Our original Stretchy Bands for creative movement come in four different sizes and are a complete circle. The Connect-a-Stretchy Band only comes in one size. However, it features a buckle system that allows you to disconnect the band and use it in a straight line in addition to the circle.

With the buckle system, you can connect additional bands together. Allowing you to create the size you need for your creative movement activities. This is ideal for those with varying class sizes or for those who like to use different-sized bands for different activities.

With the Set of 6 Connect-a-Stretchy Bands, you will be able to create all four original Stretchy Band sizes. Plus two larger sizes: an XXL (five bands connected) and an XXXL (all six bands connected). This would be a very fun way to engage a large group or classroom by allowing you all to be a part of the same circle.

With the six bands and their connecting capabilities, you would also be able to split larger groups into smaller groups. Instead of one large group on one circle, you could split everyone up into two or three groups! 

Hub 12 Connector:

Using a Hub allows you to turn your Connect-a-Stretchy Bands into fun shapes, such as: 

•  Octopus
• Sun
• Star
• Flower

Or whatever your imagination comes up with! Learn more about our Hub connectors here. Using a Hub only adds to the creativity and fun you can have with our Connect-a-Stretchy Bands!

Sizing Guide:

The sizing guide below gives the original Stretchy Band sizes along with the conversion chart for the Connect-a-Stretchy Bands. Determining how many you can fit around a band depends on the age/size of those you have in your creative movement class or session. When we say “people,” we are referring to tweens/teens and adults.

Check out our FREE resource guide to Stretchy Bands and Connect-a-Stretchy Bands. A combined 100+ song and activity ideas!

The post Set of 6 Connect-a-Stretchy Bands for Creative Movement appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

“My passion is tying together the effectiveness of music in overall development with the current research and creating music / music activities to help parents / teachers put it in action.”

In 2022, Mar. did her first Ted Talk and released her new book “Building Brains with Music.”  She says:

Anyone who has a child in their life, whether as a parent, family member, teacher, or someone else involved in the child’s care, should read this book. The information contained will change how you view music. It will not only have a positive, direct impact on the child; it will have an impact on you, the reader, as well.

Every parent or teacher has the capability of using music. Would more of them take the time to sing and dance if they knew how valuable taking the time was? If one of the basic tools for building a brain was music, would you use it? I am handing you that tool right now with this book.

Her book also includes access to her wonderful music. For $19.99, you not only get the book, but access to 27 of her digital songs.

1,2,3,4, 5 Fingers
Bounce, Bounce Baby
All Around the Circle
Catching Bubbles
Clap Your Hands
Drawing in the Air
Five Fingers in my Pocket
Grand Old Duke of York
Having a Ball With Music
I Can Play Kazoo
I Like Apples
I Like My Bath
In and Out the Window
I’ve Got a Bean Bag
Mardi Gras March
Moving with a Scarf
My Froggy
Parachute Goes Up and Down
Playing With a Bean Bag
Pretty Scarves
Shaker Eggs
Tap Your Drum
Tap Your Sticks
Who Can Pull the Stretchy Band
Wide Mouth Bullfrog
Wiggly Fingers
You Have a Nose

We have also pulled together a kit that pairs nicely with her song/activity suggestions.

The post Building Brains with Music Book appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

Size Options:

• 5-foot Play Parachute: at 60″ in diameter with eight handles, this is the perfect size for smaller groups or classes.
• 2.5-foot Play Parachute: at 30″ in diameter with four handles, this size is ideal for one-on-one sessions or small groups of 3-4 people.

The smaller and more manageable size allows you to have all of the benefits and fun of a parachute without being overstimulating. Another benefit of the smaller sizes is that you can practice and target specific skills for individuals more easily than you could with a large parachute and a large class, while still making it a fun group activity.

A few of the benefits of parachute play are:

• Gross motor skills
• Coordination and balance
• Teamwork
• Social interaction
• Listening and following directions
• Cognitive skills
• Rhythm

For some song and activity ideas to pair with the 5-foot play parachute, check out this blog post: Best Parachute Activities and Songs. 

Cleaning Your Play Parachute:

Bear Paw Creek’s parachutes can be machine-washed on a gentle cycle with cold or lukewarm water and mild detergent. Avoid using harsh chemicals like bleach or fabric softeners, as these may cause discoloration and damage over time.

