Hi everyone,

I was sitting at the computer the other day with my son Jordan who is two and a half and I was rebranding one of my dance tutorials from Dance Parent 101 in the Learn Math through Dance Shapes Series to Move Dance Learn. He looked at the images on the screen and said 'i-angle'. 'Triangle' I asked to clarify and he nodded his head and repeated 'i-angle....rocket' this time trying to make the shape with his fingers.

Well I was blown away, because he had learnt to identify the shape of a triangle through doing the video - he also remembered the rocket which had a triangle shaped tip and is the inspiration for the movement in the video. He then went onto start saying 'shapes, mummy shapes'. So then I really knew he was developing a good understanding of what the 2D images on the screen were. And all this learning occurred by him having fun, dancing, being creative and getting some exercise!

You can view all four shape dance tutorials at the Move Dance Learn website in an article I wrote called Teach Shape Names to Toddlers & Preschoolers through Movement & Dance. Not only does the article have the tutorials embeded in it, it also has a lot of helpful information and answers to questions such as What age children should know their shapes? Why is it important to learn about shapes? and How to teach kids about shapes.

I hope you enjoy the article and dance tutorials and if you do them I would love it if you took some photos or videos (even the back of your kids heads if you don't like to share their faces) and tag me on social @movedancelearn (tag works for both facebook and instagram!) or #movedancelearn I would love to see them and to share them on the Move Dance Learn social pages!!!!

Till next week - Keep Moving, Dancing and Learning

Coach Samantha

www.movedancelearn.com

'If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.'

- Ignacio Estrada, director for grants administration at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.