Here are some activities you can do to enhance your skills and knowledge in the following content areas though the performing arts.

 

• Choose an object in nature.  Copy the shape of the object with your own body to create the beginning and ending shape of your new dance. Create 5 dance steps or 5 transitional moves/gestures and rehearse the entire phrase.  Start with your beginning nature shape, dance through your 5 moves, and repeat your ending nature shape.

• Choose an object in nature and write a story from the object’s point of view.

• Find an animal or object in nature that moves. Mimic the movements of the object as precisely as you can. Dramatize the movement into bigger and smaller gestures.

• Choose 2 objects in nature and write a dialogue between the two.

• Create sound effects from nature with items that you have at home.  With friends and family, layer your nature sound effects to create a soundscape.

 

 

• Choose 1 word, phrase, or dance step and develop a play, song, or dance by varying and manipulating only that 1 word/phrase/step.

• Study a poem. Pull out the action words and explore the different ways to perform those actions. Practice your actions in the order they appear in the poem and retell the poem with your new dance.

• With your family, choose a poem. Everyone take a turn reading 1 line of the poem. The 2nd time around, each person selects just 1 word from the poem that stands out as the most important word from the line. For the 3rd time, say your same word and add a movement that represents that word. For the final round, perform only the movement.

• Take a poem and set it to music.

• Read a book or biography of your favorite artist, composer, actor, dancer, or choreographer.

• Write a letter to your favorite artist, composer, actor, dancer, or choreographer (past or present).

 

 

• Study your note values and compare them to fractions.

• Have someone in your family give you a math problem (that solves to a value under 20). Solve the problem by making a shape that has the correct number of body parts touching the ground/supporting your body.  If you have company, try solving the problem with another person and split up the answer between your two bodies.

• Make a chart of the note equations.

• Choreograph a dance in 6/8 or ¾ time.

• Recreate the shape of numbers and math symbols with your body.

• Practice note reading.

• Find songs in a piano book or on the radio that are written in 6/8 or ¾ time.

• With your family, create an equation in tableau (frozen pose) and have another family member use their body to tableau the answer.

 

 

• Research a folk dance from a country you want to visit one day.

• Find a video online of that folk dance and try to learn it.

• Research jobs in your community that interest you. Choose one job and create a character that would have that job. Write a monologue or scene involving that character.

• Research jobs in theatre, dance, or music.

• Research your favorite artists’ lives. Find on a map where they lived and travelled. Make a timeline of their life, including other events that occurred in their time.

• Learn the presidents rap or other history songs (from Schoolhouse Rock or YouTube)

 

Arts

 

• Design a costume for a character from a play or musical, or design a dance costume.

• With your friends and family, create a talent show, play, rock band, or dance company. If no one is around, put on a show with your pets or stuffed animals.

• Dress up as your favorite composer.

• Create a set design/diorama in a shoebox of your favorite play or musical.

• Make up new choreography for your favorite song.

• Make your own Halloween costume.

• Make scary sound effects.

• Make your own music video, complete with original choreography.

• Listen to a song and draw a picture that represents how it makes you feel.

• Create a visual map for a song.

• Play freeze dance. Or play freeze dance with colors. Or freeze dance with colors and body parts.

• Create an original play.

• Write a pop song.

• Write a musical.

• Become an MC and write a rap.

• Choreograph a hip hop dance.

• Choreograph a ballet.

• Choreograph a hip hop ballet.

• Recreate/restage a famous dance from a video, musical, or YouTube.

• Write a review or critique of a show, movie, new song, or album.

• Draw a picture of your favorite character in a play.

• Practice your keyboard, piano, or instrument.

• Invent your own instrument.

• Play a virtual instrument on a music App.

• Draw Notation symbols on index cards and mix the cards up to create a new dance. Then notate the composition.

• Use your notation symbols to compose a new score. Then choreograph a dance that matches that score.

• If you are in a show (2nd grade, 3rd grade, 5th grade musical), recite your lines, sing your lyrics, and rehearse the choreography.

• See a Broadway show, Off-Broadway show, concert, dance concert, or ballet.

• Have a sing-a-long on a road trip.

• Take music, dance, or acting lessons.

• Practice using your actor tools: body, face, voice, and imagination.

• Lead your family in the dance warm-up.

• Create your own warm-up.

• Practice your springs (petit and grand allegro), tendus, relevé, pirouettes, yoga, and planks.

• Practice your vocal warm-ups.

*For any of these activities, record your performance, edit your music on Garageband or Audacity, edit the entire recording on iMovie, and share with your friends and family.

Check out these great resources:

Paul Rooyackers 101 books: 101 Dance Games, 101 Theater Games, 101 Music Games, etc.

Anne Green Gilbert: Teaching the Three Rs Through Movement