So since we all know that the little 3 and 4 year old dancers don't really understand the concept of stretching so we always have to make it a game so they don't get bored right? Well I thought this would be a good place to write down any fun stretching ideas for the young ones so we don't have to "be butterflies" and "make ice cream cones" every week. What do you do with your young classes that they really enjoy?

standing
-to get them to touch their toes, we pick apples...
grab an apple off the highest tree and put it in the bucket, the pretend bucket would be at your feet. (no jumping!) all the girls want to have the most apples in their bucket.
-to get them to stretch in butterfly to their feet, tell them put their nose on their feet - "stinky feet"
then each ear separately. ask them what their feet said to their ear... boy, can they come up with some funny things.
-they practice battements, for a change in scenery sometimes we battement like a ballerina, sometimes we kick like we're doing karate
-squats for hamstrings and thighs: we play sumo wrestler, and squat low, then kick high and go back into the squat. we do this from the back of the large circle into a small circle, some of them are shy at first - but it is just too cute when they get into it.

That's all for now - great thread!

This is a great post! Karma to you! I think many of us are in need of some fresh ideas - especially with the little ones.

With my little ones we do:
- "Frog Stretch" - where they crouch down with their knees on each side of their arms and try to straighten their legs while keeping their hands on the floor. After one stretch I have them do a frog jump - they love the jumping part!
- "Tickle the ceiling/tickle the floor" - they stretch up as tall as they can and crouch down to the floor
- "Mermaid/Ariel pose" - they lay on their stomachs and arch back trying to touch their toes to their head
- "Rainbows" - sit in butterfly position and stretch side to side
- "Close/Open the flower" - sit in a circle and all touch toes in the middle, stretch arms up and bend forward to touch your toes and "close the flower" then stretch up to "open the flower"

Keep the ideas coming!

Butterfly- flap our wings and I ask where we are going, stop and smell our feet- what do they smell like (I get a wide range of smells here)
Pike- we make a flower with all our toes as the middle, close the flower (touch toes) open the flower(lay all the way on there back)
Straddle- flower grows (from pike to straddle), put stars, snowflakes, on toes to help you dance like a pretty ballerina or rock the boat and touch your toes, for the middle we pick apples, flowers, snowflakes, oranges... to put in the middle and I ask how many the got or crawl you spider(reindeer) to the middle, bring him inside the house its cold
We also shake our head - no, yes and shrug our shoulders saying 'I don't know'- they love saying yes, no and I don't know while we do this.
To stretch our arms - we swim forwards and backwards- we start slow then I say shark, alligater, octupus and they have to swim faster to get away (this is fun because they try and guess what animal I'm going to say is chasing them)

For butterflies I pick one child to say "where we are going" then we fly away to that place.

For pike stretches, touching the toes, we count to ten as we hold.

When we sit in center splits to get them to make an arc with their arms overhead from one foot to the other I say, "paint a rainbow in the sky"

We do a "boat stretch" for back strengthening, they lay on their tummies and then lift their upper bodies and legs off the ground keeping their legs straight and toes pointed, they can't bend their knees or the boat will sink! Then we do different arms while they hold, straight out "like an airplane", in high fifth "like a ballerina" etc.

For marching there is a "little person" on the tip of their big toe and each time they pick up thier foot they have to show them the floor (so they point).

Thos are all I have time to type now

While we are sitting in the butterfly stretch we "hide our face" in our toes. Each time they come up they have to show me another face. "when we come up, show me a.... silly (sad, mad, baby, surprised, etc) face! This i noticed really helps them express themselves on stage as well and be a little less reserved since they practiced different expressions all year.

I really like this thread!
Alot of the things we do have already been mentioned but I'll add a few things I didn't see.
When we do our butterfly stretch the girls get to tell us what color their butterfly is. Or in the classes w/ boys as well we go to Disneyland and they point out characters and we wave hello.
For the pike stretch we usually do head shoulders knees and toes, and then for a break in between eyes ears mouths and nose. The little ones love it.
Last but not least with the slightly older girls to strengthen the back we do a superman. While laying on the their stomachs the girls have to lift their feet and upper bodies off the floor in a position that looks like their flying.

for our center stretch the kids love to play drums...we beat on the floor and not only does it get them a good stretch but also helps to learn tempo because i have them follow me when i change the beat...moving the stretch as you go....

I found the dvd called "budding ballerinas" helpful with stretching ideas. My students love the stretching exercises at the beginning of class. the dvd can be found at bobrizzo.com
Good luck...