When James Brown's song 'I Feel Good' goes on to the CD player, children and staff know it is time to start the day with 'Shake n' Wake'.
The 15- to 20-minute dance and exercise session has been developed by St Mary's Nursery School in Kirkintilloch, Glasgow, to energise both children and staff every morning and enhance learning under Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence.
The session involves all the nursery's 60 children aged between three and five and has gone from strength to strength since 2008. The music and exercises are constantly changing, influenced by the children themselves.
The mix of music is eclectic, spanning current pop, children's music such as CBeebies' 'Lazy Town' and 'Scooby Doo', and the theme from 'The Pink Panther'. 'It is important to keep it fresh, so we let the children do most of the choosing,' says nursery practitioner Joanne Burns. 'Children come up with requests for some old songs that their grandparents have introduced them to. One little boy wanted Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and had a fantastic time playing guitar along to it.'
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