In this visit, partners can bring the OUTSIDE, INSIDE by moving their bodies and using their IMAGINATIONS and tell each other picture stories with NO WORDS AT ALL!!! Instead of words, partners will create scenes and sentences with their faces: eyes, mouths, noses – and also with arms and hands. This is all done sitting down, looking at each other, and mirroring each other. This a wonderful way to connect, be present, and spark joy!
These are some guidelines for Seasons and Senses: Movement. The most important thing to stay connected and be present. Be flexible, see where the conversation takes you: anything you do will add so much joy to your partner’s day!!
Step 1: Warm up and welcome.
- Introduce yourself to your adult partner. Ask your partner a few questions about themselves, and tell them a bit about yourself. Tell your partner him/her what you are going to do together today.
- Speak CLEARLY and SLOWLY (but not too slowly that your adult loses interest!)
- For example, say: “Hi! I am Kate. I am so happy to meet you! Today we are going to create a story using movement and our five senses!!
Step 2: Engage your partner’s senses; Ask questions that will bring in your partner’s senses, create facial reactions.
Seeing
You can move onto EYES and ask “What is something that you love to LOOK AT or SEE? (They might say a sunrise, a sunset, a beach, an ocean, a flock of birds in the sky. If they are shy, you can suggest something that YOU like to look at.
- “What do your EYES do when you look at that? Now let’s show each other what our EYES do. (You can tilt your head up and widen your eyes. You can close your eyes. You can show any and all expressions with your eyes!)
Hearing
What is your favorite thing to hear?
- What does your face do when you hear your granddaughter’s voice? Smile deeply. What does your face do when you hear a loud bell?
Smelling
What is your favorite flower, what do you smell at the beach?
- Take a deep breath in, maybe close your eyes and sniff loudly in through your nose) Wriggle your nose a little to get it moving, so the adult can see and hear you breathing deeply in with your nose. “Let’s do that three times.” Close our eyes and take a deep breath in through our NOSES and really SMELL THAT ROSE.
Tasting
“What is your favorite dessert? (Maybe they will say chocolate cake or apple pie. If they don’t know or seem shy at first, try suggesting one. For example: “I love brownies and icecream. Do you?”
- Then say “Let’s both pretend like we are taking a big delicious bite of (whatever you or they have picked). “What does our mouth do and our lips and our tongue when we TASTE something?” Hopefully these mini movement stories will cause you and your adult to laugh and maybe engage in funny facial expressions as you and your partner stretch your faces and stretch your imaginations and get to know each other better.
Feeling
What is a feeling that you like? (Maybe they will say driving fast, or being on a roller coaster, or the feeling of swimming in the ocean.) “What does your body do when you are on a rollercoaster, going fast, what does your face do, what does your body do? Put your arms up over your head and make a funny excited or scared expression.
Step 3: Ask questions about seasons, to create a dance for using your upper body, mimicking what you do each season.
Winter
How can we show WINTER with our hands and heads and arms. Let’s make whooshing sounds with our mouth for wind. (Do that together/mirror each other) “Now let’s add our arms and hands to make snow (Demonstrate your hands in the air above your head and wiggle your fingers down the screen like snowflakes). “Let’s make snowflakes with our fingertips…” You can even say – Let’s mirror each other. First you make snow and I will follow you…”
Then move onto SPRING.
Ask your partner what she/he thinks of when SPRING comes. Flowers? Birds? Rainbows? The pitter patter of rain? Then simulate bird sounds and chirping and flowers rising out of the earth with your arms wiggling up the screen and a rainbow by arching your hand from one side to the other in a large slow swoop. Do it slowly and ask them to mirror you. Ask them what they think of and tell them you will follow their lead.
Then move onto SUMMER.
“What do we think of when we experience SUMMER?” “THE SUN!!!” “How should we show sunshine?” Bring your hands together in one big circular swoop outwards with your hands meeting at the top to form a circle of sunshine with your arms (as if you are creating a large letter “O” with your arms above your head. Then lower your hands to your sides slowly and tell your adult to pretend that the rays of the sun are coming out of their arms as they lower them.) Tell them you will mirror each other and repeat this motion 3X. Do it slowly.
Finally FALL:
“Let’s try to create a movement story with FALL as our last season. Let’s pretend our fingers are leaves falling from trees. Put your hands in the air and let your fingers slowly grab at the air as you lower them from above your head and the top of the screen all the way to the bottom. Try to make the motion with your fingers like fluttering leaves falling to the ground. You can add other motions like an apple rolling down a hill or a pumpkin and say something: “Let’s roll our head from side to side, as if our head is an apple or pumpkin rolling down a hillside in autumn.” Ask your adult what other sounds or sights they think of when they think of AUTUMN or FALL. Try to come up with a movement together that captures that memory or image they have. At the end of the 10 or 15 minute session, thank them for “moving with you and imagining SEASONS AND SESSIONS and waking up your body and their body – the hands, faces and arms and heads!
Step 4: Saying goodbye
At the end of the session, tell your partner what a lovely time you had speaking with them, you wish them well, and that you would like to connect again soon.