Child's Play

How To Use: BIG DANCE

Discussion prompts

Here are some ideas for things to talk about while sharing the book - you could ask a few different questions each time you read it.

Poppa says that everyone has a dance inside them - what is your dance like?

On the “I’ll show you” page some of the characters are playing instruments - what sounds do you think they make? The shapes of the lines can help you to guess the noises.

The characters show off each of their moves. Which is your favourite?

Pippa worries that she doesn’t have a special dance. Do you ever feel like Pippa?

When trying to find her dance, Pippa falls over a couple of times. What words would you use to describe her feelings? What would you say to reassure her?

“THE BIG DANCE IS JUST NONSENSE!” - do you think Pippa really means this? Have you ever said something you didn’t mean?

One of the steps in Pippa’s dance is “BUMP! BOTTOM!” - do you remember when she fell on her bottom earlier? Maybe that inspired her - you can learn a lot from mistakes!

At the end, you’re invited to join in - go ahead! ...But if you’re reading the book as a bedtime story, it might be better to just close your eyes and imagine you’re dancing with everyone!

Activities

Sights and Sounds!

Aoife has drawn some sounds in the book - short lines for drum beats and looping lines to represent melodies.

• Find some examples of this in the book and talk about them.

• Listen to different kinds of music and draw the sounds you hear.

• You could draw a dance party and fill the air with different kinds of doodles to represent music, like Aoife did.

• If you enjoyed doodling sounds, you could try drawing smells next!

Let’s Dance!

You could recreate some of the dances from the book:

• Use a leaf (or a paper leaf) to copy Kit’s Quiet Leaf Dance.

• Twirl a long ribbon around for the Ribbon Dance.

• Take light, high steps to imitate the Trotting Trot.