FUNSICAL – Music, Movement and Language Activities the Keep Kids
MOVING AND IMPROVING
Presented by Scott Liebler
The Motor System
How We Learn, Perform and Communicate
When it comes to learning, performing, and communicating there are THREE parts of the
body interactively engaged with these processes - the Brain, Nervous System and the
Muscles.
We receive input and information through our senses. We see it, smell it, touch it, hear it
and taste it. This input is then processed into knowledge, action or experience through an
interaction between the brain, nervous system and muscles. I like to consider this the
body’s Motor System. Just like a finely tuned car, when the body’s motor system is
running efficiently and effectively then learning and living becomes fun, effortless and
desirable.
The five processes that keep the Motor System functioning most effectively are:
 Rest
 Nutrition
 Stimulation of the whole brain and body
 Connections of the brain to the body through the nervous system
 Circulation of blood, energy and nutrients throughout the entire body and mind
Providing children with balanced and steady amounts of stimulation, connection and
circulation is the emphasis of the Moving and Improving program. These three processes
increase the child’s potential for learning, moving and communicating more effectively
with their whole body and mind!
The latest brain research reveals that three of the most effective strategies for enhancing,
accelerating and promoting stimulation, circulation and connection in the early childhood
years are Music, Movement and Speech.
Music – makes neuromuscular connections and stimulates auditory processing. Music
promotes good listening skills. Good listening skills and a well connected nervous
system promote concentration. Concentration is what children must be able to do in
order to keep moving up and down the learning curves of life.
Movement – builds strength, balance, endurance, character, confidence and coordination,
stimulates the whole brain, makes neuromuscular connections and increases circulation
of blood, energy and nutrients throughout the entire body and mind.
Speech – allows us to use language and communicate. Speaking, singing, humming,
howling, laughing and the making of any sounds helps to oxygenate and stimulate the
cells, tissues and organs as well as to relax the muscles of the chest, throat and abdominal
areas.
1
The Four Priceless Gifts
For providing stimulation, increasing circulation and making connections
1. LOOK – Smiling relaxes the face muscles to allow more blood and oxygen to
circulate through the brain. This brightens the eyes, makes you happy smarter, more alert
and much better looking!
“Peace begins with a smile!” Mother Theresa
Funsical Grinnastics Activities
1) Face Dancing – move the eyebrows, nose and mouth just like their dancing
2) Face Push ups – up with a smile down with a frown
3) Dancing Eyeballs – move eyes all around while keeping the head still
2. SOUND – Singing, humming, howling, laughing and speaking helps to oxygenate
and stimulate the cells, tissues and organs as well as to relax the muscles in the throat,
chest and abdominal areas. This makes everything work better so we have more energy
and feel better.
Funsical Vocalrobics Activities
1) Chuckle Jam – Laugh out the melodies of different songs
2) The Giant Story – Sing la la la like a giant, princess, baby, cat, dog etc..
3) Young MacDonald’s Farm – Sing the melody of Old MacDonald’s Farm like a
chicken, pig, cow, horse etc
3. MOVE – In addition to all the physical fitness benefits, movement is extremely
effective for managing stress, maintaining emotional stability and enhancing learning
abilities. Movement releases unconsciously held muscular contractions so blood and
energy can circulate freely throughout the body and mind.
Funsical Movement Progressions
1) One arm the other arm then both arms
Head – up and down then side to side
Shoulders, hips the shoulders and hips
Elbows, knees then elbows and knees
Fingers, toes then fingers and toes
Whole body
2) Move each body part up and down, side to side, zig zags, circles, figure 8’s and other
shapes
4. THINK – Consistent thoughts form the attitudes, habits and belief systems.
Funsical Power Phrases
1. Do Your Best
2. You Are Good
3. I Like You
For more information on Funsical activities and certification programs
www.funsical.com
2
Funsical™ – Music, Movement and Language Activities that
Keep Children Moving and Improving
Presented by Scott Liebler
www.funscial.com
This handout includes excerpts from Scott’s training manuals and certification
programs. For more information on the Funsical curriculum and how you can
become a certified trainer, please call 800-530-3675.
