Pose Story: Morning on the Farm

The teacher tells how the farm animals wake up and children make each animal's pose: rooster, cat, cow, dog, horse and hens in the nest. They link poses and gentle stretches along a story.

How to play

1. Sitting cross-legged, the teacher says: «Let's go to the farm, everyone's still asleep» and introduces the animals with gestures (2 min).
2. The sun comes up and the rooster crows: stand up, chest out, arms back like wings, «cock-a-doodle-doo!», stretching up on tiptoes (2 min).
3. The cat and the cow wake up in the barn: on all fours, round back and dipped back, saying «meow» and «moo» (3 min).
4. The dog comes out to say good morning: down dog; then the horse trots in place and stops to stretch its neck (3 min).
5. The hens sit in the nest: squat down, hands on the floor, and lay a pretend egg very slowly (3 min).
6. Tell the whole story again, faster: the teacher only names the animal and everyone makes its pose (2 min).

Rules

• I listen to the story and become the animal that shows up.
• Each animal holds its pose for a little while.
• I make animal sounds softly so we can hear the story.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: make each animal with the body part they can move (rooster arms, horse head) and add the sound.
• Hearing impairment: show a big picture card of each animal as the story goes.
• Autism: the child has the story as a strip of pictures in order and moves a clothespin along for each animal.

Learning goals

• Link poses by following a story.
• Stretch the body in different positions.
• Show each animal's traits through the body.

Teacher tip

Tell it calmly and leave quiet time in each pose. If someone gets carried away with the sounds, remind them the farm animals are still sleepy.

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