Freeze Dance

One of our physical self-regulation activities that we do in class is "freeze dance." The children learn to follow complicated directions and practice physical  self-regulation by inhibiting specific movements until the appropriate moment. Music serves as a mediator for when to inhibit and perform specific actions. Research shows that  this kind of physical activity has a positive effect on learning if used as a warmup for tasks that demand attention, memory, and learning. While the music is playing the children look at the picture and plan their pose in their minds and dance! When the music stops we stop dancing and "freeze" in that pose that I am holding up. There are 3 different levels of "freeze dance poses" increasing in difficulty. Level 2 poses require more balance, level 3 poses  cross the midline of the body and are more complex, level 4 poses are partner poses.