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This unit transforms students' fascination with mini beasts into a rich dance experience that develops creative expression, spatial awareness, and collaborative skills. Through imaginative movement exploration, Year 1 students discover how their bodies can become different creatures while building fundamental dance concepts of levels, pathways, and storytelling. The mini beast theme provides a natural, engaging context that encourages even the most reluctant movers to participate with confidence and creativity.

Lessons in This Unit

6 lessons in this unit

Lesson 1

Creating Mini Beast Movements
45 min

Big Question:

How can we use our bodies to move like mini beasts and tell their stories through dance?

Key Objectives:

  • • To move safely and creatively in space whilst exploring mini beast themes
  • • To use descriptive words from a mind map to create different movement patterns

Lesson 2

Creating Mini Beast Movements
45 min

Big Question:

How can we use our bodies to tell the story of mini beasts through dance?

Key Objectives:

  • • To choreograph and perform the second half of our mini beast motif
  • • To use body movements to express characteristics of different mini beasts

Lesson 3

Creative Movement with Levels and Pathways
45 min

Big Question:

How can we travel like different mini beasts using various levels and pathways?

Key Objectives:

  • • To creatively turn the action from our motif into travelling movements
  • • To show use of different levels in our travelling movements

Lesson 4

Partner Choreography and Creative Expression
45 min

Big Question:

How can we work together with a partner to turn poems into exciting dance movements?

Key Objectives:

  • • To work effectively in pairs showing good cooperation skills and give useful peer feedback
  • • To use poetry as stimulus for creative and imaginative dance actions

Lesson 5

Creative Movement and Partner Work
45 min

Big Question:

How can we use pictures and teamwork to create imaginative dance movements that tell a story about mini beasts?

Key Objectives:

  • • To work cooperatively in pairs, demonstrating good partnership skills and providing constructive feedback
  • • To use visual stimuli (pictures) as inspiration for creative and imaginative dance movements

Lesson 6

Performance and Peer Evaluation
45 min

Big Question:

How can we become dance critics and help each other create magical mini beast performances?

Key Objectives:

  • • To understand what makes a good dance performance
  • • To give useful feedback to our partner using dance vocabulary