Carnival of the Animals Movement

Using excerpts from Saint-Saëns' "Carnival of the Animals," students move like the animal in each piece, matching its tempo and mood: slow like the tortoise, heavy like the elephant, bouncy like the kangaroo. They work on listening, expression and different locomotor skills.

How to play

1. Explain that the music describes animals and students must guess which one before moving (1 min).
2. "Royal March of the Lion": strong steps and roars on the piano runs; when the music stops, freeze (3 min).
3. "Tortoises" (very slow, low to the floor), "The Elephant" (heavy steps) and "Kangaroos" (two-foot jumps), 2 minutes each (6 min).
4. "Aquarium" and "Aviary": wavy fish arms, then tiptoe flapping like birds (4 min).
5. Five groups of 5 pick an animal and create 16 counts with two kinds of movement and an ending pose (3 min).
6. Each group dances its animal to its music while the others guess it (3 min).

Rules

• Use the whole space and look for open spots so you don't bump into anyone.
• When the music stops, freeze like an animal statue.
• Land jumps with bent knees and without pushing anyone.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the student shows the animal with arms, torso and face, or moves the wheelchair at the speed the music calls for.
• Hearing impairment: hold up a picture card of the animal and use gestures to show slow or fast.
• Fitness level: alternate fast and slow pieces so nobody gets worn out, and allow rest in the statue pose.

Learning goals

• Match the speed and energy of movement to the mood of the music.
• Explore different locomotor skills: crawling, jumping, heavy walking and tiptoeing.
• Compose a short group sequence that shows an animal.

Equipment for a class of 25

• music: 1

Teacher tip

Cue up all the tracks before class so you don't lose time searching. Younger students get wound up with the jumping pieces, so stop the music often to regain control.

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