This post is part of our “Frozen-Inspired” Dance Camp Series.
Activities / Creative Movement
Melting & Freezing
We explored the movement qualities of melting and freezing by pretending to be Olaf melting in the summer or freezing with Elsa’s help. We melted for 16 slooooooow counts, and froze again for 16 then repeated in 8 counts, 4 counts, 2 and 1! We melted with a friend, froze into different shapes or poses, started on one leg, etc. Lots of variations to be had with this one!
More Melting Inspiration from Maria’s Movers Blog
Journey to Elsa’s Castle
We pretended to be Anna and Kristoff making their journey to or from Elsa’s castle. We did this by playing Going on a Bear Hunt, but we changed the words to “We’re going on a journey, we’re gonna go get Elsa, I’m not scared, I’m not scared”. For the next part (“we can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, I guess we’ll go… through it!”), we encountered :
- Deep deep snow – big slow marches to lift our feet through the snow
- A dark forest – tip toes
- A cold frozen stream – skating
- A big tall mountain – climbing actions
- An icy staircase – careful climbing actions
Until we got to the castle and knocked on the door and found… MARSHMALLOW (the snow monster)! Reverse all the actions as fast at you can to go back to Arrendale and climb into bed with the covers over our head.
Creative Movement based on Scenes or Characters from the Movie
We did a lot of creative movement / free dance, based on settings and characters from the movie. We would first describe the scene / character, then talk about the movements the characters did (running, rolling, climbing, skating, etc) and then dance them using those movements. Some of our favorite scenes:
Olaf In Summer – skipping, laying (sun-tanning), swaying, blowing dandelions, floating
Skating on Elsa’s pond – skating, twirling, sliding
Dancing like Marshmallow – “stompy”, angry, slow
They also enjoyed pretending to be at the coronation ball, dancing like the trolls, pretending to be a snow-swirl created by Elsa, and of course, being Elsa.
Games
In addition to the usual run of camp games (Freeze Dance, 4 corners, relay races, etc), we added a few or tailored them to better fit our theme:
Obstacle Course – We set up various obstacles around the room relating to the trip to Elsa’s castle. We used cones to tip toe around like trees, a tunnel to go under, a gym mat to roll across, a “tightrope” (tape line on the floor) to walk on, ice puddles to jump over (little rugs)
Pin the Nose on Olaf – we had an Olaf-shaped posterboard and had the girls take turns being blind-folded and pinning their “nose” onto Olaf. Since we had a large crew, we split them between three different groups so we could have three people going at the same time.
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Our life-size Anna & Elsa was a
big hit for photos! |
Red Light, Green Light, Frozen Variation – Basic Red light/Greenlight rules – in our version instead of being a redlight/greenlight, the “It” person is Elsa – and freezes people when she turns around. We used the terms “WINTER” for STOP and “SUMMER” for GO. If anyone was caught moving when the “It” person said WINTER, they had to go back to the starting line. First person to touch the “It” person gets to be “It” for the next round.
One other thing that we used during the week was this Life-size Anna & Elsa – we found this great life-size cardboard cutout from Amazon. They have other characters, but I really liked the two girls together. We used them for a backdrop in our pictures and the kids loved “holding their hand” and just seeing them in general.
What other games / activities can be adapted to fit a “Frozen” theme? Are you sick of the music yet? Will you use it in your classes next season? Comment below!
The Dance Buzz 