Scarf Dancing

I have a collection of sheer vintage scarves from the 50's and 60's. These are the cobweb-light kind (probably silk): giant squares of fabric that ladies used to fold into a triangle & tie over their coiffed hair. You can purchase new scarves just for preschool music, but I have been using these for dancing since I was a little girl!
For music recommendations, skip to the bottom of this post.

I encourage the children to start playing with the scarves as soon as they have selected one.

Then I put on a Warm-up Song.
I have found the kids respond better to a simple piano music piece with my verbal instructions, but for good ideas, I like Johnette Downing's scarf dancing CD: The Second Line: Scarf Activity Songs. For a warm up, consider her "Scarves Up and Down and Around" Although I love this one, and has worked beautifully with the older children, it is too difficult for some, and they get frustrated.

So instead, I put on a little piano waltz and we practice moving our scarves:

• up & down, 
• side to side, 
• around in great circles.
• Half-way through, I instruct the kids to hold the scarf in the air, and CHANGE HANDS. 
• Then we go through all the same movements.

Then we move without pause into the Puppy Dance.
(I wish I could find the book I got this wonderful activity from!)
We all hold our scarves away from our bodies - to the inside of the circle, and walk around the circle as we "walk our puppies".
The music is just a cute & bouncy piano piece - just under a minute long.
This activity can vary with your imaginations. Here are a few things we do:

• Stop & teach puppy some tricks, and make the scarf move in the suggested manner: JUMP! Roll over! Sit!
• Instead of just walking around the circle, puppy can trot or run.
• Puppy can get a bit naughty and make you spin in circles. Stop puppy! I'm getting dizzy!

Then I use a faster piece to suggest Leaves Blowing in the Wind.
The children use the whole room for this one, and can use the scarf any way they want (safely) to show they are being blown by the wind.

The last one I am using this month is the "Skating" song, discussed in an earlier post. 
I like this sweet waltz because the lyrics include gorgeous movement suggestions: swishing, twirling, whirling, floating, leaping.

Except for "Skating", the music I use comes from this recording of piano literature for students, level 6.
The pieces I use for scarves are:

Valse Sentimentale, Op. 50, No. 13 - Schubert (warm up) 1:09

Polka, From Album for the Young, Op 39 - Tchaikovsky (Puppy Dance) :52

Etude II - Czerny (Leaves in the Wind) :30

I have several CDs from this collection, and even though I stopped teaching piano years ago, I still play these recordings at home just to listen because Diane Hidy is so wonderful. She plays these pieces with character & expression, but (importantly!) she doesn't overdo it - so the tempos are steady and easy to move with. Sadly, this is not available as individual track downloads, but the CD can be purchased here.