I have seen a couple posts re: games, but most of the discussions are now to old to add to...

I would love some new dance games. I teach beginner jazz, mainly grades 2 and 3, in a pretty informal after school program. So having learning through play and having fun are a big part of the class.

I currently play Simon Says, freeze dance, and a form of dance 'musical chairs,' but could really use some new ideas!

I saw another poster suggest "Mother May I" But, sadly, I don't know this game at all. Could someone explain it to me?

Thanks a lot for any advice/ suggestions! I love to try new ideas and the kids are very keen as well!

During my day camps and recreational class we have a game we call "dance circle". I make all the kids get in a circle and we throw a foam ball and whenever the ball is thrown to you you catch it and you have to freestyle. The kids seem to like it because they never know if the ball is coming to them, because they can throw it to whoever they want. I think they like throwing and catching the ball more than they like the freestyling but they seem to enjoy it (especially my preschoolers and kids up to 11)

You also asked about mother may i. the rules to that game are pretty simple. the kids line up in a horizontal line and you go stand on the other side of the room. you say "Sally" do a .... "ball change" then "sally" would have to say mother may i. you can say yes or no. if you say yes she must do it. if she does it correctly she takes a step forward if not she cannot move. if you say no then she can't do anything and it is the next person's turn. if she forgets to say mother may i before she does the skill she can't move. the object of the game is to reach you on the other side of the room first. I hope that makes sense.

Thanks, dancediva, that does make sense! Yah, now I know how to play 'Mother May I' I also like the circle game that you play - the kids in my class also seem to like to freestyle. I think the only thing that could be problematic is that they sometimes get self conscious if they have to freestyle all by themselves but, hey, all the more reason to get them used to it.

Thanks, again, very much!

Anyone else have dance game ideas?

I love playing mother may I, but we change it to "teacher may I" and after all the children have at least one turn, and than I say " ok everyone come up and touch my hand" and of course they all come running and than I have to tell them to all go back to the beginning because "NO one said teacher may I" and they laugh!! you can only do this a couple of times because they do catch on!!

Does anyone else have any other games to recommend? Because I'm running a fairly casual after school program I'm fine with fun/creative movement/ freestyle games as well as those that involve jazz technique. Thanks for any more suggestions!

I use this game that someone suggested to me--have the students stand in a circle and choose one student to go in the center and just do one dance step, and then she chooses another student to add on, and so on and so on--and by the time you have finished you have a cute little "routine" from the students!!! put it to music when done

We play a form of "duck duck goose" we call it "natalie natalie dance" and the kids go around and when they say dance instead of goose they run around the circle but it's in ballerina runs. You could probably do jazz walks or something relating to jazz if you want. We do the wax museum game that I hear about from someone on here and the kids love it! They all freeze like wax people and one person is the "tourist". The tourist walks around and when they aren't looking all the wax people dance around, but when the tourist looks and if they see you moving, you sit down. Sometimes we even play the limbo or I we do animal walk races. They kids have to walk like a duck, dog, bear, crab, etc and they race to the other side.
I hope some of these games help!

I play a Museum Game where I divide the group into teams of 3-4 dancers each. One group poses in a dance pose and another team is the one doing the Sight seeing. They "memorize" the poses and leave the room for a brief few seconds. The dancers posing must change one slight thing about their pose and then the other group comes back in the room and tries to figure out what was changed. My kids (7-14) love this game and ask to play it all the time.

I have also done dance charades where the kids have to act out plays/movies/videos/people- anything doing with dance. It's really tough to do people, but so many videos are stuck in our heads for choreography (Thriller anyone??). This works best with the older students who have been exposed to more then your simple everyday run of the mill dance combos if that makes sense? Kids that have been exposed to theatre and are old enough to know music videos will do best.

Hope that helps!! Good Luck Have FUN!!

In some of my classes we play:

Who is the leader
The class stands in a circle and I pick one student to be the guesser. Then without the guesser seeing I pick another student to be the leader. This student makes up dance steps that everyone has to follow as fast as possible so that the guesser cannot tell who is leading the movement. She observes then has three guesses.

Family Protraits
Students free dance to music. When the music is turned off I say family protraits of "hockey players, clowns etc etc" and they have to get into groups of three, four or five (depending on class size) and freeze while trying to depict a family....mom clown, dad clown, baby clown etc.

Who am I?
I give students a character by whispering it their ear such a sleeping beauty, Hannah Montana etc (Disney characters really work here)
They then free dance to music as that character while watching others...and then they have to guess who each other is after dancing.

Choreographer, Director, Dancer
One student is the dancer, one the choreographer, one the director
The director tells the choreographer a theme or idea for a dance like, "swan lake like, krump, an evil fairy dance....ANYTHING goes!" and the choreographer has to mold the dancer into a pose representing that idea...the dancers has to be willing to let the choreographer move them around and mold them in a pose.

Hope these help
Cheers,
Goldfinger's Gilr

All these games are great! I have a good one. I call it "Dance Recipe," Choose four or five steps, such as ball change, chasse, kick step etc ( jazz steps) and the students have to come up with a routine that has all the steps I gave out. Then they pick a song from a few choices and "perform" for the class while I or another student write down the "recipe." We keep the recipes for the future if we need cute combos made by the students! Sometimes putting them together to have one whole fun dance.
Also with this recipe, you can switch it to "Levels" meaning they have to have something low, on the floor perhaps and medium and high! Hope this helps.

The "What are you doing?" Game
While a student demonstrates one dance move the next student asks "What are you doing?" While continuing their current activity which could be hopping they reply with "I'm doing tendus" The child who was asking must then start doing tendus while the next child in line asks "what are you doing?" and while doing tendus they must think of another dance step and reply so the next child may go.

Bag Game
Items needed:
Small gift bag
Small pieces of paper that the teacher writes down moves on, fold them up and put in bag.

Students stand in a circle and 1 picks out a slip of paper and has to read it outloud then do the move.
Then you go around the cirlce and everyone has to demonstrate the move.

Everyone gets a turn - and the part I like about it is that they are learning to not only read the term but demonstrate it. Even if its a move that they aren't comfortable with.

I teach baton twirling and this is what I do at the end of my classes as a treat. Once they have "mastered" the tricks I add to the bag with more tricks and even onto combinations. I have found it not only is a reward for the end of the class, but they are still learning/working on their moves - just in a "fun" way.

These are all great ideas!! We play a version of Red Light in my combo and younger hip hop classes. My assistant will be the Red Light, and the kids will have to move to her using an across the floor step. If they are progressing across the floor but not doing the required step, they will have to go back to the beginning. Some of the assistants will stay facing them when they say "red light" or "green light," but we have one who turns her back on green light and then jumps to face them on red light. They think it's the funniest thing ever...