Tiny dancers

For the last week or so, a group of our girls have been exploring ballet. We have a few books that inspired them, and they tried out some moves to classical music.

Dancing is an important part of a child's development. They learn body awareness, balance, coordination, teamwork, rhythm, and emotional expression. As teachers we knew this, but we wondered how to progress and deepen the learning. What attracts the girls? Is it the movement, the balance, or even the graceful beauty of ballerinas?

Since a lot of the girls were also a part of our fashion design inquiry, we decided to guide the exploration into this area and align the investigations. Yesterday, the girls made ribbon rings to use as dancing props. The art of actually making the rings was an effective activity for building fine motor skills, and well as an exercise in making something beautiful.

It inspired some graceful movements and balances.

Miss Kentner brought in her old ballet tutus from her classes as a child, and they were a hit.

We decided to make our own tutus using supplies from the dollar store. The art studio was filled with girls quietly concentrated on making ballet costumes.

When supplies ran low, some girls thought outside of the box and improvised with scraps of fabric.

We started to collect our knowledge and questions about the topic so we can deepen our investigative and research skills.