I don’t like dancing. Never been my thing. That being said, I love doing Library Dance Party. It’s storytime with no prep. The songs are the stories but you don’t have to do voices. There’s no chairs or carpet squares to set up, so it’s easier for everyone. It can attract new people, since some patrons aren’t interested in a storytime since they can do that at home or their kids are “too old,” but a dance party is a different draw. And everyone can be set up for success–the kids with lots of energy that would normally get yelled at for not sitting still can shine. So let me teach you my moves–special thanks to Abby Armour for showing me her setlist and room setup.
SET UP:
So I do set up some chairs along the backs of the wall for anyone that needs to take a rest or wants to sit out a song. And then in painter’s tape, in the middle of the room, I put down a circle with arrows all going one direction. I started with some rubber arrows, but they kept getting picked up by kiddos, so I just copied Abby and made some tape arrows to show the flow of traffic. This will be the path that kids are going to run in, but I’ll explain that later. We run counter-clockwise just because of where my room entrance is. But when explaining that I say, “we’re running THIS way” and point, counter-clockwise is too hard of a concept obviously.
That’s basically it for setup, like I said it takes half the time as storytime setup. For the sound, make sure that you have a microphone so you can shout over the music and give instructions. Our sound system has a place to hook up my phone to the projector for the music, but can also do a wireless headset so that’s ideal.
Most of the songs we’ll talk about our on YouTube with videos. That’s fine, but I don’t personally do that. There’s positives to it, like you can more clearly see the dance moves, but it can easily get distracting and this is about moving around and getting away from screens for a half-hour.
INSTRUCTIONS:
To start off with, I say hello and introduce myself and set up how the program will work. I tell them it’s “storytime without stories” since we’ll be moving around and doing motions together. I’ll be saying instructions before each song, but everyone can do their own thing and that is fine.
Make sure to point out the chairs if anyone needs a break, and the water fountain if anyone needs a drink. And then we’re off!
SETLIST:
So picking songs is like picking books for storytime, pick the ones that you like and are comfortable with. From there, pick songs with assigned moves. I don’t like dancing, and I feel most people don’t. But there’s reasons that “Electric Slide” STILL gets played at weddings, it’s because people know what to do and can just hop in. So giving a job is a great way to take the pressure off the adults, but it’s also great for kids because we’re working on following instructions. And if they don’t want to and do their own thing, that’s totally fine.
So from there, I treat it like a storytime lesson plan, I switch out things every week but keep a few things consistent or carried over from the last session.
WARM-UP SONG
(30 second break and instructions)
ENERGY SONG
(30 second break and instructions)
WIGGLE SONG
(30 second break and instructions)
CIRCLE SONG
(30 second break and instructions)
WIGGLE SONG
(30 second break and instructions)
CIRCLE SONG OR ENEGRY SONG OR WIGGLE SONG
(30 second break and instructions)
CIRCLE SONG OR ENEGRY SONG
(30 second break and instructions)
COOLDOWN SONG with BUBBLES
Most songs are usually only 2+ minutes so you can fit a lot in. As you can see, I sort songs by energy level so we’re not just constantly building up and getting kids too ramped up or adults too tired. So ENERGY SONGS have a lot of movement and some running around, CIRCLE SONGS involve the big circle and stomping, running, or walking around it, for WIGGLE SONGS we usually just stay in one place to cool down a bit. All this info I usually keep to myself (…and now you, I guess) but it might be helpful to tell you audience that this is a WIGGLE SONG or a CIRCLE SONG so they know what to expect.
ENERGY SONGS:
“Get Yo Body Movin'” by Koo Koo
“Forklift” by Koo Koo
“Silly Dance Contest” by Jim Gill
“The Floor is Lava” by Danny Go!
CIRCLE SONGS:
Before we do a CIRCLE SONG, I make sure that everyone knows we’re all going in the same direction. And for my fast kids (sports cars) that want to go fast they’re going to be as close to the line as possible. And for my slower families (mini vans) that was to take their time, to be as far from the line as possible. That way, we avoid running into each other, thanks again to Abby Armour for that analogy.
“Drivin’ in My Car” by Ralph’s World
“Listen and Move” by Kiboomers
“We Are the Dinosaurs” by The Laurie Berkner Band
“Bear Hunt” by SteveSongs
“Run Baby Run” by Caspar Babypants
WIGGLE SONGS:
“Jump Up, Turn Around” by Jim Gill
“Shake My Sillies Out” by Raffi
“The Wiggle Dance” by Danny Go!
“Milkshake” by GoNoodle & Awesome Sauce
“It’s Time to Stand Up” by Susan Salidor
“Action Song” by The Singing Walrus
“Head & Shoulders” by CJ
“Say the Dance, Do the Dance” by The Wiggles
“Tooty Ta Together” by Jack Hartmann
That’s it! I’ll be updating this setlist with other songs as I find them, so check back on occasion. Families DO NOT mind if you repeat songs at all from session-to-session, repetition is learning. Let me know if there’s anything I should add!
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