Submitted by Priscilla Whalen, Ohio

Idea posted February 14, 2003

Students sit in a circle on the floor with their hands palm up on their knees. Each student holds a bean bag in their left hand palm up on knee.

Count 1: Cross body with left arm to place bean bag in your own right hand.
Count 2: Left hand goes back to left knee palm up.
Count 3: Lift up right hand with beanie in it and place the bean bag in the left hand of the person sitting to your right.
Count 4: Right hand goes back to palm up position on right knee. Each student should have a bean bag in their left hand on their left knee.

I start very slowly, making sure that they do not skip a motion on a beat. Each beat has its own motion. I've used various music at first, but the one they love is "Beep Beep" because the tempo keeps increasing. Second and third graders could keep up after a lot of practice, but I didn't have a lot of success with speeding up the first graders, and I did not even try it with K.