A Cinderella Theme Class To Teach

Here are some ideas on how to teach a class with a Cinderella Theme going. This post is aimed at dance teachers who teach small children, but this type of class will also work for pre school, kindermusic and even gynmastics classes for small children.

When I teach my tiny tots ballet class, I always go with a theme or story line to make it more interesting for the children. You try teaching plies and tendus to three year olds and see how long you can keep their interest!

This class is one of my favorites and has a Cinderella Theme to it.

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To read more about the history of Cinderella the ballet you can click here.

Cinderella Theme Ballet/Dance Class

Before we start our class, it does help to get some props ready for the class.

You will need:

A illustrated book with the story of Cinderella.

Dusters, brooms or cloths/scarves to clean with.

Fairy wand and and wings

Tutu’s

Of course your props are optional, but children love to use props when they dance.

Sometimes I use them all, and other times I run out of time and will omit some of them.

Let’s Start Our Class:

We now start our Cinderella theme with our story book. I read the first page or two where she is alseep at the hearth in the cinders. After showing them the pictures in the book I play slow music and we slowly wake up our bodies and get ready to clean the house for our ugly stepsisters.

I use the wake up to warm up the body by letting them stretch their arms, touch their toes, stretch their fingers and shrug their shoulders. You can even use this time to wake up the feet by pointing and flexing as well as doing circles with the ankles.

Music choices could include – Morning has broken, The awakening, or any slow music.

Then we start to clean the house. Here you can use scarves, brooms or dusters. The children can practise walking on their toes while they ‘dust the roof,’ or crawl like bears while they ‘scrub the floor.’ I usually chose a 3/4 piece of music for this or we sometimes use whistle while you work from Snow White.

Next we introduce the Ugly sisters. We do loud walks and stomps and make ‘ugly sister’ faces at ourselves in the mirror.

Here you can show them what the ugly sisters look like by showing them a picture from the book.

After we have helped the ugly sisters get ready for the ball and waved goodbye to them we sit and cry.

This is where the Fairy Godmother enters. Here the children get a chance to wear the wings and hold the fairy wand while they fly in  and help Cinderella get ready for the ball.

The next part is a great opportunity to practise runs on toes (mice), rolling like a ball (pumpkin) or pony trots and gallops when the mice are changed into horses and we take Cinderella to the ball. Here the girls can put on their tutus for the ball.

The next part of the class will be Cinderella arriving at the ball looking like a princess. Here is a great opportunity to work on their proud walks.

When she dances with the Prince I usually place the class in partners and we do sways side to side and then an underarm turn holding hands to some nice 3/4 music.

The next part of the class is the clock. We show the clock ticking with our arms and I play music that has a ticking sound. There are many pieces available online.

Now using fast music we escape from the castle and run home before we loose our fancy clothes and turn into Cinderella again. I usually let them take off one shoe here and leave it behind at the castle.

Now we are the prince who is looking for Cinderella. He carries the shoe in front of him and marches from house to house to find her.

The children love pretending to be the ugly sisters and trying on their shoe and showing that it doesn’t fit. Then finally Cinderella tries on her shoe and it fits.

I then end the class with a happy dance which could be some happy music that they make a dance up to or something like ‘If you’re happy and you know it.’

After that I do a quick stretch before our curtsey.

When setting up your Cinderella themed class, make sure to include all the elements of a well rounded dance class, including:

• warmup (Cinderella wakes up and stretches)
• steps that children can practise according to their age and ability within the story.
• a cool down at the end which could incorporate some stretching.

When I teach a tiny tots class, I always do a fun game or dance towards the end of the class, as this helps to get their attention again, as by the end they sometimes start to get tired and they lose concentration.

I sometimes do the Disney version of Cinderella. I then add in the mice and the birds who are her friends. They love to dance to the song ‘I’m a brave, brave mouse.’

Props To Order Online For Your Cinderella Theme Class:

Here are some lovely props you can order for your class, and you can use these over and over again, as children love doing the same things again, even though we may get bored with it. Simply click on the pictures to find out more about the items.