One of my kids' favorite things to do is dance! When we do a brain break they choose to dance about nine times out of ten, and I love it. Dance is a big part of my classroom, and here are ten terrific reasons why!

1.It's really good for your brain

Studies have shown that dancing helps improve brain function. It can even be used to treat neurological problems like Parkinson's disease. The coordinated movements in dance help all parts of the brain work together. Check out this article from Harvard about how dancing helps the brain!

2. It makes you happy

Dancing releases endorphins and endorphins make you happy. If my bunch is feeling crabby, or if I'm feeling crabby (yes sometimes even teachers get crabby). We take a dance break and dance it out. We nearly always come out smiling! This article gives a scientific perspective on just why dance makes us so happy!

3. Cross that midline

The midline is the where the two hemispheres of your brain divide. Imagine drawing a line down the middle of your body starting at that divide. When you reach across your body it reminds the two hemispheres to work together. When kids learn to crawl they should crawl in a left knee right hand, right knee left-hand motion. However some crawl incorrectly, and crawl left left, right right, they don't cross their midline. I can always tell which of my kids crawled this way. I usually have two or three a year. These are the same kids tend to W sit. It's easy to learn to cross the midline in therapeutic settings like OT, but dance makes it fun! Once I get kids crossing their midline I can really see a difference in their learning. When I choreograph songs or look for them online I try to make sure it involves crossing the midline.

4. It builds confidence

Mastering choreography is a huge confidence boost for kids! I have my kids set personal achievement goals, and a popular one is to lead a dance! They work so hard to be able to lead the dance brain breaks. I also teach dance fitness and last year I had a first grader in my club after school who was super shy and introverted. This year she was in my class and the first goal she made was to lead a dance brain break. It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of a group of people and lead a dance, but she did it. Before long she was leading dances in dance fitness class with 30 plus people. Her parents can't get over how much she has grown and blossomed. Dance had a big part in that.

5. Active Listening

Really listening is NOT something that just happens, it has to be taught. One surprising effect of so much dance it that my kids have really learned to hear music! They know which piece of choreo goes with each part of a song, and they can anticipate that change in the music. When they asked to choreograph our end of the year dance I was skeptical, because some adults struggle to hear the different parts of a song. The first time I put on the song they immediately started matching moves to each song part and repeating them when that song part came around again. Once you know how to listen you tend to learn a lot more!

6. It gets the wiggles out

Kids are not meant to sit still for long periods of time, they need to MOVE! Dance is a fun, fast way to get some movement in and get back to work quickly.

7. It builds relationships

It's very unifying to all dance as one together. My kids are really close, and dancing is a big part of that. It makes them feel like a group when they all know the same dance! Dance can be done without talking or words. It crosses all kinds of boundaries! Check out this article about research to back this up! It can even help unify a whole school!

8. It makes for some really amazing performances

I love to do performances for parents, and parents LOVE to see their kids dance. It's cute, fun, and great for parents to record! Parents always comment the fact that their kids learned to dance in my class!

9. Dance makes great memories

Kids always tell me that they remember dancing in my class! Dance is a great memory maker. Plus it's contagious! Parents tell me all the time that my kids taught our dances to their family, cousins, or friends. Then they have those memories too!

10. It can make recess look like a Disney movie

LOL just kidding... sort of. I started taking my big speaker out to morning recess duty, and before long the whole playground was dancing. It makes us all look like a Disney movie where everyone breaks out into song and dance at the same time! It's super cute!

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You don't have to be a dancer or choreographer to bring dance to your classroom! Try GoNoodle, or searchJust Dance Kids or Zumba Kids on YouTube to find fun dances that you and your kids can enjoy together! Have fun dancing!!