Join Naomi and Nigel for an underwater adventure on a coral reef!
Let’s Move with Naomi and Nigel!
Motion in the ocean
NIGEL: Hello everyone. [NIGEL REMOVES SEAWEED FROM HIS HEAD] Oh, that’s better. Hello, everyone! We’re exploring the ocean.
NAOMI: How cool is it down here, Nigel!
NIGEL: It’s incredible, Naomi! Now make sure that you’re in a space giving all of your fellow ocean explorers plenty of room to move and copy us as we warm ourselves up down here in the deep blue sea.
[WARM-UP]
NAOMI: Ahoy, everyone. Make some wave movements like this before we go and meet some sea creatures.
NIGEL: Oh, I spy eight legs. An octopus. Jump from side to side with your tentacles moving around you.
NAOMI: That looks great. Now turn it on the spot. Keep waving your tentacles.
NIGEL: What’s that? Moving side to side? A crab side stepping this way, then side stepping the other way. Showing your pincers as you travel along.
NAOMI: Do it again: Nip, nip, nip. Oh, here comes a jellyfish. Wobble down and wobble up…down, and up!
NIGEL: Now wobble and wiggle the other way. There we go.
NAOMI: Did you see that, Nigel? It’s a piece of seaweed floating by you. Take your arms in a big circle this way and back the other way.
NIGEL: Swishing this way and that way, like the water is gently moving your arms around. Whoa, look at the size of that manta ray! Use your huge fins to push you along as if you’re gliding through the water.
NAOMI: Cruising up and down. Who’s that bobbing by? Seahorses! Rock forward and back like a seahorse bobbing amongst the waves.
NIGEL: Bob up and down, and now leap.
NAOMI: You’re nearly there. Oh, this is so much fun!
NIGEL: Look at that shape, Naomi! A star. It’s a starfish. Let’s jump like starfish. We can make that shape with our bodies, just like this. Whoo, let’s put our warm up moves together. Gliding like a manta ray, up and down. Beautiful.
NAOMI: Here’s the octopus jumping this way and that way, waving your tentacles all about in the water.
NIGEL: Next sideways like a crab. Oh, pincy pincers, you’re doing so well.
NAOMI: Now jellyfish wobble: oh, wibble, oh, wobble, oh wobbling and wibbling.
NIGEL: Ready to race through the waves like seahorses? Bob, up and down. Now leap through the waves.
NAOMI: You’re nearly there. Oh, this is so much fun.
NIGEL: Jump for joy in the shape of a starfish. Let’s go. That’s it.
NAOMI: Oh, what amazing and different creatures live down here in the sea.
NIGEL: Great work everyone. Stop and be still for a moment.
[03 41: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
[PART 1: TRAVELLING AS DIFFERENT SEA CREATURES]
NAOMI: We’re going to listen to four pieces of music. They are all very different. As you listen, think of a sea creature and try to move just like it.
NIGEL: Let’s have a go together. How does this first piece of music make you want to move?
NAOMI: Oh, it sounds funny, a bit wibbly and wobbly.
NIGEL: What sea creature does this music make you think of? Let’s see your movement ideas.
NAOMI: It could be a creature with lots and lots of tentacles, like a jellyfish.
NIGEL: Or an octopus reaching around climbing on rocks.
NAOMI: Maybe the music makes you want to scuttle from side to side like a crab or swim around like a clown-fish.
NIGEL: Ooh, a clown-fish. I wonder if they can juggle with their fins and swim at the same time.
NAOMI: Or maybe you can imagine yourself as a poisonous puffer-fish blowing up into a big round ball shape.
NIGEL: Let’s see your ideas. Use your imagination. What kind of sea creature does this music make you want to become?
NAOMI: Ready, let’s move with the music!
Ok, stop there everyone.
[05 19: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
Listen. The music is changing, ooh Ooh. This is very different. It sounds dark and mysterious. Think of a new sea creature and try and move just like them.
NIGEL: It might be an unusual sea creature that lives [SPOOKY VOICE] way down, deep, deep down at the bottom of the dark ocean.
