How to Explore Gratitude in Preschool Dance Classes: Grow a Thankful Tree!
November is here, bringing colorful autumn leaves, opportunities to celebrate gratitude, and meaningful moments of connection in our dance classrooms!
It's one of my favorite times of year to teach!
While November is filled with playful seasonal activities, it's also a wonderful time to help our youngest dancers explore what it means to be thankful, kind, and part of a community.
And what better way to explore gratitude than through storytelling, creativity, and movement?
Today, I'm sharing one of my favorite November creative dance activities for preschoolers: Growing a Thankful Tree! 🌳🍁
Through this gratitude-inspired dance lesson, children will explore what it means to be thankful, share the things they're grateful for, and work together to grow a community of Thankful Trees.
Along the way, they'll explore meaningful dance concepts, develop movement skills, and discover how gratitude can bring us together!
Read a Story About Gratitude
Begin by gathering your dancers for a story!
One of my favorite children's books for introducing gratitude is We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frané Lessac.
Through the changing seasons, this beautiful picture book introduces children to the Cherokee expression otsaliheliga and explores how Cherokee people practice gratitude throughout the year, honoring both life's blessings and challenges.
It's also a meaningful opportunity to introduce Native American Heritage Month through a story written by a Cherokee author.
As you read, encourage dancers to notice the different ways gratitude is expressed throughout the story.
Pause to ask questions like:
• What does it mean to be thankful?
• Who are some people you're grateful for?
• How can we show someone that we appreciate them?
• Can we be thankful for the little things around us?
For younger preschool dancers, keep the conversation simple and encourage them to share their thoughts through words, gestures, or movement.
Dance Education Connection: Storytelling encourages listening, reflection, language development, and emotional awareness while preparing dancers to explore gratitude through creative movement.
Plant the Seeds of Gratitude
Now that we've explored gratitude through storytelling, it's time to help our dancers discover what they're thankful for!
Gather your dancers in a circle and invite them to share something that makes them feel happy, loved, or appreciated.
It might be their family, a favorite friend, a pet, their dance teacher, or even something as simple as playing outside!
Give each dancer a Thankful Leaf and encourage them to draw, color, or write something they're grateful for.
For preschool dancers who aren't writing yet, invite them to express their gratitude through pictures while you help them add a few words.
You can even encourage children to explore their gratitude through movement!
If they're thankful for their pet, can they create a movement inspired by that animal? If they're grateful for their family, can they create a big, warm hugging shape?
These little movement connections help children translate their thoughts and feelings into physical expression.
Dance Education Connection: This activity encourages self-expression, emotional awareness, and creative thinking while exploring the dance concepts of Body Shapes and Non-Locomotor Movement.
Grow a Community of Gratitude
Now it's time to bring all those Thankful Leaves together!
Invite dancers to place their leaves throughout the dance space, creating a colorful forest of gratitude. You can also collect their leaves to create a classroom Thankful Tree display!
As each dancer adds their leaf, remind them that just like every leaf is unique, every dancer brings something special to our classroom!
Take a moment to admire your growing forest and talk about how everyone has different things to be thankful for.
Some dancers might be grateful for their families, while others are thankful for their friends, favorite activities, or special memories.
And that's what makes our dance community so special!
This simple classroom gratitude activity encourages children to listen to one another, appreciate their differences, and recognize that everyone contributes something meaningful to the group.
Together, we're growing a dance community rooted in gratitude, kindness, and friendship!
Dance Education Connection: Cooperative activities encourage social-emotional development, classroom community, and spatial awareness while building positive relationships among dancers.
Grow a Thankful Tree Obstacle Course
Let's turn our gratitude into movement!
One of my favorite ways to incorporate creative movement into preschool dance classes is through a themed obstacle course.
For this activity, transform your dance space into a Thankful Tree Dance Obstacle Course, where dancers explore the journey of a tree growing from a tiny seed into a tall, beautiful tree!
Begin by inviting dancers to curl up small like seeds beneath the soil.
Then encourage them to slowly stretch and grow, reaching their branches toward the sky!
As dancers travel through the obstacle course, incorporate movement challenges inspired by growing trees and autumn forests.
• Static Balance: Stand tall like a tree with strong roots, balancing on one foot while stretching your branches.
• Dynamic Balance: Travel carefully along a balance beam like a winding pathway through the forest.
• Jumping: Jump over fallen branches or leap across colorful autumn leaves.
• Twirling: Spin like leaves swirling in the autumn breeze.
• Creative Exploration: Grow from a tiny seed into a tall Thankful Tree, exploring different shapes, sizes, and levels.
Encourage dancers to imagine their branches reaching toward the sunshine, their roots growing deep into the ground, and their leaves dancing in the wind.
Through this playful preschool dance obstacle course, children explore the Dance Elements of Action, Body, Space, Time, and Force while developing coordination, balance, body awareness, and creativity.
And with each movement, our Thankful Trees continue to grow!
Celebrate the Season with an Autumn Leaf Dance!
Our Thankful Trees have grown, and now it's time to celebrate!
Gather your dancers around a colorful collection of autumn leaves and invite them to explore how leaves move through the air.
What happens when the wind blows gently?
How might a leaf move when a big gust of wind comes along?
Encourage dancers to toss leaves into the air and explore floating, swirling, reaching, falling, and spinning as they move throughout the dance space.
Experiment with different movement qualities!
Can dancers float softly and slowly like a falling leaf?
Can they whirl quickly like leaves caught in a strong autumn breeze?
What happens when the wind stops?
Invite dancers to freeze in a creative autumn leaf shape!
You can even incorporate different tempos of music to encourage dancers to explore how movement changes when the music becomes faster or slower.
This playful fall creative dance activity provides opportunities to explore Tempo, Force, Levels, Pathways, and Creative Expression.
And of course, there's nothing quite like the giggles and excitement of tossing colorful leaves into the air!
Gratitude Grows Together
Just like trees grow from tiny seeds, gratitude grows when we share it with others!
Bring your dancers back together and take a moment to reflect on everything they've created.
Look at your Thankful Leaves, admire your growing forest, and celebrate the special things each dancer contributes to your classroom community.
You might even invite dancers to share one way they can show kindness or gratitude to someone else!
From storytelling and reflection to creative movement and community building, this gratitude-themed preschool dance lesson reminds us that dance education is about so much more than learning steps.
It's also about helping children develop confidence, creativity, connection, and a sense of belonging.
And that's something worth celebrating!
Looking for More November Dance Activities?
Keep the Dance-Giving fun going with our FREE November Dance Guide!
Inside, you'll discover free dance lesson samples, printable movement cards, creative movement activities, coloring pages, and more!
From our Dance-Giving Movement Cards and Dance the Dots Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade activities to silly dancing turkeys and gratitude-inspired movement, there's plenty to keep your little dancers moving, creating, and learning all November long!
Whether you're looking for a quick warm-up, a creative obstacle course, or inspiration for your next themed dance class, we've got you covered!
