6 Great Games for Kids that Love Dance
September 7, 2021 7:45:00 AM EDT | USASF
As parents, we have a lot on our plate these days. And with the mountain of work we have to get done in a day’s time, it’s easy to get into the habit of having our kids playing on their tablets or phone in order to keep them occupied.
How do you bring the fun, keep kids occupied and off their digital devices? It feels like that’s a question parents spend too much time trying to answer.
With health, happiness and safety at forefront of every parent’s mind, dance games are a fantastic way to keep your child engaged, active and occupied so you can have time to keep the house afloat. Whether you need to get a little work done, wash the car, mow the lawn, or need a little downtime, here are six great games for kids who love dance.
Beginning with younger children, animal dance is an excellent way to help your kid(s) learn about new and exciting animals in a fun and unique way. How would a kangaroo dance? A lizard? You can have each child dance like an animal. Keep changing it up with new animals, or even encourage them to find new dances for their favorite animals. For a fun twist on the game make a rule that they can’t make any noise! Either way, it’ll expend plenty of energy.
Body Part Party is a silly educational game that will have your kids roaring with laughter! Start some music and ask your kids to circle up. Start by “dancing” one part of your body (like your leg or even just one toe). Then let everyone else in the circle mimic your dance. After a few beats, “pass” the dance to the next child who must “dance” that same body part but in a new way. After you’ve gone around the circle, pick a new body part to make dance.
Emotions can be difficult for kids and teens to manage and they can struggle to communicate their emotions to adults. The Emoji Dance helps kids name and express their emotions through the art of dance. Start by preparing a playlist of different moods and genres of songs. Each time you change the song, encourage kids to dance in a way that expresses the emotion of the song. Don’t just go for happy, energetic songs. See what happens when you put on something sad or angry, too.
The key to Find the Leader is having a keen eye. To play, have one child be “it” and leave the room. Next, pick a leader to lead everyone in a silly dance. Encourage the leader to be as silly as possible and to change moves often. When the “it” child returns, start the music. Everyone should do their best to follow the leader’s moves while trying to not look directly at them. If “it” can figure out who the leader is before the end of the song, the leader becomes “it” and you start over. This is a fun game for older kids as well as adults, so join in the fun!
For older children or teens, spice up a normal game of charades by adding dance elements!
Begin by making a set of charades cards. You want to get people dancing, so selecting dance moves from a movie, a pop star, or for a specific song work well. These can include characters like the Easter bunny, superheroes, movie characters, or even Disney princesses. Then, one person picks a card and has to perform a dance based on the character. The rest of the group has to guess who the dancer is or the name of the dance move. Whoever guesses correctly is the next dancer.
A bit like with charades, this involves lots of silly fun for older children and teenagers. Start by giving people standard Pictionary game cards or just use cards with a word. One person secretly picks a card and then has to explain the word or phrase using interpretive dance instead of drawing. This works well if you or a friend are prepared to demonstrate, and you have a group of friends who don’t mind fun or being very strange for a laugh!
With more and more parents striving for fun ways to keep kids and teens active, these six games for kids who love dance are a sure fire way to liven the day and keep your kids entertained for a long time!
