Today I would like to highlight two playful books of monsters and skeletons, to add to your Halloween collection.
The 2013 book Romping Monsters, Stomping Monsters, by Jane Yolen and illustrator Kelly Murphy, portrays some very busy monsters. The text will engage 4-7 year olds. "Monsters stretch. Monsters twirl. Monsters catch. Monsters hurl." The action words in the book vary from some easily danced and improvised ideas - hopscotch, teeter, totter, stretch, and twirl. Other words are very literal - eating, playing with balls, etc.
I would suggest reading the book to your group and then pulling out the strongest movement options to make a dance or improvisational activity. Exploring monsters can lead to talking about big/small, heavy/light, and slow/fast.
With Halloween Hustle, the 2013 book by Charlotte Gunnufson and illustrator Kevan J. Atteberry, your preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade students will get in the Halloween spirit. With rhyming words and repetition, a skeleton dances (and keeps falling apart) around town.
The dance ideas include:
-toe tapping
-twisting and shaking
-shuffling and scuffling feet
-high hops
-jumping
-shimmying, swinging, and swaying
Playing with the repeating words - "Bones scatter! What a clatter! Spine is like a broken ladder!" - the text can inspire exploring falling to the ground or "falling apart movement" from high to low (and angular actions). Teaching students to safely fall to the ground is a great skill, and they love falling.
For both of these books, find some classic Halloween music, whether it is "Monster Mash" or the "Fossils" section of Carnival of the Animals (great for skeletons dancing).
For more Halloween ideas, please click on the subject "Halloween" in the column to the right.
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