I LOVE a good prop!  They can really make or break a dance class.  A good prop will add to the dancing and help dancers to explore and create.  They’re also inexpensive and fairly indestructable.  These are the props that I carry around in my big dance bag, and rarely leave home without (except the hula hoops…I keep those at work)!

Non-slip mats (or Dance Spots)

Any kind of mat that will not slip when stepped on will do the trick here.  I use these grippy cabinet and drawer liners because they are so cheap and easy to replace if needed.  I just grab a 12″x 12 ft roll and cut into 12 squares.  We use these mats for leaping over, dividing the room in half, “islands” to escape from the “evil eel”, puddles to jump over, puddles to splash in, and more!

Hula Hoops

I have a conglomeration of hula hoops that have just kind of ended up in the dance equipment closet.  They are our “lily pads” when we dance the story of Thumbelina.  We use them to practice jump turn arounds.  We leap from one to the next with only one foot inside each hoop.  We do monkey jumps around them in gymnastics.  We straddle stretch beside a hoop and try to reach to the other side.  And, of course, sometimes we use them to hula hoop.  (If you don’t have a bunch lying around already, you can get a matching set here).

Tulle Ribbons

Grab a roll of 6 inch tulle.  I usually get mine at Wal-Mart for about $3.  Or you can order it here.  Cut it into sections about 3 feet long.  Give a ribbon to each child and go dancing!  We especially like to toss and catch with these ribbons because they fall so slowly.  We talk about floating in the air a lot with these.  We also practice spinning, leaping, and jumping with our ribbons.  We make rainbows over our heads.  Sometimes, I’ll turn on windy music and these become our “wind scarves”.  We’ll run around the room making a tornado with them, then get sucked up into the tornado and spin as quickly as we can.  Possibilities are endless here.

Small Scarves

We use scarves almost exactly like tulle ribbons.  They do look better than the tulle for a performance though.  And they don’t stick to your clothes when static-y like tulle does.  You can grab those here.

Big Scarves

I got my big scarves here.  I actually thought they were small scarves when I ordered them, but these babies are 54″ square!  That’s pretty big for any child!  So, we don’t dance with these often.  But, they are the very BEST for being ghosts at Halloween!  And, we will use them to sit on at story time on occassion.

Fuzzy Dice

My favorite activity for fuzzy dice is The Dice Game.  I got my fuzzy dice at Wal-Mart for $3 a pair and just cut off the strings.  However, you can get a much better deal ordering them off

of Amazon, here.  We also use fuzzy dice like balls, tossing and catching, rolling, balancing on our heads, balancing on our feet, and deciding the number of times to do an activity or step.  Kids get so excited about fuzzy dice, that I believe the investment to get a dozen fuzzy dice (instead of regular small and hard dice) is worth it!

POCKET DICE!!!

I know, overuse of the exclamation point there, but, seriously.  I have wanted these for so, so, so long!  And I’ve finally found them at a price I can afford.  Or at least, hope to afford one day. 🙂  Have you ever wanted the fun of fuzzy dice, but the flexibility of word strips?  Enter the pocket die.  Pocket dice have a clear pocket that you can put any word or picture you want inside.  So, instead of printing out and hanging the visual aids for animal conditioning, Under the Sea, or Superheroes!, you could print them 2 sheets to a page, cut them out, and put

them in a dice to roll.  I’d buy a lot less masking tape that way.  You could also put word strips for class segments (warm-up, across the floor, stretching, etc.) or creativity prompts (jungle dance, underwater swimming, super secret agent, etc.).  So, I’m a little excited about these, if you didn’t notice.  If you are too, you can order them here. 🙂

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