Tap and Rap, Move and Groove

Description

Young children play and learn together with lively dance chants.  
Tap and Rap, Move and Groove brings movement into homes and early childhood classrooms with rhythmic chants for children to move and dance to. Designed to link movement, language, and rhythm, the chants are for children and adults to do together, saying the words while performing the movement prompts.
 
Step and clap, step and clap,
As we do our waving rap!
Wave your arms, way up high.
Reach your fingers to the sky.
 
Woven throughout Tap and Rap, Move and Groove are many opportunities for children to contribute their own ideas and explore movement possibilities, nurturing creative thinking, problem-solving, and self-expression. Dance chants also provide language benefits, as children incorporate new vocabulary, recognize rhythm, repeat the sequence of words and movements, and learn how the chants partner with specific movements.
 
No music is required for the dance chants, but it can be added. Tap and Rap, Move and Groove includes information for adults who want to enhance and expand the dance activities with music, props, varied words, and movements. Author and dance educator Connie Bergstein Dow (movingislearning.com) has an MFA from the University of Michigan. She has danced professionally in the US, Venezuela, and Guatemala, and has taught dance to all ages, from toddlers to senior adults. Connie shares her passion for movement by writing picture books (including From A to Z with Energy), articles, and books for teachers about integrating dance into the curriculum. Connie loves connecting with young readers at schools and libraries, and offering movement workshops to early childhood professionals. She believes that dance and other arts are transformational forces in our lives. Connie splits her time between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Boulder, Colorado.
Debbie Palen is a professional illustrator in children’s publishing. Her work has been recognized by the Educational Press Association, Print magazine, How magazine, Highlights for Children, and the 2020 Northern Lights Award in middle grade fiction. When not illustrating, she can be found walking in the woods, doing yoga, writing, reading kids’ books, dancing to many different kinds of music, or eating dark chocolate. Debbie lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with one human and one very fuzzy animal that might be a cat. Young children play and learn together with lively dance chants.

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