to explore!

We’ve created a playlist on Spotify and YouTube with all of these songs – try them out!

All of these activities can be tailored to the age of your child: activities can be adapted for a toddler, or made more challenging for older kids:

  • For toddlers try a simple dance party and stop start movements like a freeze dance. Incorporating animal movements is a great way to have your child become familiar or comfortable moving in different ways.
  • For preschoolers and through to school aged kids, encourage a variety of movements: reach arms up high, nod your head side to side, spin, jump, hop and twirl. Try fast and slow movements — can you spin slowly? Can you jump fast? Try changing height level and dance on knees or on tip-toe; or using the floor.
  • Try using different pieces of music and see how the kids express themselves. Experiment with various tempos and rhythms, and explore feeling and expression – how does the music makes you feel? Happy, sad, giddy? How will your body move?
  • Can your kids to move to the beat? Try marching, clapping, bouncing and more. Introduce different steps and put a sequence of movements together.

Let us know if you have any questions, and as always, let us know how it goes!