stretching games

When I teach dance, the majority of the time it's to little girls ages 2-6.  Sometimes they are a lot to handle, and I'm very happy to give them back to their mothers after the hour is up, but most of the time they are just too stinkin' cute. 

In these classes, one of the ways that we get them to behave/actually dance and not just run around like a wild pack of wolves, is by playing stretching games.  Stretching games are basically a way to trick small children.  They think that we are giving them permission to take part in their wolf-like behavior, but really we are getting them to stretch.  We're so sneaky.

One game that we play is called the pizza/cake game.  We all sit in a circle, strick our legs straight out, and put our toes in the middle.  From there, we go around the circle and everyone gets a chance to say what they want on their cake or pizza.  The dialogue usually goes something like this:

Me: Ok (insert name here), what are you making today?
Ballerina/Wolfchild: CAKE!
Me: And what do you want on your cake?
B/WC: Sprinkles!!!!
Me: Alright, put 'em onnnnn....
*Everyone pats "sprinkles" all the way down their legs* (aka hamstring stretch)
*Repeat with all ballerinas/wolfchildren in the circle*

Now it's time to bake the cake/pizza!
So we reach upppp and put it in the oven...
Then close the oven door (lay down flat on our legs)...
And reach back up to set the timer *tick tick tick tick tick tick DING!*
It's ready!
So we pull our cake/pizza out of the oven...
Cut it down the middle...
Grab our first slice (pick up our right legs)...
Then blow on it, and eat it! (hold our leg straight in front of our face and make gobble gobble noises)
The grab the other slice (pick up our left legs)...
Then blow on it, and eat it! (hold our leg straight in front of our face and make more gobble gobble noises)

Obviously, the best part of this entire process is hearing what random cake/pizza toppings these girls desire.  sometimes they shout out the first thing that comes into their heads.  "Sprinkles!" "Pepperonis!!" "Chocolate sauce!!!"  Other times, you'd think we were asking them to decide which 4-year university they're going to attend in 12-16 years.  "Umm...(15 minutes later)...I want a Disney Princess cake!  With leopard sprinkles.  And glitter icing.  And 5 candles!!!"

They're not high maintenance.  They just know what they want and how they want it. 

I can relate.