Play+Party+Songs

People like to dance, but dancing (and the fiddle music that often accompanied it) has been associated with the devil. One way this problem was solved was through the creation of "Play Party Songs," which involved singing (no instruments) and "dancing" (movements that strongly resembled dancing but were not thought of as dancing).

(Thanks Kristen for scanning this) Along with the book so kindly provided to us by Cheryl Hagerty, here are some links: [] [] []

Possible literacy connections: This activity can be a combination of reading, music, and movement, especially as children learn the songs by reading the words while they are being taught to sing the song. Point at the words as you sing with the children for younger children. You can use the text as an opportunity for predicting words and for discovering text features such as rhyme.

More advanced students can learn some play party songs and then create their own. This activity involves literacy in the form of writing, but also mathematics because the movement part is based on patterns.