How to use props for maximum impact in preschool dance classes
Surprise! We love props!
Ok… so maybe it’s pretty clear that we love props here at Leap 'N Learn, but, what you might not know is the reason why we love them.
Sure, props are fun. They possess a certain novelty factor... but if that's the only reason you choose to use props for your preschool dance classes then you're missing out!
We love using props in dance classes because they enable powerful and playful learning.
But not all dance teachers and programs are using props in purposeful ways. While it's widely known that props boost engagement in a dance class, it's not so much the prop itself but what we do with it that makes them such engaging and powerful learning tools.
So, without any further ado, allow me to nerd out for a moment about the power of purposeful props in preschool dance... (could I have used another P word? ... probably).
Why props can be powerful learning tools
At Leap 'N Learn, we look to theory and research to guide the choices we make as teachers and curriculum developers.
In terms of their cognitive structures and development, young children are concrete learners – they perceive information and come to understand the world around them through their senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste).
Concrete learning lays the foundation for abstract thinking – children need to grasp concepts in their concrete form before moving to abstract reasoning. From a Montessori perspective, concrete learning is synonymous with active learning: children explore and discover the world around them through hands-on experience (think touch, movement, and manipulation.
When children touch, move, and manipulate objects, they engage multiple senses and activate more areas of the brain, which reinforces learning, deepens understanding, and strengthens memory or retention.
In a way, a lot of dance education is inherently 'hands-on' because it is embodied.
But using props adds more layers of sensory input and increases the tangibility or concreteness of what we are trying to teach.
And for neurodiverse learners like myself who may have a strong preference or tendency for concrete thinking, using props can improve accessibility, increase participation, and support learning outcomes.
A prop also provides a 'why' or the reason for doing something. For example…
… btw, see what I did there? The classroom contexts above help to make the point I'm trying to get across more concrete. They give it form – you can see how it would appear, and hear what it might sound like. While it's not actually physically tangible in this moment, it's something that a teacher could imagine and get a real sense of. That’s what props do in our dance classes. Oh, and if you noticed that in the example on the right that there’s a lot more going on that just the prop itself, then gold star to you ⭐️ There absolutely is. Remember, it’s not just the presence of props that is effective – it’s how and why we use them that contributes to powerful learning. (…and it’s just a tiny peek into the things we teach to teachers at Leap ‘N Learn member studios).
Takeaway tip
⚓️ Young children are concrete learners – props help to anchor or ‘make real’ abstract concepts and give the 'why' to the 'what' you are asking them to do.
…side quest takeaway tip...
🙋 try not to be offended or bothered when kids ask "Why?"... if they're like me, they legitimately need to know the 'why' to understand and do the 'what’.
More powerful teaching starts with knowing your purpose 🎯
So, you want to use props more effectively, but aren't sure where to begin?
It all starts with selecting props to support learning. And to do that, we need to know what we're trying to teach.
Ask yourself: what is the teaching objective or aim?
It might be…
a particular step or skill
a concept
terminology
a particular feeling or expressive quality
Whether the focus is teaching a parallel assemblé, developing students’ pattern identification skills, improving musicality, encouraging emotional expression, or teaching pathways, at Leap 'N Learn, we don't start with the prop. We start with the end goal and work backwards in order to craft joyful, engaging, and meaningful learning experiences that set students up for success.
How to choose the right props for your dance classes
Once you know what you're trying to teach or what you want students to achieve, the next step is to think about the affordances of the prop.
What do we mean by 'affordances'? Well, from a design perspective:
“the term affordance refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used. A chair affords (‘is for’) support and, therefore, affords sitting ”
Put really simply, if we want to teach a smooth, flowing transfer of weight or temps lie, we might use ribbon rings or scarves that have a similar smooth flowing quality. If the goal is learning about straight and curved shapes, we might look to props that either possess or encourage straight and curved qualities.
Put simply, we need to select props that contribute to and complement our teaching objective or purpose.
So, some guiding questions for selecting a prop might be:
What is it that you want students to be able to do/know about the thing you’re trying to teach?
How can you make it more concrete, tangible, or visible?
What does it look like, sound like, feel like?
What are the features of that thing?
What prop has similar qualities or features, or could be used to elicit those things?
For example, you want your students to understand use of space. Which means we need to make ‘space’ more concrete, visible and tangible. So you might try demarcating your space to encourage and contrast movement that is more confined vs. movement that is more expansive.
What could you use to 'break up' the space or create areas/zones? Rollout lines, Leap 'N Learn mats, tangible features of the room (e.g floorboards, the joins between marley sheets, columns etc). What could encourage confined movement? They might dance inside a hula hoop or work within other negative space. What could encourage expansive movement? They could hold a props that serve as an 'extension to their body.
Takeaway tip
🎯 Select props based on their ability to contribute meaning to, or complement, the particular skill, concept, or teaching objective. Remember, that should change over time! Because if students are just doing the same thing in the same way week after week, then they're not being appropriately challenged and progressed.
One prop, so many possibilities!
Explore levels through free movement
Pretend play a day at the beach!
Learn about shapes and develop fine motor skills
An experienced dance teacher will be able to put that silky colourful scarf to use in 79 different ways. You’ll see it floating about the room, being laid out flat, picked up, folded, scrunched and thrown. It could be a picnic rug, a parachute, lava, wings, a superhero cape, a puddle of slime, a blanket, or the wind.
Creativity is a use-dependent skill. We're all born creative. But if we don't use it, we lose it. So… be more playful!