Locomotor - Wacky Walking - Children walk around the room a variety of ways to
different musical rhythms, beats and melodies.
Fast-slow,big- small, forward – backward – sideways, stiff – wiggle, tip toes - heels
Sensory Motor - Meet and Greet
These activities help tune up and activate the 60 some muscles in the face, the eye
muscles and the nerve endings in the ear lobes. They consist of a variety of Grinnastics,
Sensory Integration, Vocalization, Brain Gym® and other activities that help tune up the
face muscles and improve sensory processing, speech, social-emotional and
communication skills
Face Push ups, face dancing, dancing eyeballs, rub ear lobes
Non-locomotor - Warm Ups
The objective of these activities is to direct children to move every part of their bodies a
variety of ways. To begin, have children move in the following order:
1. Move one hand – the other hand – then both hands
2. Move the eyes, chin and head
3. Move the shoulders – the hips – then shoulders and hips
4. Move the elbows – the knees – then elbows and knees
5. Move the whole body
Crazy Conducting, Painter’s Dance, Clapping Dance
Imagi-motor – Adventurobics
These activities mix reality and fantasy to unlock the imagination and take children to
places like the jungle, the mountains and the deep blue sea, in search of animals and
objects they can pretend to see and be.
The jungle, The mountains , An ocean, lake or a river ,A farm or ranch,
And anywhere else you and your children can create in that wonderful ima-gin-ation!!!!
Relaxation - Chill Out
These activities will help your children relax, move slowly and enhance their
neuromuscular processing. Children are directed to move slowly while imitating the
motions and sounds of different animals and objects.
Tapping Dance, Self Massage, Clam Dance, Butterfly Dance, Ding Dong Dance
3
Funsical™ – Music, Movement and Language Activities that
Keep Children Moving and Improving
Presented by Scott Liebler
www.funscial.com
This handout includes excerpts from Scott’s training manuals and certification
programs. For more information on the Funsical curriculum and how you can
become a certified trainer, please call 800-530-3675.
Circle Time Fitness and Focus Activities
Here are some exercises to use during your Circle Times to keep kids focused, alert and
help wiggle their waggles into more a more balanced circulations of energy These
activities will help children relax by releasing muscular tension and increasing circulation
so the children can sit longer and focus. These activities will also help build core muscle
strength and coordination in their hips for better balance and stability.
They are especially affective when done for a couple minutes at a time.
The Standing Dance Progression – Here is a progression of activities that can be
introduced to children over time. Do them first just one at a time until children can
follow, and then try them in combinations.
1. Simply direct children to stand up and sit down several times
2. Sit down and stand up with hands on their heads
3. Stand on one foot then the other for several seconds with hands on head
4. Hop on one foot then the other
5. Rocking Chair Feet - Have children stand on their tip toes then heels
As they gain stability have them rock back and forth on their feet
Have them raise their hands as they come up on their toes, then lower their hands as
they go back on their heels
6. Squat and Stand
7. Squat Thrust - Stand then Squat – straighten legs and move them back in push up
position – then back into squatting position – then stand again. Repeat several times
8. Stand and Kneel
9. Stand – Kneel – Bow - Stand
Now what kind of standing dances can your children create?
Sitting Dance - Have children sit down as you direct them to sit a variety of ways
1. Straight and Bend - straighten legs and bend them at the knees several times
2. Apart and Together – with legs straight, move them apart and together
3. Straight – Bend – Apart - Together
4. Make one leg straight and one bent as you switch back and forth
5. Bend both legs and move them from side to side
4
6. Keep both legs straight and move them from side to side
7. Keep legs straight and move them in circles from front to side to back to side to front
8. From a squatting position move the feet from side to side.
Now what kind of sitting dances can your children create?
Warm Up Dance Progressions
The objective of this activity is have children move different parts of their body to a song.
