Keep Playing Week 19
Game of the Week: Dance Move
This week, Playworks is featuring a game that provides every player with the opportunity to show off their creativity. Players will be challenged to think about what they admire about the other players and to share their appreciation with them.
Skill Focus:
Respect – Showing admiration or appreciation for someone’s abilities, qualities, or achievements.
Play In-Person
Play Virtually
Simplified Game Instructions
# of people to play: 5+
Best for ages: 5+
Setup/Teaching Time: 2-3 minutes
Equipment needed: None
Goal: Try out new ways of moving and sharing respectful appreciations with one another.
Before You Start:
- Players stand in a circle with enough space in between each person so they can move and dance safely.
- Practice the chants in advance so everyone can chant and clap along.
How to Play:
- One player begins in the center of the circle and shows off a dance move while everyone else claps and chants:
- “Let me see your dance move, your dance move, your dance move. Let me see your dance move, your dance move at this school!”
- Immediately afterwards everyone joins in and does the same dance move while chanting:
- “We can do it too, and too, and too. We can do it too, we can do your dance move!”
- At the end of the chant, have the dancer close their eyes and spin in a slow circle pointing towards the rest of the group while they count to 10.
- After 10 counts the dancer freezes, and whoever they are pointing at has the opportunity to be the next dancer. Ask them to say one thing they appreciated about the previous dancer’s moves. After showing their respect and appreciation, it’s their turn to move into the middle, dance and begin the next round!
- If the selected player doesn’t want to be the dancer, they can pass their turn to the next person in the circle.
Game Debrief
- Think about a player whose dance moves you liked. What did you appreciate about their dancing?
- How did you show them you appreciated their dancing?
- When could you go out of your way to compliment someone for their abilities and achievements?
Game Modifications
Age Group Modifications
- For younger students: The game leader should prepare a few simple dance moves for players to learn and the leader should demonstrate for the first few rounds before asking for a volunteer to share.
- For older students: Notify players of the upcoming game ahead of time so they can develop more complicated moves and encourage them to name their move.
Another Way to Play
- After the first player shows off their dance move, they pass it to a second player who has to repeat the dance move of the first player then add a dance move of their own. The second player then passes it to a third player who has to do the dance moves of the 1st and 2nd players in order before adding their own. This continues until the player cannot successfully repeat all of the previous moves.
- If not playing at school, substitute another word or phrase in the chant for “at this school” such as “in this room” or “at this time.”
Academic Applications
- Teachers can incorporate the names of bones or muscles into the movements that the students have to use in their moves.
Brain Break: Sports Club
How to Play
- The goal of the game is to freeze on a signal.
- Leader calls out a sports game or recess activity and models an action, all students will “play” that game by acting it out. Examples:
- Basketball – Dribbling and shooting an imaginary ball
- Soccer – Foot juggling an imaginary ball
- Tennis – Swing an imaginary racquet
- Football – Do an end-zone dance
- After a few seconds the leader gives a signal to freeze.
- If students do not successfully freeze, they should do 3 jumping jacks and then join in on the next round.
- Repeat with different sports/games.
Additional Resources
Sample School Community Announcement
For the month of February we’re continuing to focus on the theme of social awareness. Social awareness is the ability to assess your feelings, thoughts, and actions through introspection and reflection.
Showing respect means you are treating others the way you’d like to be treated – by listening, watching, and acknowledging them in positive ways. Playing Dance Move is a fun way to practice showing respect to others and will make you feel good too.
Teach students to play in class, and then empower them to lead the game and teach others!
Core Recess Game
In addition to our Keep Playing Game of the Week, we’re sharing bi-weekly Core Recess Games that will help kids be active, practice leadership, maximize recess time, and have fun.
This week’s game is THREE-LINES SOCCER!
Return to the Keep Playing Homepage for archives of past weeks and other helpful resources.