Oh goldfish.  If I had a pet, it would be you.  I never knew how much I loved goldfish until this song was shared with me by a dear, dear friend.  Then I realized, I had goldfish as centerpieces at my wedding (It was cool…really…), orange is my favorite color, and my favorite song is The Goldfish Song by Laurie Berkner.  Apparently, it was meant to be.  This song is a lot like Late Last Night, which I posted about here.  It’s a time filler song, and my students ask for it again and again and again.  Some weeks, my goal is to get through class without doing the goldfish song, haha!  Here is how we do it:

All students lay on the ground for the beginning of the song.  They each get one blue ribbon or scarf to dance with.

FIRST VERSE

“They lifted up their heads”: Lift up your heads.

“And they shook out their tails”: Shake out your tail.

“Let’s go swimming”: Dance throughout the room with your ribbon.  Skip, turn, jump, etc.

“Got so very, very tired”: Lay back down.

“When they woke up”: Lift up your heads and wake up!

“Take a shower”: Wash body parts as they are named (hair, ears, tummies, beards, noes, toes)

“Wait a minute!”: Stand hands on hips.

“We’re fish!”: Thumbs to chest.

“We don’t take showers!”: Shake finger like you’re admonishing someone.

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Have you ever looked at the clock during a creative movement class and thought, “I still have 20 minutes of class left???? What in the world am I going to do with all these 3 year olds for 20 minutes?!?!?!?!”  Haha, I have been there, for sure.  This song is my lifesaver.  A good friend passed it along to me a few years ago, and it changed my life.  Really.  So, here is a song for you that will take up a full 6 minutes of class time.  And the kids love it. Late Last Night by Joe Scruggs.  Click on this link to listen to it on youtube.  Disclaimer: this video is possibly older than I am…and doing the song in dance class is not quite so magical. 🙂

So, Late Last Night goes through 13 pairs of shoes that the children wear.  You’ll hear a music cue before each verse.  On that cue, we will lay down on the floor for “Late last night, while you were asleep, someone put XYZ shoes on your feet”.  Then we mime putting on the shoes while the singer describes the shoes.  I’ll say what we will do while wearing the shoes, and we dance during the music in between verses.

1. Springs: “Springs are for jumping!  How high can you jump?  Can you star jump?  Jump turn around?  Jump even higher?”
2. Ballet Shoes: “Put on your ballet shoes.  Stand up!  Tippy-toe round and round!” (Bourre turns)
3. Ice Skates: “Put on your ice skates.  Let’s go skating on one foot then the other.” (One foot hops throughout the room, back leg in arabesque)
4. Space Boots: “Put your space boots on. Climb the ladder to your rocket ship.” (March in place with high knees; hands mime climbing a ladder.)
5. Flippers: “Swim and swim with your flippers [legs] kicking behind.  Watch out for sharks!” (Arms swim and legs pick up behind.  If you want, you can do a game of tag with the teacher being the shark and the students being the fish).
6. Motorcycle boots: “Motorcycles are fast.  Get out your handlebars and zoom!” (Running throughout the room holding motorcycle handlebars).
7. Flip-Flops: “Put your flip flops on.  Find a red square and watch out for the hot sand!” (Most rooms I teach in have colored square tiles on the floors so we’ll jump from tile to tile avoiding the red “hot sand”.  You could do this with tape spots, cones, etc.  OR you can just silly dance for this section).
8. Cowboy Boots: “Cowboys ride horses!  Can you gallop like a horse?” (high knee gallops, arms hold the horse’s reins).
9. Moccasins: “Moccasins are what hunters wear.  Can you be sneaky like a hunter?  Don’t let a bear hear you!” (Sneak through the room moving down low.  I’ll usually have a student say: “I see a bear!” and then we’ll turn and sneak away in the opposite direction.)
10.  Roller Skates: “Roller skates slide across the floor.  Can you slide your feet across the floor?” (Slide feet across the floor or step-hop-hop throughout the room with arabesque arms).
11. Tap Shoes: “Tap shoes make noise because of the taps on the bottom.  Can you shuffle your feet front back front back?  Can you stomp?  Slow? And faster?”
12. Cleats: “Cleats are what football players wear!  Can you run and catch the ball?  Run, run, run.  Catch the ball!” (run and leap with arms reaching up to “catch” the ball)
13. Your Own Shoes: “Put your own shoes on!” (walk on tip toes while clapping along to the beat moving toward your next section of class).

I hope you enjoy it!  Try it out with your toddler and preschooler classes.  As long as you do it with your students, they will love it!  And now, I have to set boundaries so they aren’t all laying on top of me or fighting to lay by Miss Erika…