It’s a Box! Not!

I hope you are ready for the cutest book ever! This month Kerry from Picture Books and Pirouettes recommended Not A Box by Antoinette Portis. I could not wait to use it with my students. I tried it with both 2’s and 3’s and both age groups really ran with it!

First, go here to read the review of the book and learn a little more about it. Then come back to see how I used it in my dance room.

I asked the students, what could we turn the box into? In the book the rabbit turns the box into a mountain, a race car, a robot, a boat, a hot air balloon and a spaceship. We danced all of these things first. Then, I wanted them to tell me what they would turn their box into. Here are some of their answers (get ready to laugh out loud!):

“let’s turn it into a garden”

“I think it should be an airplane”

“I know! it’s a pizza store!”

“Miss Maria, I really want it to be my umbrella”

“a tree”

“it could be my bed!”

Don’t you just love their imaginations? I just love things like this because I can get them to think outside of the box (haha! get it?) and really see how creative they can be. After we said our ideas of what the box could be we danced about each idea. I marked off a small part of the room, kind of like we were inside of a box. Exciting, I know!

When Kerry and I first talked about this book, we talked about using boxes. I wasn’t able to pull it off this month but I would still like to try this book with using actual boxes. If I do, I will be sure to write more about it! Even though this book doesn’t offer up a lot of movement, it allows the students to create it themselves. And that is exactly why I love it!

What about you? Would your students get a kick out of dancing with a box or inside of a box? Would you try this book with them? Have you ever marked off a portion of the room and asked the students to only stay within the lines? It’s a very interesting challenge. I would love to hear!