Activate logo

Celebrating Education Week 2023

Get your students moving during Education Week 2023 and develop dance knowledge with Activate!

Activate! is a series of easy-to-use flash cards that challenge kids with an energetic and fun brain break. With activities designed for levels F-6, Activate! is an easy way for teachers to incorporate curriculum aligned dance and movement activities into the classroom. No performing arts experience required.

Try Activate! in your classroom today

Go to Foundation
Go to Level 1 & 2
Go to Level 3 & 4
Go to Level 5 & 6

Foundation

Access short, instructive videos for each activity by scanning the QR code.

Activate! Foundation Activity Why Walk. This activity shows how diverse movement can be. Teacher calls out 'why walk when you can' and then selects a verb. Skip, creep, commando crawl, run, crawl, bounce, stomp. Add some music. Try different ways to travel. Let students call out different verbs.
Activate! Foundations Activity ROM. ROM stands for Range of Motion. In this quiet activity we circle, flex and extend body parts. Put on some relaxing music. Circle heads, fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, ankles. Flex spine, elbows, wrists, fingers, toes.
Activate! Foundations Activity Imagine That. Teacher selects one word. Bend, stretch, twist, turn, swing, and includes an action from everyday life. for example touch toes, yawn, turn in a circle. Now use your imagination. Swing like an elephant's trunk or a monkey in a tree. Stretch like a cat or a rubber band.
Activate! Foundation Activity Body Bubble. Your're inside a bubble. It's your job to clean it with different body parts; knees, elbows, shoulders, heads, bottoms, arms, back, hands, feet. Challenge number one. Add a body base while cleaning.

Download the Activate! Foundation pdf >>

Level 1 & 2

Access short, instructive videos for each activity by scanning the QR code.

Activate! L1 & 2 Activity Zip Zap Zoom. Stand in a circle. Students clap to pass the direction of energy and say zip for clockwise. Add zap for anticlockwise. Practice this. Try to establish eye contact and a constant beat when performing in each direction. Challenge number 1. Increase the pace of the game. Challenge number 2. Do it standing on one leg.
Activate! L1 & 2 Activity Moment of Fame. Stand in a circle with music playing. One by one, students entre the centre and do a 10 second performance. They freeze and take a bow on teacher's signal. All students must enthusiastically clap them. Simple ideas include marching, patting your head, turning, star jumps, head nods, shrugging shoulders.
Activate! L1 & 2 Activity Do It Like. Start with a series of actions called a phrase. Stand up, unfold, yawn, reach, look around, twist. Now change the quality of movement by adding a character or animal. Monkey, astronaut, a magic creature, a robot. How many different ways can you reinvent the movement to tell a story.
Activate! L1-2 Countdown Activity. Two group compete against each other to create shapes. Winning is in terms of creativity, speed and teamwork. Give a score out of two for each category. Start easy. Circles, squares, lines, curves, triangles, zigzags, wavy lines. Challenge number 1. What other amazing shapes can you make? Playground equipment, a building, a zoo, an amusement park, a train, a circus tent?

Download the Activate! Level 1-2 pdf >>

Level 3 & 4

Access short, instructive videos for each activity by scanning the QR code.

Activate! L3 & 4 Activity Pencil. Pairs face each other. They each hold a small pencil or rod on the tip of their pointer finger. This is the threa of continuous connection between them. Explore leader and follower roles. What actions can you do? Try different levels. Make the movement very small and detailed. Make it enormous. Try it with eyes closed. Challenge 1. Create a clear intention like exploring a coral reef. Challenge 2. Try different objects and see how they affect the quality of movement.
Activate! L3 & 4 Activity. In pairs create a simple machine like a gear, wheel, lever, chain or belt. The movement must be simple and easy to repeat. Practice this. Now make the complex machine. One by one, pairs move into the performance space and perform their action, repeating it as more simple machines enter the space and the size and complexity of the machine increases. Each machine must connect to another simple machine like clockwork. Rule. When entering the space, normal walking is not allowed. Challenge 1. Travel the complex machine. Challenge 2. Disassemble the machine one part at a time.
Activate! L3 & 4 Activity Fabulous Formations. In two groups, students must make the following formations quickly and precisely. A circle within a circle. Figure 8. Two straight lines. Walk into a V formation, an M shape, a T shape, a cross. Challenge 1. Do it without talking.
Activate! L3 & 4 Activity Electric Eel. Stand or sit in 1 or 2 straight lines. One behind the other. Teacher names a body party and the student at the start performs movements with that part. The movement passes onto the next person until it reaches the end of the line. The end person then runs to the front of the line and starts again using a new body part movement. Repeat until everyone has had a go. When standing behind one another movement can be hard to see. Make sure it is easy to see.

Download the Activate! Level 3-4 pdf >>

Level 5 & 6

Access short, instructive videos for each activity by scanning the QR code.

Activate! L5 & 6 Activity Freeze, Melt, Move. In pairs one student is the mover the other is the manipulator. Teachers call move and movers bounce loosely on the spot. Teachers call out Freeze and Melt and the the mover freezers in place then melts to the floor. Manipulators now select a leading body part. Touch it or say it. The mover responds by moving that body part upwards. The manipulator now selects another leading body part and the mover lifts that part upwards. Repeat this four times. The goal is to get the mover back to standing.
Activate! L5 & 6 Activity Mission Impossible Relay. In two teams, students start at one end of the room. One by one they travel across the space avoiding dangers and return in reverse then tag the next player. The length of the space is divided into two sections. Section 1. Low horizontal laser beams. Section 2. An Abyss with stepping stones in a zig zap pattern. Before they reverse the actions, they must sprint on the spot, arms pumping for 20 counts. Put on the Mission Impossible theme music for inspiration.
Activate! L5 & 6 Activity Postcards. Begin by thinking of a place or destination. Like a coral reef, Disneyland, a haunted house, a merry-go-round. Form a line in groups of six. The first person moves into the centre of the room and makes a shape. Each person takes it in turn to move into the centre and make a shape. All shapes must be held until the last person comes in. Develop your own postcard with diverse people, plants and animals.
Activate! L5 & 6 Activity Superheroes. Do a brief warm up. gentle head moves, slow shoulder and arm circles. Slowly roll down and touch toes. Roll up and rise in the air. Repeat the whole thing four times slow and four times fast. Now that you're warm do the dance sequence via the link. Challenge 1. Add a super entrance and a fabulous formation.

Download the Activate! Level 5-6 pdf >>

Ausdance VIC acknowledges the support of the Department of Education, through the Strategic Partnerships Program.

Victoria State Government Logo

Get more Activate!

Want to bring more Activate! brain breaks into your school day?

Get the full set of Activate! flash cards for F – 6 along with detailed lesson plans aligned to the Victorian Curriculum. Each set includes four physical packs of cards linked to an extensive video library of warm up routine, activity instructions, longer dance sequences and ideas for extra challenges.

Learn More