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The human brain is a funny thing in its tendency to quickly reach boredom, Spend too long doing the same thing, or do the same thing too many times, too often, and suddenly there you are. Perhaps the subconscious desire for change serves an important purpose in driving us to continually try new things or different approaches in order to keep our lives dynamic and fresh.

This especially true than when working with children. Young brains haven’t had time to develop much in the way of patience, so focusing and repetition, while necessary, are also difficult. Sometimes they’ll get bored very quickly. Here are a few ideas to help liven things up:

Add something surprising. If you want to get their attention, try something strange, exciting, or gross. Try wheelbarrow races, jumping contests, or high-speed butt-shaking.

A little humor goes a long way. Laughter is powerful medicine, and it rules supreme with children. Have them do a silly walking contest, or better yet, the “underpants dance”, which can be their personal interpretation. The movements won’t matter at all, but the title is sure to get them going.

Use a new technique. If you always begin standing, then start the dance on the floor instead. If you usually teach particular choreography, then play music and let them dance freeform. For an added plus, make it into a game of “freeze dance”, where children freeze in position whenever you randomly turn off the music.

Try a change of scenery. A change of environment can break up routine quickly. Try moving outside in the grass, or in a different room, or with the lights off (Pass out flashlights ahead of time if you have them).

Change your music often. Even teachers need inspiration, and new music always spices things up.

“Bored” is a five-letter word. But with a few simple techniques, you can eliminate it from their vocabulary permanently. We all need fresh ideas, challenges and stimulation. It only requires a few minutes of planning ahead. The results are worth it!

Every one of us has a rhythm that we carry inside, our heartbeat. Our innate sense of rhythm started before we were even born, with the rhythm of our mother’s heartbeat. Finding our heartbeat and using it as a basis for movement can be enlightening and amusing, and for many children, it might be the first time they have heard it. Explain how the heart works, contracting over and over to circulate blood throughout the body to keep our cells (and ourselves) alive.

It isn’t always so easy to hear our heartbeat, but it is easy to feel it. Begin by having the children sit quietly with their eyes closed, have them take two fingers and place them on pulse points on the inside of the wrists and the side of the neck. Once they have located their pulse, have them use this rhythm to begin moving, just an easy walk around the room. Each child will move at a different pace, since no two heartbeats are exactly the same.
From there, it’s time for a little experimentation. Play some music that has a faster tempo, and have them check their pulse again after the song has ended. What happened? How is has their heartbeat changed? Vary the tempo of the music and check again to see what happens with the heartbeat.

The human body is full of surprises, and finding one’s own pulse is awe-inspiring for young children. They will never forget the power of getting in touch with their pulse and inner rhythm for the first time.

A Weekly Column for the National Writing for Children Center from Grier Cooper

The holiday season has sprung up in full glory, winter is just around the corner, and in the middle of all the festive merrymaking it’s hard to believe that sometime, in the very near future, there will be cabin fever to contend with. Just as little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, winter is often made of snow and ice, things not very nice, leading to a parental waking nightmare, where the family is stuck in the house and the kids are bouncing off the walls, looking for somewhere to expend their excess energy. It’s moments like these, when things get tough, that the tough proceed immediately to the stereo, crank up the tunes, and let the wild rumpus begin… the impromptu living room dance party, guaranteed to combat even the toughest cases of bad weather blues.

Just because it’s nasty outside does not mean that fun cannot be had inside. For most children under age eight, fun music inspires an immediate response: feel the beat, move your feet. Better yet, this is an activity that the whole family can enjoy. Parents spend a lot of time and energy trying to squeeze in a little time to get in a good workout when in reality, it can be had for free anytime… burn two hundred calories on thirty minutes, and you don’t even have to leave the house. Not that you could… even if you wanted to.

To make the activity fun for everyone, be sure to select music that everyone will enjoy, grownups included. Some foolproof musical selections include: old-time classics, such as anything by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, or The Ramones, soundtracks from musicals like Singin’ In The Rain, High School Musical, Grease and Saturday Night Fever, or just hit “shuffle” on your MP3 player, and let the internal electronic dj genie take over. As long as the music has a good beat and makes you want to move your body, then it’s the right choice.

Try dancing with partners as well as individually. If there are several people dancing, try dancing together in a circle, or create a conga line. If you have carpets, pillows thrown randomly on the floor can add to the fun. Use them as steppingstones to jump from, or as an obstacle course to avoid. If you have hardwood floors, the pillows can be pretend puddles to jump over.

The living room dance party is your prescription for dealing with pent-up energy (yours and your children’s) and keeping everyone sane, healthy and fit. This New Year’s, make your number one resolution a dance revolution!