Try to play the same song each time for several weeks, so children can learn the song and
know when to change each movement. This will help them to focus, concentrate and
enhance their memory skills as they eventually learn the words to the song.
Find a song that you like and pretty much stays steady and even in tempo, beat and
melody throughout. For example, I like a song by Jim Salestrom called Oh Come With
Me, off his Western Winds CD.
Here is a suggested sequence of activities you can do with the song.
1. Tap the floor with hands and say "hands."
2. Tap feet on the floor and say "feet."
3. Move your head and say "head."
4. Move your arms and say "arms."
5. Move your shoulders and say "shoulders."
6. Stand up, move your hips and say "hips."
7. Tap your thighs and say "tap."
8. Clap your hands and say "clap."
9. Clap your hands, walk in place and say "walk and clap."
These are suggested movements. The important thing is to stay consistent with the same
song and movements so children can develop their memories and eventually create their
own motions.
Musician's Song - I Can Play
Here's a nice song to help introduce children to different musical instruments and start
developing their passions for music. You will need pictures of different musical
instruments to show the children as they pretend to play each one.
1. First of all, show the children a picture of a musical instrument such as a piano. Have
them wiggle their fingers and pretend to play the piano as they slowly sing,
"I can play, I can play, I can play the piano" (repeat this line three times)
2. Then suddenly speed up the tempo as you start moving the fingers real fast and sing
"If I practice every day." (repeat at least three times)
3. Repeat the same process for each musical instrument. It's simple but quite fun for the
children as they will learn about musical instruments and practice enhancing their
vocal abilities.
Gimme 10
Simply have children do 10 or any number of repetitions of different developmentally
appropriate exercises. Or you can use flash cards and do any number of repetitions.
1. 10 Steps - in place fast and slow
2. 10 Arm Raises - simply raise the arms up and down over the head
5
3. 10 Leg Raises - lie on the back and raise each leg up and down one at a time
4. 10 Head Raises - move the head down and back
5. 10 Head Shoulders Knees and Toes - you know the drill
6. 10 Arm Curls - bend and straighten arms at the elbows
7. 10 Overhead Claps - clap 10 times over head with arms straight
8. 10 Swings - pretend to swing an ax from side to side
9. 10 Chops - pretend to chop a log with an ax
10. 10 Minutes of Funsical - Sample CD or Level One CD
11. 10 Tip Toes - stand on tip toes then down.
12. 10 Heels - stand back on heels then down.
13. 10 Windmills - spread legs apart and touch one foot then the other
14. 10 Circles - Make ten circles with arms, head and legs
15. 10 Straddle Jumps - jump and spread legs apart then together
16. 10 Overhead Claps - clap 10 times over head with arms straight
17. 10 Toe Touches - start with arms over head and bend down to touch toes
18. 10 Squats - bend at the knees then up
These are only suggestions. You, of course can lead your children in other exercises that
you know are developmentally appropriate for the age group you are working with.
The next step is to have the children take turns leading their own exercises.
Circle Time – Speech and Language Activities
Hello- In Many Languages Warm up dance
With this dance you are going to do some Wacky Waving by waving with different body
parts as you say Hello in several languages with each body part.
Start off by using one language at a time. For example use English one week, Spanish
the next week, etc.
As you wave and speak, do your best to keep the melody consistent throughout the entire
dance. For example you can repeat the hello five times saying it two times slowly then
three times in succession: Hello Hello - Hello-Hello-Hello
As they learn the different greetings you will be able to have them say hello in a different
language with each body part as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Wave with one hand and say Hello
Wave with the other hand and say Howdy
Wave with both hands and say Hola (Spanish)
Wave with the eyes and say Bonjour (French)
Wave with the chin and say Buenos Dias (Spanish)
6
6. Wave with the head and say Guten tag (German)
7. Wave with the shoulders and say Annyong Haseo (Korean)
8. Wave with the hips and say Shalom (Hebrew)
9. Wave with shoulders and hips and say Bonjourno (Italian)
10. Wave with elbows and say Kaneechi wa (Japanese)
11. Wave with knees and say Nee How (Chinese)
12. Wave with knees and elbows and say Annyong (Korean)
13. Wave with each foot and say (Good by – adios – sianara)
Repeat this exercise for several months and your children will be able to greet people all
over the world!
