Fantasy Creature Parade
To music, the whole class parades through the kingdom, turning into made-up creatures: dragons stomp, elves hop, giants take huge strides, ghosts glide. It warms up the body and legs with lots of different ways of moving.
How to play
- Line up behind the teacher, who is the royal herald announcing the parade (1 min).
- Here come the dragons: heavy stomps and arms like big wings (1 min).
- Here come the elves: quick little hops with feet together (1 min).
- Here come the giants: long, slow strides with arms up high (1 min).
- Here come the ghosts: glide softly and low, arms floating (1 min).
- The herald beats the drum and each child picks a favorite creature for the grand finale all around the room (2 min).
Rules
- In the parade, we don't pass the person in front.
- When the creature changes, the way I move changes.
- When the drum sounds, we stop and listen to the herald.
- The kingdom's creatures are friends and nobody gets scared.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, they parade freely without a line, and only dragons, elves and giants.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, in a line with all four creatures.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, the leader invents a new creature and how it moves, then goes to the back of the line.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: parade in the wheelchair showing each creature with arms and sounds; a classmate can push during the giant strides.
- Autism: if the parade noise is too much, the child walks beside the teacher as assistant herald with the drum.
- Hearing loss: the teacher holds up a picture of each creature at every change.
Learning goals
- Warm up using different ways of moving.
- Vary step length and speed.
- Act out characters with the body.
Equipment for a class of 25
- Hand drum: 1
- Music
Teacher tip
Use simple marching music and pause it at each change so they can hear the creature's name. The classic problem is the line speeding up and kids pushing: put a calm child right behind you.
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