Air-dry the parachute or use a low heat setting in the dryer to prevent damage; never iron. Our preferred method is air drying! Our parachutes come with a drawstring storage bag; the drawstring bag can also be machine-washed following the same instructions.

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Tuneful Teaching Music & Movement Kit

Music & Movement Kits give you everything you need for a successful learning experience in music class and at home!

Each “Tuneful Teaching Music & Movement Kit” includes a rainbow of colors ***(instrument colors may vary according to availability):

• green rhythm sticks
• orange bean bag
• yellow castanet
• red tambourine
• blue maracas (2)
• teal/purple hoop streamerOptional: high quality “stand-uppy” tote bag in a variety of colors — Made in the USA!

Choose an option:

–  Music and Movement Kit with bag (colors vary)  MSRP: $38

–  Music and Movement Kit without bag MSRP: $30

The post Tuneful Teaching Music & Movement Kit appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

These brightly colored chiffon scarves provide visual and kinesthetic reinforcement as they move through space with beautiful and flowing movement. They reinforce concepts of shape, size, colors, and space. They allow for active participation and hands on learning. Creative movement chiffon scarves allow exploration of musical phrase, melodic direction and mood. They are an open-ended tool of infinite possibility, limited only by the user.

Ideas and Inspiration for Chiffon Scarves:

• Dance to the music, using the flowing scarf movement to interpret it
• Use for costumes.
• Use for puppet show scenery.
• Use as a play surface: blue=water, white=snow, green=grass, etc.
• Dress up stuffed animal or doll.
• Learn to juggle.
• Twist to learn how to braid.
• Cover a table for a tea party.
• Write letters, numbers, and shapes in the air with the scarves.
• Name the colors of the scarves.Learn how to fold and put them away.
• For movement, especially for music with long, flowing phrases.
• To create a visual representation of a mood in non-metered poetry.
• Dance, play, smile, imagine, and enjoy the scarves and each other.

Color and size choices below for creative movement chiffon scarves.

15″ – $2.00               25″ –  $4              36″ – $7               50″ – $10

• red
• pink
• orange
• yellow
• kelly green
• lime green
• royal blue
• medium blue
• purple
• lavender
• white
• black

9 Foot Canopies – $35

• red
• royal
• white
• black
• pink
• lavender

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You know what would be amazing for Bear Paw Creek to offer? Storage baskets! For instruments and scarves! Natural baskets- with cloth liners, or made of soft rag, or crochet (crocheted? Hard to make past tense!):

Seems like ALL teachers could use something like this. I’m surrounded by plastic here. Yuck!!!

Small  – 8″ wide x 7″ tall

MSRP:  $20

Medium –  10″ wide x 8″ tall

MSRP:  $30

Large – 12″ wide x 9″ tall

MSRP:  $35

Set of 3 Baskets

MSRP:  $70

The post Yarn Baskets for Storage appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

The DiscoverDance Early Childhood Program was founded in 2017 by dance educator, Andrea Trench. The program offers studio owners and teachers conceptual based dynamic movement lesson plans, marketing materials, music playlists, and videos of class activities for ages 5 and under. Since launching, DiscoverDance can be found in dance studios in Costa Rica, Greece, Australia, Canada, and across the United States.

Hoop Ribbon Streamers in DiscoverDance colors!  You will receive a set of 6 hoop streamers with 24″ long ribbons on 4″ polycarbonate hoops in a drawstring bag.  $30

DiscoverDance Square Bean Bag Set includes 12 bean bags and a storage bag.  $28

Two of each color:  Fuchsia, Orange, Yellow, Lime Green, Turquoise, Purple

This DiscoverDance scarf set includes thirteen 24″x 24″ unhemmed chiffon scarf squares. It includes a mesh storage bag with one white teacher/leader scarf and two each of: Fuchsia, Orange, Yellow, Lime Green, Turquoise, Purple

$48

The DiscoverDance Balloon Ball is a fabric ball that has a slit in the bottom to place a 12″ balloon into it and blow it up!  These are great for packing along and also make playing with a balloon much safer.

