Animal Frolics
What is it?
Animal Frolics is a movement/ music process where both teachers and students decide what animal we should be, then we move like that animal, and make sounds like that animal. The teacher can lead the process, or students can take turns leading the process. The teacher and ideally all adults in the room participate in the animal actions and music making. The music provides the cues to start and stop the action. Also there are clear rules for where students can move. The are clear rules about what interactions are allowed and which are not allowed.
Why this lesson is important?
Animal frolics is a celebrative, expressive and embodied process that allows students a great freedom to express and enjoy themselves moving, and interacting with each other, and with the teacher while at the same time respecting each others limits and boundaries.
Animal frolics allows and encourage various primative movements that develop strength and coordination.
Animal frolics allows and encourages practising a range of vocal and emotional expressions.
Animal frolics allow kids and teachers to interact in a more primal play.
Animal frolics encourages students and teachers to develop their emerging musical skills both in playing instruments to accompany the music, and to respond to musical cues.
Animal frolics helps a group develop a common language of movement and music that can be further grown and cultivated.
Animal frolics allows students to explore their own limits and boundaries, and to learn to respect the limits and boundaries of others.
Animal frolics allows students to explore their own emotional expression, and to learn to respect the emotional expression of others.
Animal frolics allows students to explore their own physical expression, and to learn to respect the physical expression of others.
Animal frolics allows students to explore their own social expression, and to learn to respect the social expression of others.
Some Classic Animals
- Frogs: squatting, hopping, sounds
- Penguins: moving around with others while keeping hands and feet in close to the body center.
- Turtles: on all fours. When a musical signal is given, all students go in to their shell. When the beat restarts, students come out of their shells and crawl.
- Birds: flying with wings out, flocking usually following an adult.
- Dinosaurs: large muscle strong movements.
- Dragons: like dinosaurs but might breath fire.
- Beavers: may build dams or chew down trees, slap their tails to warn others.
- Opposums: play dead to handle danger.
- Elephants: have trunks, the trumpet with their trunks.
- Giraffe: reach to the tree tops for the tenderest leaves.
- Snakes:
- Roly-Polys: are cued by walking beat and a rolling beat. Students learn to roll on cue. They learn to not roll over other studnets.
- Unicorns / Pegasus: horse like movements
- Lions: roar and students are still expected to care about other students even when they are being a lion.
- Monkeys: love to talk with each other in monkey language.
- Lizards: crawl on their bellys.(crawling is well known to increase movement and neurologic integration.)
- Bears: walk on hands and feet, knees off the ground. (builds upper body strength)
- Orangatang: move with two hands together and two feet together.(builds upper body strength, and upper /lower body coordination.)
- Spiders:
- Crabs: crawling (good for core muscles and strengthing limbs) ; standing (good for lateral movements)
- Jelly Fish:
- Dolphins / Sharks:
- Kangaroos: great hopping
- Dinosaurs: large muscle strong movements.
Animal Frolics - Danger Games- these emphasise natural defensive strategies of the natural world. These strategies are largely encoded in our nervous system. By enacting these strategies, students can be empowered by them.
Turtle:
Oppossums:
Roly Poly:
Cat and Mouse: usually adults are the cats, students are the mice. Note I arrange a safe area where students who don't want to play, can stay safely out of the game.
Stand up the to the Bear
Level 2
One or several students act as musicians for the students that are moving.
Level 3 Cycle Stories
Frogs: can start as frogs eggs and develop into frogs.
From caterpillar to butterfly
From apple seed to apple tree
Chickens eggs to chickens to eggs
From acorn to oak tree
Combine classes or groups