Create your own dance moves to the familiar Bruno Mars song 'Count on Me' and have fun taking turns in leading this exercise.
What you’ll need: A room where you can move freely, a way to listen to music and someone to dance with
What’s it for?
This activity helps you express yourself through dance and think about what it means to be a good friend. It will also allow you to focus, practice turn-taking, relationship skills, and being able to follow instructions. Dance is a fun way to exercise, which is important to help keep your brain and body healthy.
Check In:
Notice how you’re feeling right now. Close your eyes and notice what’s going on inside your mind and body.
How are you feeling?
What are you thinking?
How does your body feel?
Method:
Find a song called “Count on me” by Bruno Mars and listen to the words carefully first (see below).
Discuss what it means to be a good friend and being able to count on someone.
Discuss who would like to start being the dance instructor; you may want to use the ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ game to help you decide who will go first.
As a dance instructor, you might like to make up a routine and practice your dance moves first or create them spontaneously during the song. Perhaps you could make each of the choruses the same, and make something up around the numbers he mentions. Make sure your dance moves are easy enough to follow, but challenging enough to keep everyone interested!
When you’re ready, face your partner and play the song from the start. Begin to perform the movements reflecting the lyrics as your partner follows. Think about speaking the words and communicating with your dance partner through your body and facial expressions
Take turns in being the dance instructor and remember that everyone expresses themselves differently!
Extra Activity: You can choose a different song with words or just instruments that you can relate to or that reflects your mood and express your feelings through dance moves. If you’re dancing with other people, take turns in choosing music and leading the dance.
When you’ve finished dancing, ask yourself the following questions:
How was it to communicate with others through just your body?
How did it feel when you were leading the dance?
How did it feel when you followed the dance instructor?
Which role did you prefer?
What was your favourite dance move?
How did your dance change with different words?
How did you choose the actions to show particular words?
Was there a specific feeling about the way you danced?
Were your dance routines very different from each other?
What was similar?
Conclusion:
This activity helps you to express yourself and share positive emotions through dance as well as explore the meaning of friendship contained in the lyrics. The song itself is about relationships and this was a focus of the activity - being a good leader and follower, taking turns, and accommodating other's needs. Dancing is a good way to connect with others and can help strengthen relationships.
Take a moment to notice how you are feeling at the end of this activity. Did you discover anything surprising about yourself? What can you take away to make you feel better about yourself from this activity?
If you would like to, share something about your experience with this activity with someone you live with! Ask the person who looks after you to send us an email if you have any questions or comments about the activity, or would like to send us any pictures (info@catcorner.co.uk). Don't forget to subscribe for more fun CAT activities!
Created by Karolina Koman © April 2020
Creative Art Used: Music and Dance
Psychological Area Explored: Relationships, Emotional Wellbeing, Self-Expression, Attention & Hyperactivity
These activities could be done by children of all ages, but some may need the support of their parent or carer to read the instructions or complete the activity safely.
This website was made by CAT Corner to help you explore your feelings through fun creative arts activities. The people using the website and the people responsible for them need to make sure they stay safe (full disclaimer on About page).
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