This activity is great for PE warm-ups or cool-downs. It’s also a good transition activity.
I home-school and find free play for recess a bad idea, as my students have trouble switching back to school. So, between classes, we exercise through dancing transitions. First, I set the timer for 10 minutes and turn on fast-paced dancing music and instruct the student to creatively dance until the timer goes off. The wilder the dance, the better!
Just make sure that the furniture is moved first. Jumping, flipping and spinning are fine as long as they don’t hurt themselves or anyone else. To cool down, I reset the timer for five more minutes and play slower music (like soft rock or some softer country music), and the children continue dancing or playing quietly by themselves for five more minutes.
When the timer rings, set it again for five minutes. This time, play quiet music (such as classical or lullaby music) without words and ask the students to sit quietly in one place. They might lay their head down, read, write, draw or do another relaxed activity. Sometimes we use a guided relaxation tape for this time.
After this, students are ready to return to work, energised, relaxed and up to the really important stuff!