Sound Asleep

Use the activity below to explore students’ nighttime routines while exploring movement, emotions and sound!
Materials Needed: chart paper, markers

1. Ask students to think about their nightly routine. Ask them questions like: What do you do to get ready for bed? What do you need to feel comfortable and ready to sleep? Does anyone help you during your nighttime routine? As students respond, write their answers on the board or large chart paper.
2. As a group, have students physicalize some of the bedtime routines and activities they shared above. Prompt and model this by asking questions and offering prompts like: Show me what it looks like when you brush your teeth at night. Can we all yawn and stretch together? What does it look like when you’re reading a bedtime story?
3. Encourage students to make strong physical choices. You can also introduce a 1 – 10 movement scale to play with the range and scale of their movements. For example, “On a scale of 1 to 10, your yawns are currently at a 3. Can you try them at a 7? Or maybe do the biggest yawn you can possibly do, at a 10?!” Finally, put students’ nighttime routines in sequential order in preparation for the next few steps.
4. Now that you’ve physicalized students’ nighttime routines, it’s time to further theatricalize them by adding sound. As a group, go back through the sequence you’ve made and create a sound associated with each activity (e.g., brushing teeth, washing face, drinking water, etc.).
5. Now, have volunteers show the class their nightly routine using only movement and sound! Students can share individually or you could ask half of the class to do the movement while the other half provides the sound. Have fun with it!
6. Finally, have a group discussion about the similarities and differences between everyone’s nighttime routines.

Reflection Questions:

• What was your favorite part of this activity?
• How did it feel to act out your nightly routine in your classroom?
• What did you learn about your classmates’ nighttime routines?