Meet, Groove and Greet Activities
The first thing that must happen when anyone steps on board a relation – ship or friend –
ship is the greeting. There’s nothing as powerful as friendships and relationships to
develop and enhance a child’s social-emotional strengths and interpersonal
communication skills. The following Meet Groove and Greet activities are guaranteed to
create a classroom full of friends and relationships with the courage to speak, smile and
relate with one another.
The primary objective with these activities is to create a movement or action for each
word. Every word should have a corresponding movement. It doesn't really matter what
the movement is, it's the timing and synchronization that's important. You will begin to
see the effectiveness of these exercises as they will produce very positive effects on their
speech, social behavior and ability to concentrate.
The suggested format for conducting these Meet Groove and Greet activities is as
follows:
1. Ask the question in sign language as a group.
For example “What is your name” is the question that is repeated with sign language
with all the children together.
2. Respond with the answer while tapping, clapping or other movement as a group.
For example “My name is” would be spoken while tapping three times for each word.
Then clap for each syllable in the person’s name
3. Address each child individually by going around the circle and asking the questions as
a group and encouraging each child to respond individually
Greetings
I.
Hello - What's You're Name?
The first simple greeting we will practice expressing is "Hello, what's your name?"
7
A. Clap Names - The first objective is for children to be able to clap out the syllables
of their names.
1. To begin, just simply reach in the air, wave with your hand and say "Hello,"
several times in as many different pitches as your voice will allow encourage
the children to repeat.
2. After children warm up their voices with a few Hellos, say your name as you
clap the syllables Scottie (clap twice) Scott (clap once)
Scott Liebler (clap three times) Scottie Liebler (clap four times)
Repeat your name at least three times and clap the syllables as you look at the
children and encourage them to clap and say your name with you.
3. Go around the room, point to each child and say "What's your name" with
sign language and then clap out the syllables of their name as you repeat it
several times for each child.
B. Rap Tap‘n’ Clap Response - When the children understand how to clap out the
syllables of their names, you can teach them the clap and tap response.
1. Simply tap your knees three times to the words "My - name - is.
2. Tap your knees three times as you count 1-2-3.
3. Clap three times and say "My name is," several times.
4. Tap your knees three times and repeat "my name is" and then clap out your
name. So "my name is Scott" would be said with three taps on your knees
and one clap.
Repeat this several times and encourage your children to follow along.
C. Individual Greetings
1. Go around the circle and ask each child "What's your name?" with sign
language. Encourage all the children to follow and repeat with you.
2. Have children respond in a complete sentence by tapping out "My name is"
and then clapping out their name. Repeat this at least three times for each
child as you go around the circle.
In a sense, it's like fundamental cheerleading and developmental drum playing. Quite
simple for adults and older children, but not so simple for younger ones. Be patient with
them and keep repeating, repeating and repeating. When they can coordinate the beat,
timing and articulation of these expressions they will have achieved a significant amount
of organization, integration and coordination between the brain, nervous system and
muscles which is essential for developing optimal learning, communication and physical
abilities.
II. How are you?
A. Express Feelings with Face Push Ups
1. Tap each shoulder one time to the words "I - am" then bring one hand up across
your face, smile and say "happy."
2. Bring your hand down and say “sad” or “mad.” Repeat up and down several
times.
3. Repeat movements with other feelings
a. Yawn and say "tired."
b. Shake your head real fast and say "nervous" or make circles with your fingers
8
around the sides of your head and say "crazy."
B. Have children repeat “How are you?” with sign language several times
C. Individual Greetings - After introducing yourself and your feelings, go around the
circle to address each child individually.
1. Ask each child with sign language "How are you?"
2. Encourage them to respond by tapping each shoulder one time and saying "I am"
then making gestures with their response of happy, sad, mad, tired, nervous or
crazy.
9