So how can you involve your little one in "dance" without putting a damper on the joy of movement? How do you ensure all of the pleasure and none of the pain? By fostering the early love of movement every child is born with, which can be as simple as starting the music!

There may come a time, of course, when you consider dance "classes," which offer children important opportunities for socialization and for participation in group activities without having to wait for a party. Should you decide to enroll your child in one, be sure it emphasizes creative movement or dance.

Your toddler should first experience activities focusing on body and spatial awareness. (How is he to properly use his body parts if he doesn't know where they are and what they can do? How is she to share space with others without an understanding of the area surrounding her own body?) The program should also focus on the fundamental movement skills. The basic motor skills – nonlocomotor (stationary, like bending and stretching) and locomotor (traveling, like walking or hopping) have been called the "ABCs of movement." And, just as we wouldn't expect children to begin reading without the ability to identify the letters of the alphabet, we can't expect children to successfully take part in structured physical activities without first mastering the ABCs of movement. That means bending and stretching before plies and releves, and tiptoeing and jumping before triplets and jetes.

Self-expression and joy of movement should reign! And, as much as you'd love to show your little one off to the world, recitals are simply not a good idea at this stage of their development. It's like asking a child who's barely learned to speak to clearly recite the Declaration of Independence for an audience. Instead, let him show you what he can do in the privacy – and security – of your living room.

Here are some ideas for musical games you can play with your child.

Young children love this game in which they move in any way they want while the music is playing and freeze into a statue when the music stops (you press the pause button). Be sure to start and stop the music randomly, with various lengths of time for both the playing and the pauses. Long pauses will heighten the anticipation, and very brief ones will have your child squealing in delight.

This activity provides experience with stopping and starting on signal, balance, body and spatial awareness, discrimination between sound and silence and more. By making a game out of it, movement "improvisation," which promotes creativity and self-expression, isn't nearly as intimidating as the instruction to "move in the way the music makes you feel." And when you use varying styles and tempos of music, your toddler practices a variety of movements and gets an early lesson in music appreciation.

This game also promotes listening skills, discrimination between sound and silence and practice with stopping and starting. It has the added bonus of positive physical contact, which strengthens the bond between you and your toddler. To participate, both of you move in any way you want while the music is playing. When it stops (again, you press the pause button), you go to each other and hug. Start the music again, and repeat!

If you have multiple family members playing, participants hug whoever is closest to them when the music stops. If you're having a birthday party with several children in attendance, play this game instead of Musical Chairs, which eliminates players and means less movement for all but one child and results in one winner and many "losers."

A variation on the above game, this requires players to find each other, hold hands and sit down until the music starts again! If you have several players, the game also can be played in two circles, one inside the other (one partner in the inside circle and one in the outside). When the music starts, the circles move in opposite directions. When it stops, the children run to their partners, hold hands and sit down.

Like a musical game, adding a prop to movement improvisation removes self-consciousness as the children explore and discover how the music makes the prop feel like moving. Chiffon scarves are wonderful for this purpose as they float and drift and are brightly colored, making visual tracking easier. But you also can use ribbons, dishtowels or even paper towel squares.

Content on this site is not a substitute for professional medical or healthcare advice, diagnosis or treatment, and may not be used for such purposes. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical question or condition. Reliance on information presented on this site is at your own risk. This site contains the opinions and views of other users. Given the interactive nature of this site, we cannot endorse, guarantee, or be responsible for the accuracy, efficacy, or veracity of any content generated by our users.