NAOMI: How did you do that?
NIGEL: Don’t know. You could move like an ocean creature that’s on the hunt for its dinner.
NAOMI: Yeah, or maybe you could move like a sea creature that uses its arms and legs to grab its food. Ooh, this is fun. You might choose to be an enormous whale. [SEEING A WHALE] Oh, hello! Time to show us your ideas. Listen and decide what type of sea creature it makes you want to move like.
NIGEL: Ready.
NAOMI: Let’s move!
NIGEL: OK, stop there!
[06 40: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
NIGEL: Listen, the music is changing again.
NAOMI: Ooh, which sea creature does this music make you want to become?
NIGEL: How does this music make you want to move?
NAOMI: Are you a dolphin bursting through the water’s surface, riding through the waves.
NIGEL: How about a darting, speedy fish with colourful fins glinting as you flash by?
NAOMI: Oh, that looks great. Some of you might want to be seahorses bobbing through the seaweed.
NIGEL: Move using different levels swim high and low.
NAOMI: Move at different speeds fast and slow.
NIGEL: And keep changing direction too. Think about how your actions match the sea creature you’re moving like.
NAOMI: Choose any sea creature you like.
NIGEL: Ready.
NAOMI: Let’s move!
NIGEL: Lovely sea creatures, everyone. Time to stop moving and listen.
[08 00: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
Here comes another musical change.
NAOMI: Oh, this sounds slow and beautiful and calm. Try moving slowly. What ocean creature does this make you want to move like I imagine something really graceful moving through the water.
NIGEL: Perhaps a manta ray. Gently and slowly flapping your great big fins like you’re flying underwater.
NAOMI: Does it maybe make you think of a piece of seaweed floating about, being pushed around by the currents of the sea?NIGEL: I’m thinking of a wise old sea turtle taking my time looking cool.
NAOMI: Or you might become a sea snake cruising this way and that way, we’re trying to use our imagin-oceans to create sea creature movements. So try anything you like,
NIGEL: Swim high and low and keep changing direction too. Are you ready? Let’s move!
NIGEL: OK, stop there.
[09 36: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
NAOMI: Nigel, have you heard of coral?
NIGEL: Yes, coral reefs live in our oceans. They’re a living creature and home to lots of other sea creatures. When you look closely at coral reefs, you’ll see all sorts of different shapes.
[PART 2: BECOMING A CORAL REEF]
NAOMI: Yeah, our coral is pointy, spiky, bumpy and sharp. So copy us and let’s see if we can try and make some coral shapes using our bodies. Oh, you lot are great at this. Listen to the music and use all of your body, your arms and your legs to use some twisted shapes like this.
NIGEL: Don’t forget to use your fingers too. That looks really good. Well done.
NAOMI: Now some coral reefs are huge, so let’s work in pairs so that we can make our coral reef twice the size.
NIGEL: Find a partner before the bubble bursts.
[10 36: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
Oh, good work, has everyone found a partner? Great, now, with your partner, join your two spiky, bumpy, sharp coral shapes together to make one big shape,
NAOMI: See if you can create some spaces in-between you as well, so that the sea creatures can swim around and through the gaps you make. How about something like this?
NIGEL: Wow, don’t forget to use your fingers too.
NAOMI: Oh, let’s try another one. How about like this? Okay, feet up.
NIGEL: Oh, there we go, oh.
NAOMI: Or another one.
NIGEL: Oh, another coral shape. Back to back, yeah. Feet up, feet up. Yeah. There you go.
NAOMI: Any, any coral shape you like. Oh, that’s a good one too.
NIGEL: Or you can use any shape you can think of, experiment together.
NAOMI: Keep moving with the music and remember you are hard coral, so you need to hold each shape strongly, using your muscles to hold you in position.
NIGEL: Try to make your spaces as large as you can. There might be a really big sea creature on its way.
NAOMI: And listen carefully when the bubble pops. That means it’s time to change and create a new, different coral reef shape together.
NIGEL: Are you ready? Let’s move!
