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Music and Movement: Shake Your Box
Celebrating Black History Month
Montreal and Toronto were important areas where rich and varied African musical culture was expressed as early as 1949, but unfortunately cultural exchanges only became a reality in 1968. Many African musicians immigrated to Canada and shared their knowledge of the power of African music and culture. Amongst these artists you will find Yaya Diallo, Boubakar Diabaté, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens. There are many noteworthy figures that you can read further upon here.
Today’s activity is making a simple tissue box game using items easily found in your home. This is a fun way to exercise, stretch and do creative movements and actions and of course create happy memories. Are you ready to make the tissue box game?
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1. Use the scissors to make holes on each side of the tissue box.
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2. Tie a piece of string or ribbon both sides of the box that will fit around each person’s waist.
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3. Fill the tissue box with the small balls/pompoms.
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4. Create a clutter-free space to move around freely.
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5. Wear the box around your waist.
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7. Dance and shake until all the balls/pompoms or features are out.
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8. Pick up the balls/pompoms and put them back in your tissue box and repeat.
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This brilliant activity provides an opportunity for everyone at home to get up on their feet and move, shake, dance, jump, and laugh along with the music. Create a tissue box tail for each person engaging in this activity. Once you play the music, ask your child “How can you move your body to make sure all the balls fall out of the box as fast as you can?”. Take turns exploring different body movements that will achieve this goal. This will support your child’s fundamental movement skills. Encourage and validate your child’s expressions in movement by copying their actions. Introduce new vocabulary to this experience by describing what you’re doing “I am jumping up and down!” or “I will shake my hips round and round”. Most importantly, have fun and be silly!
EarlyON