1: Music
Music immediately creates an atmosphere and is a useful tool for maintaining order. That is why I often use music during learning through movement. This is how I explain it to new groups of children who do not know me yet: “Can you hear the music? We can hear it best when everyone is quiet. That means keeping your mouth closed and moving. Does the music stop? Then we stop dancing and everyone looks at me. Then we will do something else.” It is always helpful to practise this by playing freeze dance. When you stop the music, the children are quiet, look at you, and then you give them an exciting instruction for making a statue. For example: with two hands and one foot on the floor. Or with two bottoms and two index fingers on the floor.
Practical tip: use your phone to go to YouTube and search for suitable music. (For example, Samba de janeiro) Cast the music to a Bluetooth speaker and you can use music anywhere. Nice and easy and sustainable. Or bring out the CD player if you prefer.
2: Stickers
What works well is using pieces of masking tape that you stick to the floor in a circle, and sometimes in a line as well. The children then all have a fixed place during the lesson, so they do not get in one another’s way while moving. They love experiencing freedom within boundaries in this way.
3: Framework
Children need boundaries, but also plenty of freedom to move. Create a framework for the active learning situation you are setting up, so that they know exactly what is and is not allowed. For example: On this roof (one half of the room), all the Zwarte Piet characters wearing a beret may dance by themselves. (freedom) Of course, they do keep their mouths closed, so that they can hear the music properly. (boundary) When I call out: Blue! the Zwarte Piet characters wearing a blue beret may jump to the other roof (the other half of the room), where I will give them a dance instruction. (structure)
To prepare: collect movement activities that suit the children’s developmental stage and the theme, such as crawling, sneaking, taking quick little steps, galloping, walking, skipping, hopping on one leg, sidestepping, skipping with alternating feet, and so on. Music tip: Samba Piet by Maan.
Try it out with your group. If something does not go as you had planned, bring things to a halt by asking all the children to return to their stickers. This means that somewhere in your framework, a door is open: find the gap and give them the instruction they need. For example, if you notice that the Zwarte Piet characters on the other roof are carrying out your movement instruction but start chatting, that is where the gap was, so give them an instruction about it. Try again! Keep trying until your framework is fully secure.
4: Physical contact
There are always children who get lost in the activity or only do what they want. I always give these children a firm hand for a moment, to let them feel that I am there for them. I point out the other children and tell them how well they are doing, because… (fill in the reason yourself) Then I ask whether this child could do it just as well and give them the space to try again. I also take children who are disrupting things by the hand, and sometimes even sit them on my lap. They need a little more time to realise that we are all doing the same thing and that this child’s contribution is also welcome. Then we try again.
5: Trying
The final tip is about trying. How often do we say this to our children: “You learn by trying. Just try it one more time. It’s okay if it doesn’t go well straight away; just keep going.” I would also like to say this to you as a professional. You cannot master learning through movement in one go. It takes time. Give yourself that time to practise and grow in this area. And enjoy the moments when you can. Observe your class in motion sometime—there is nothing more enjoyable.