NAOMI: Here comes a bubble, make a new shape.
NIGEL: Remember you are hard and spiky.
NIGEL: The bubble’s about to pop again.
NAOMI: Change shape. Keep a gap between you so the fish can swim through.
NIGEL: Try another shape.
NAOMI: Last one now. Well done.
NAOMI: Well done everyone. Stop there.
[13 05: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
NAOMI: Some coral reefs are huge. Did you know, The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is so big it can be seen from space.
NIGEL: Cool. We’ve already had a lot of fun using our imagin-oceans to move in different ways in our underwater world.
NAOMI: Yep, we’ve become all sorts of different sea creatures,
NIGEL: And we’ve even transformed into stunning coral reefs.
[PART 3: CORAL REEF AND SEA CREATURES]
NAOMI: Let’s see if we can put all of our movements together. Your teacher is now going to split your class in half.
NIGEL: And then you need to stand in two long lines facing each other. You have until the bubble pops.
[13 51: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
NAOMI: Everybody ready? Are you in your two lines? Your teacher will tell you now whether your line is the hard coral reef or the sea creatures who make their home in the coral reef. Coral reef link up in your line, thinking of the shapes that you made earlier with your partner. So try and form one big, long, spiky shape with lots of spaces and gaps between you. Then stay as still as you can.
NIGEL: Sea creatures. When the music starts, go for a swim, moving through any shapes you find in the coral reef. I wonder if your teacher will be able to tell which sea creature you are.
NAOMI: Oh, and pay attention, because when the bubble bursts, you should return to your starting position and switch over.
NIGEL: Are you ready? Let’s move!
NIGEL: Sea creatures. Go back to your starting position. You’re now going to become the coral reef.
NAOMI: Coral reef, you’re going to become the sea creatures.
NIGEL: Are you ready? Let’s move!
NIGEL: The bubble has popped. Quickly return to your starting positions and swap over.
Swap again.
Swap again
NAOMI: And final swap.
Ok, stop there everyone.
[16 19: POSSIBLE PAUSE POINT]
NIGEL: Wow, your class just made a beautiful ocean coral reef. It looked amazing. We loved the way you made all sorts of shapes with your body and moved around the coral in different directions and on different levels.
NAOMI: What great teamwork you showed, making a fantastic underwater world together.
[COOL DOWN]
Let’s take ourselves to some calm, gentle water now and focus on how proud we all feel with our efforts today and our ocean adventure.
NIGEL: Imagine you’re seaweed floating in the water again, take your arms in a big circle this way and then the other way, like the water is gently moving your arms around.
NAOMI: Oh, the waters are calm. Rock back and forth. Bobbing in the waves. Rock forward and back and the other way.
NIGEL: After all that adventure, can you hear the quiet sound of the calm ocean? Take your arms out wide, breathe in and out. Let your body float.
NAOMI: I hope you enjoyed using your body movements to create an underwater world. Our oceans are precious. Talk to your teachers and friends about how we can protect them and the creatures that live in them, making them safe for many years to come.
Motion in the ocean
Join Naomi and Nigel for an underwater movement adventure on a coral reef. This dance session focuses on encouraging children to use their imagination (or ‘imagin-ocean’ as Nigel calls it) creatively to explore movement ideas that represent an underwater world. It focuses on the dance skills of moving in unison, working with partners and also responding to music appropriately through movement.
Dance session summary
Warm-up
For the warm-up the children go on an imaginary underwater adventure, becoming various marine creatures.
Part 1: Responding to a theme through expressive movement; travelling in different ways
In this section there are four contrasting pieces of music. Naomi and Nigel appear in vision for the first few seconds of each piece, sharing ideas and demonstrating possible responses to the music, ahead of guiding the children to continue.
Part 2: Working in pairs, becoming coral; then forming and holding rigid coral shapes together
Naomi and Nigel demonstrate a series of coral shape ideas, asking the children to copy and try some of their own. They then ask the children to find a partner. The children have the time it takes for an on-screen bubble to pop to ‘pair up’. They then join their coral shapes together when the music plays.