$20

DiscoverDance Connect-a-Stretchy Band is 6 feet long. This allows for you to use this dynamic movement prop straight or buckle it together into a circle. Two of these buckled together equal one medium stretchy band.  These are also fantastic for those that facilitate different group sizes.  Two pack:  MSRP $60

Get the complete DiscoverDance and Bear Paw Creek Movement Prop Set Bundled Together.

Includes the following:

• 2 DD Connect-a-Stretchy Bands
• 12 DD Bean Bags
• DD Scarf Set of 13
• One DD Balloon Ball
• Set of 6 DD Hoop Rainbow Ribbon Streamers
• DD Conceptual Coloring Pages Pack

MSRP $160    Your Price: $130

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Our newest movement prop was inspired by the traditional May Pole used on May 1st for the May Pole Dance.  With this prop you have the ability to offer three levels of play for little ones, seated individuals, or taller for the traditional May Pole weave. The heights are 2 feet, 4 feet, and six feet.

It features three ribbons on each buckle that are 6 feet long. Twelve buckles come with a Hub 12 that can be used to offer a spinning movement or lock the hub into place for the May Pole weave or other activities.

You can also use the ribbons for dance ribbons without using the May Pole kit itself. Great for creative movement and dance!

Includes a storage bag for the May Pole parts and a bag for the ribbon dancers.

Here is a multi-generational group enjoying each other.  We practiced crossing the midline by passing the ribbons around the circle to each other and we enjoyed riding our horse with “Yankee Doodle”.

Here we had fun attempting the traditional May Pole Weave that was traditionally done on May 1st for May Day. Both our friends had fond memories of doing this when they were in grade school!

The post Everyday May Pole appeared first on Bear Paw Creek.

MacSoup CD Included  – $58      Snowball Set- $50

No snow?  Too cold to play outside?  This set of  30 snow balls will get you moving and having fun in not time.  This set is machine washable in the included drawstring bag.  You also have the option of purchasing the wonderful “Dancing Feet” CD.  This has 18 songs on it. “The Freeze” song  is the inspiration behind the indoor snowball set. So you won’t only get “The Freeze” you will have 17 more to inspire creative movement at home or in your classroom.

It will inspire you to get moving and burn off some of that extra energy we get from “cabin fever” in the winter. Pair this set with books about snow, make paper snowflakes, and have an indoor snowball fight!

It is also great fun in the middle of hot summer. A fun activity is to spray the balls with water, stick them in the freezer for awhile, and you have a fantastic sensory play activity. I would recommend doing this one outdoors! In this blog post you can be inspired with a great circle time activity.  It includes a book to read, and of course music and movement! Add in some old fashioned paper snowflake making for small motor skills. Check out the fun a few of our kids and I had!

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This music movement prop set was inspired by the release of Listen & Learn’s “Songs for Movement Props” and the songs were inspired by Bear Paw Creek’s products!  Don’t you love how connections and relationships work like that?  We all benefit from it! This package is the perfect way to start some music and movement with children, or add to your already existing program.

• Small Set for up to 6 children = 1 connect-a-stretchy band, 6 square bean bags, balloon ball, and set of 6 chiffon movement scarves
•  Medium set for up to 12 children = 2  connect-a-stretchy bands, 12 square bean bags, balloon ball, and set of 13 chiffon movement scarves
• Large set for up to 18 children = 3 connect-a-stretchy bands, 18 square bean bags, balloon ball, and set of 19 chiffon movement scarves
• XL set for up to 24 children = 4 connect-a-stretchy bands, 24 square bean bags, balloon ball, and set of 25 chiffon movement scarves
• If you have larger groups, please reach out to us and we can customize your order: info@BearPawCreek.com

The songbook is made up of 4 sections, one for each of the different movement props for which the songs were written. Refer to the description page at the beginning of each section for implementation ideas, or feel free to come up with your own!

Songs include:

• “Stretch in the Morning”
• “In a Circle”
• “‘Round the Rainbow”
• “Grow Flower Grow”
• “Movin’ in the Circle”
• “I Have a Beanbag”
• “Beanbag in My Hand”
• “Bop Bop the Balloon Ball”
• “I Have a Balloon Ball”
• “See the Scarf”
• “Colors of the Rainbow”
• “We’re Gonna Wave”

This songbook includes not only the lyrics and chords for each song, but also recordings and song directions. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to begin including these songs in your own classes and sessions!

Click here if want order the music directly from Listen & Learn.

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