Tanzen und Turnen – Getting Exercise

Been on your Baerenjagd walk and found all the neighbourhood bears for now?

Tanzen und Turnen (dancing and gymnastics) to music at home is a great way to lift one’s spirits and stay fit and healthy.

 The ABC has some great advice for young and old about staying healthy during the shut down.  

Here are some of our top picks for dance / movement songs: 

1. Das Lied ueber mich (one of our teachers Katja’s favourite song) covers vocabulary for different parts of the body, and a few animals as well. 
2. Aramsamsam mit Kinder.  The lyrics are nonsense words but it is very popular with children in Germany. It even has been performed for children by the Frankfurt Opera Company. Have fun with it getting faster and faster! (I wonder if adults sing it in the giant beer tents at Oktoberfest?! Could be a lot of fun… But I digress.)
3. So ein schoener Tag will have you zooming around the room like an airplane, flexing your tiger-strong muscles, stretching up like a giraffe, jumping, swimming and dancing around holding hands to the music because it is such a beautiful day.
4. Das Zappellied (the wiggle song) which is also good for vocabulary and concepts like beside / in front / behind / sit down / lie down… when you just can’t sit still on a chair!
5. Tschu Tschu Wa.  Most GAP parents have participated in this action song at pick up time already, so they can enjoy a reprise at home.  You’d better all know this one off by heart when we get back together later this year!! 🙂  
6. A-E-I-O-U is another great one for movement. Here’s a version with subtitles, but even if you don’t know the words following the teacher in the first link will give you a pretty good workout. 🙂  (Here is the original of that song with good old Volker Rosin who must have written about a billion children’s hits in Germany since the 1980’s.) 
7. Ich bin ein Einhorn. I’m not sure what sort of actions you and your children can come up with for this last song, but this one is especially for our unicorn fans.

Viel Spass! (Have fun!)