Part 3: Space exploration - balance and control
Creating an ocean environment with coral and undersea creatures; whole class performance.
Part 4: Time to go home - sequencing moves together
Cool down
The children cool down, ready to return to the school day.
Resources
Teacher Notes
Download / print the guidance for using this dance session with your group (pdf)
Transcript - Motion in the ocean
Download/print the transcript of this dance session
Related content from BBC Teach
BBC Teach has a series of three new videos on the topic 'Oceans and seas':
The oceans of the world
Life beneath the waves
The plastic problem
There is also a collection of catchy songs that children will enjoy learning about the sea, ships and seafaring:
There is also a two-session unit of our audio series Let's Move called Under the sea presented by Cat Sandion, and a three-session unit of our audio series Time to Move called Oceans presented by Pete Hillier.
Curriculum relevance
Let's Move - with Naomi and Nigel! addresses the following learning objectives from the curriculum guidance of the four UK nations:
England
National Curriculum Programmes of Study for Physical Education in Key Stage One:
Pupils should develop fundamental movement skills, become increasingly competent and confident and access a broad range of opportunities to extend their agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others.
They should be able to engage in competitive (both against self and against others) and co-operative physical activities, in a range of increasingly challenging situations.
Pupils should be taught to:
Master basic movements including running, jumping, throwing and catching, as well as developing balance, agility and co-ordination, and begin to apply these in a range of activities.
Perform dances using simple movement patterns.
Scotland
Curriculum for Excellence - Physical Education as part of the wider Health and Wellbeing section. Outcomes:
I am learning to move my body well, exploring how to manage and control it and finding out how to use and share space.
I am discovering ways that I can link actions and skills to create movement patterns and sequences. This has motivated me to practice and improve my skills to develop control and flow.
I am developing my movement skills through practice and energetic play.
I am developing skills and techniques and improving my level of performance and fitness.
I am aware of my own and others’ needs and feelings especially when taking turns and sharing resources. I recognise the need to follow rules.
I can follow and understand rules and procedures, developing my ability to achieve personal goals. I recognise and can adopt different roles in a range of practical activities.
By exploring and observing movement, I can describe what I have learned about it.
I can recognise progress and achievement by discussing my thoughts and feelings and giving and accepting feedback.
Northern Ireland
The minimum content for Physical Education at KS1 is set out below:
Teachers should provide opportunities for pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in:
Dance
Pupils should be enabled to: use different parts of the body to explore personal and general space and to move using simple actions; listen to, and move in response to, different stimuli and accompaniments; move in a controlled manner, at different speeds and in different directions, using different levels in space, (high, low), and different strengths (heavy, light); perform simple steps and movements to given rhythms and musical phrases; create, practice, remember and perform simple movement sequences; develop their movements progressively individually and in pairs.
Wales
Foundation Phase Framework. Physical Skills:
Personal
• develop coordination • develop gross motor skills • develop fine manipulative skills • develop confidence • control body movements • develop muscle tone, appropriate tension and balance • develop sensory awareness • use a range of small and large equipment and stimuli • link the basic actions in sequence and gradually improve their control and use of different shapes, levels and direction of travel.
Adventurous and Physical Play
• develop an understanding of how their bodies move • be able to move safely with increasing control and coordination • become proficient at the basic actions of travelling, including stepping, jumping and landing, transferring weight from feet to hands, balancing, rolling, turning, climbing and swinging, both on the floor and when using a range of equipment and apparatus • link the basic actions in sequence and gradually improve their control and use of different shapes, levels and direction of travel • understand, appreciate and enjoy the differences between running, walking, skipping, jumping, climbing and hopping • become knowledgeable about spatial awareness and relationships such as behind, underneath, below, over, under and on top of.
Health, fitness and safety
• recognise the effects exercise has on their bodies as they move • describe what happens to their breathing and how they look and feel after exercise • begin to understand that regular exercise improves health and fitness and that it helps body parts to work well • become aware of dangers and safety issues in their environment.
