Getting ready for a circle dance with toddlers

Ever been in the vice-like grip of a two year-old?  When they want to hold hands with you they don’t let go easily. I was running a class using our farm music lesson plan, ‘Baa! Moo! Oink!’ when the time came to do our circle dance ‘Chicken Shed‘.  The written activity says ‘Hold hands and start moving in a circle to the left.  Bend down and mime scooping up eggs during the chorus.’  Well, that would have been nice but on each side I was connected to a two year-old, neither of whom was going to let go.  So -quick modification – we just kept going in the circle.  Sometimes kids are happy simply to enjoy the success of circle-dancing while there are plenty of adults keeping it all together. If that’s what they want to do then so be it! Instead of following the written activity I concentrated on including every child’s name in the song, changing names with every line.  It’s great to see them smile when they hear their name sung.  One mum who joined our group nervously carrying her koala-like one year old told me when they left (full of confidence) four years later that Chicken Shed was their all-time favourite music activity.  If you keep chickens this is definitely a song to try.  Here’s a short preview of Michael singing it.  Chicken Shed Vocal Preview