Congratulations—you made it to the end of your Learn + Live Lessons! This is our last week of activities for the year, and we are so ready to celebrate your child and all that you both have accomplished! So, let’s get ready to get up and dance. (Want to track your last week of activities? Get our printable tracking document here.)
Note: Occasionally we include project upgrades (for kids ready for more) and modifications (which can be useful for including younger siblings). We’ll mark those with the plus (+) or minus (-) symbols.
What you need:
Books (find at your local library or order below on Amazon):
- Cock-a-doodle Dance! By Christine Tricarico (or you can listen to our read aloud or read it here on OpenLibrary)
- Bunheads by Misty Copeland (or listen to this read aloud by the author)
- Kitchen Dance by Maurie J. Manning (or listen to this read aloud)
- Degas and the Little Dancer by Laurence Anholt (or listen to this read aloud)
- Feel the Beat by Marilyn Singer (This book comes with a CD that makes it really come to life! Listen to this read aloud for a taste of how this book could be read.)
Supplies (use what you have, but here are links to shop if you need anything):
- washable paint
- large roll of paper (or large poster board)
- duct tape
- chalk
- aluminum baking tray (these are cheaper to buy at the grocery store or dollar store)
- milk (whole milk is recommended, but any dairy milk will work)
- toothpicks
- dish soap
- small cups
- food coloring
- 1 quart glass jar
- popcorn kernels
- baking soda
- white vinegar
- small paper plates
- ribbon
- paper + access to a printer (don’t have one? we like this model)
- ingredients for this recipe (note: you can get the jelly crystals on Amazon here, but they are not on Prime, so you should check your grocery store first)
- popsicle sticks (could also use crumpled pieces of paper)
- 4 toilet paper tubes (could also use blocks)
- small magnets
- magnetic wand
- tissues (or toilet paper squares)
- Ingredients for this recipe
What to do:
We recommend doing the below lessons in this order to build on each skill your child will develop, but don’t feel that you *need* to do them in this order. Do what works for you and your child. If they love an activity, feel free to repeat! Not a winner? Skip and try the next thing. Have fun!
Lesson 1:
There are so many types of dance in the world. Some are slow and some are fast, some require partners, and others are done in a line! Read about different types of dancing in the book Cock-a-doodle Dance! Demonstrate and talk about the different dance steps and terms described in this silly barn book. You might want to use Google to find videos of people dancing in specific ways that your child might not be familiar with. You can also remind your child about the Irish step dancers we learned about in our England + Ireland Unit!
Activity 1: Now, get up and dance! It’s time for Freeze Dance. Practice hopping, skipping, twirling and freezing with this fun song by the Kiboomers. (And, if you are feeling brave, try this Freeze Dance paint party outside!)
Activity 2: This number line activity can be modified to fit into our dance unit. Once you have set it up and identified the numbers, put on some music and dance up and down the line. You can also modify your number line and count by 5s or 10s. Would you like some music inspiration? How about a conga line song?
Does your child love to learn new songs? Check out the first two minutes of this video to learn a number line song.
Activity 3: This dancing milk experiment is perfect for sensory play.
Lesson 2:
Start by reading the book Kitchen Dance.
Activity 1: A tango lesson just for kids. Get up and dance the tango just like the mom and dad in our story with this easy instructional video. Need more inspiration? Watch these kids make it look way too easy!
Activity 2: There’s lots of things that dance in the kitchen! Case in point: this dancing popcorn experiment.
Activity 3: Dancing rings craft project. Make your rings out of the small paper plates. We also found ribbon cheaper than the plastic tablecloths, but feel free to use the tablecloths if you have them already. The blogger also shares several ideas for how to use the dancing ring, but here are some of our favorites:
- Put on some music and dance around with your rings.
- Make letters and numbers in the air.
- Have a parade in your neighborhood.
Lesson 3:
Today is all about ballet! Let’s read the book Bunhead to learn about a real life ballerina named Misty Copeland. You can also hear her read her story here. Next, watch a video of Misty dancing. And don’t forget that boys dance ballet, too! Watch this video for a collection of famous male ballet dancers.
Grown-ups…need a laugh? Watch Misty and Jimmy Kimmel dance here. 😂
Activity 1: Practice numbers with this ballet dancer connect the dots printable.
Activity 2: Edgar Degas was a French painter who loved painting ballet dancers. Look at his huge collection of pictures of dancers. He wanted to capture the dancers’ grace and presence both on stage and backstage as they got ready for performances. Look at this site especially for kids, and share some facts with them. This page also shows some of his other works including the bronze statue called Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and ask your child the questions at the bottom of the page to engage their critical thinking skills.
Activity 3: Read the story Degas and the Little Dancer. Next, let’s do a Degas-inspired art project. Our inspiration will be project #1 in that post. The original project is a little complicated because it’s made for older students, so we are going to modify it. (Here’s her video explaining the project.) Scroll down to her supporting documents and download the template PDF and print it. Have your child color in the template parts and paste them together. Mount all the pieces on a bold colored background paper for the final piece!
Lesson 4:
The dance party continues today with a book of poems! But first we must prepare our tea and poetry dessert.
Activity 1: Ready for a dessert that can really move? Start your day by making this jell-O dessert. It’s going to take 3 hours for this to set, so make it early in the day if you can.
Activity 2: Dance like a robot! Listen to this song, and then try this gross motor activity.
Activity 3: Time for Tea + Poetry! Read the Feel the Beat book written in the rhythm of the music and dance that inspired it as you enjoy your dessert and tea.
Lesson 5:
We can hardly believe it, but today is the last day of lessons for the year! And that can only mean one thing…it’s party time! 🎉🎉🎉
Activity 1: Play with magnets and have a dancing snail party. (This is also a great activity to make use of the dozens of drawings your child likely has around the house!)
Activity 2: How do you make a tissue dance? Put a little boogie in it! 😂 If your child likes that joke, they’re going to love this tissue dance party game.
Activity 3: You made it! We hope that you are so proud of yourself and your child. (We know we are!) Present your child with our last day of Learn + Live certificate for 2020/2021 and do this celebration dance to officially cap off the year. And here’s a “last day of school” sign if you take any photos!
Psst! If you post your video or pictures, please tag us @learnandliveletter and use the hashtag #learnandliveletter so we can celebrate along with you!
☀️ Have an amazing summer!!! ☀️
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