There are various dance traditions where bells or shakers are tied to the body to sound while the dancers move. Morris dancers, for example, have bells, and traditional Indian dancers have chungroos (anklets of bells).
Movement ideas
Try some of these ideas for introducing music on the move.
* Provide small chungroos in a basket in the role-play area. I particularly like the padded ones on bright silky fabrics.
* Provide African long-stringed rattles (juju bean rattle), which are very tactile and wonderful to wear and rattle, or hold and shake (see Suppliers.)
* Play a CD of rhythmic music and encourage the children to dance freely while playing instruments that they can shake or rattle.
Children often enjoy popping an egg-shaker in their pocket and dancing in such a way to make it sound, which can encourage some inventive wriggly movements.
* Provide drums and tambourines outdoors so that children can march, run and dance with them. Old percussion band drums with neck cords can often be found lurking in the back of stock cupboards.
New technology
There are now several types of technology that enable children to make sounds while dancing on sound pads on the floor or when moving through invisible sound beams. (Sound-beam equipment is mostly only available for children with learning disabilities.) Suppliers
* Knock on Wood, Glasshouses Mill, Pateley Bridge, Harrogate HG3 5QH, tel: 01423 712712; e-mail: Sales@knockonwood.co.uk
* Music Education Supplies, 101 Banstead Road South, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5LH, tel: 020 8770 3554