Experiment with what a prop can do... then keep going. How else could it be used. What are the different ways you can hold it or interact with it? How could more than one person use it? How could it be useful if you were going camping? Building a house? If it was under the sea?
Takeaway tip
👀 Observe how your students engage with props. You may get some excellent ideas you can integrate into your lessons and add to your teaching tooklit. Plus, integrating students ideas into class has the added benefit of making students feel seen, heard and valued.
Diversify your props – building your purposeful prop kit!
Do you reach for the same props again and again…and again? It’s amazing how a couple new items can bring a whole lot of buzz into your classes.
Are your props flexible and adaptable (e.g. do they have open-ended uses like mats, scarves and ribbon rings) or are they highly specific (e.g. a frozen wand)? A mix of both is good!
Open-ended props like Leap ‘N Learn mats have endless uses. Colour, shape, size, pattern identification, balancing, eye-tracking, sorting and categorising…
Open-ended props get the most cost-per-use
Leap ‘N Learn mats are one of our “don’t teach a class without it” items.
They come in a set of 42 mats, 6 each across 7 different colors and shapes, which means they’re packed with affordances!
We use them to teach, develop, and explore things like:
colour
shape
space and place
pattern identification
pathways
balance
eye-tracking
fine-motor skills
Because each mat is a specific colour and shape they’re also great for learners with color blindness. They’re not just super handy for preschool classes. I use Leap ‘N Learn mats in my kids, teen, and adults classes too.
Look to seasonal items
Take inspiration from the best chefs who always use seasonal ingredients. Look for seasonal props in your local dollar store or budget department store.
Here are a few of our favourites…
🍂 fake leaves in autumn tones and green tones for teaching seasons, weight, and so much more! Plus, if you hire venues and can’t store your props, they’re super light and take up very little space.
🧺 there are heaps of baskets available around easter but they are useful year round for collecting and sorting (…and storing!) smaller props, as well as pretend play scenarios! Get a range of sizes. Small baskets with handles are great for small hands and support the development of hand-eye coordination and hand dominance.
🍎 instead of buying individual fruits, you can often find garlands of leaves and fruit (which means more fruit for your money!). Buy a few different varieties, chop off the fruit from the garland, and you’ve got a fresh sorting activity (plus different textures!)
A bag of fake leaves from the dollar store make excellent props – affordable and reusable for years!
A quality set of ribbon rings is worth the investment.
Know when to invest and when to DIY
There are times to save and there are times to spend, but knowing when is the hard part!
Unless you’re an experienced DIYer with the right supplies, skills, space, and patience, it’s worth investing in a set of pre-made ribbon rings rather than doing it for yourself.
With a DIY job, you’re likely to get a pretty ‘meh’ ribbon ring that is limp (say goodbye to that ‘flowing’ teaching objective 👋🏽), has fraying ends that worsen over time, oh, and you’ll spend the next 4 months picking up loose bits of ribbon from your dance floor (or trying to redirect students who are distracted with loose bits of ribbon on the dance floor), until one day you throw them all in the bin and ask yourself why you didn’t just buy them in the first place. Sound oddly detailed? Trust me…
So if you consider yourself Etsy royalty, go for it 👑 But if you have better things to do with your time (and sanity?). Leap ‘N Learn ribbon rings are high quality and come on a softened plastic ring instead of a wooden handle (safety first!).
🍎 let’s not talk about the time I thought it was a good idea to make 30 padded felt apples. You know, with all my free time between teaching classes and running a studio. The other day I found them… all 1 and 3/4 of them… and the remaining supplies…and a piece of my soul 🥲
Sensory considerations
Engaging the senses stimulates activity in more areas of the brain.
So when you’re building or adding to your prop library, try to think about incorporating props with different texture and weight.
It's also important to keep in mind that we all process sensory input in different ways and with differing degrees of sensitivity.
Be ready to provide options for students with sensory preferences.
For example, if a student has an aversion to touching feathers, a tissue paper cut-out of a feather lends the same light, soft quality.
Lots of wobble cushions often come with a smooth side and a bumpy or raised side, so let students know they can choose their preferred side by flipping it over when they come to that part of the exercise.
And it’s also ok to ditch the props too! Remember, if it’s not adding it’s not necessary (and in the case of sensory overload or hyperstimulation, it’s actually detracting).
Incorporate props with different textures and weight to stimulate the senses.
Takeaway tip
🍂 Use a wide variety of props in your classes. Build a quality library of props by mixing dollar store items with high-quality purpose-made props. Save on seasonal items and invest your money in props for the long-term (and save your soul in the process).
Are props always necessary?
At one of our recent teacher training workshops, a studio owner asked:
"Do you always use props in every exercise? What about using just imaginary play".
It was an excellent question.
The simple answer – no, we don't always use props.
We use props when they are purposeful and they add to learning outcomes and experience.
Taking a quick glance at just the first block of learning in the recently revamped 3 year old curriculum, there are 7 exercises (from a total 17) that don't involve physical props or resources and instead are centred entirely on pretend play or imagined settings.
At Leap 'N Learn we incorporate a variety of props in intentional and imaginative ways to increase access and participation, spark creativity, support learning, and, above all, create joyful dance experiences for all students 🌈
Comment below with your favourite props to use in your dance classes…or your DIY prop horror story 😜
Amazed we have this much to say about props? This barely scratches the surface.
Leap ‘N Learn has been helping studio owners and their teachers to deliver more professional, powerful, and playful dance classes for almost 20 years, and we do it by providing cumulative curriculum content and the most comprehensive teacher training available. Contact us to find out how we can help you make a bigger and more positive impact in your community.