Wriggle, Creep, Crawl, Walk (“Playlist” III)

Come sing and move with me Saturday March 24 in Newton, MA, at the Children's Music Network New England Gathering! We'll explore reflex integration through children's songs. Bring your questions!

This is a sequel to the previous post, So I Left The Playlist . . . which is a sequel to When To Leave The Playlist, posted Feb. 4, 2012).

In my last post, we explored a song/movement game that can be used when the children get wiggly. In this post, we’ll explore ways to turn the I Am A Lizard songfrom Rappin’ on the Reflexes into an evolutionary sequence - from earliest spinal movements, to belly crawling, to load-bearing locomotion on hands and knees . . . and, if we like, to walking on two feet!

In So I Left The Playlist, we explored how to evolve from a lizard into a turtle. But sometimes, your students will show you that they are not ready to be turtles. They don’t seem to have the muscle tone even to get up of their bellies, or their crawling is disorganized and direction-less.

When this happens, you may need to roll back the developmental clock by changing the animal. My lizard crawl is contra-lateral. It’s a diagonal belly crawl, where right arm pulls and left leg pushes, and vice versa.

            I am a lizard, crawling on my belly . . .

But my “worm crawl” is homolateral – one-sided. Right arm pulls, right leg pushes, and vice versa.

I am a worm, crawling on my belly . . .

It is interesting – sometimes kids can do “lizard” but not “worm,” even though, developmentally, one-sided locomotion precedes the contra-lateral diagonal crawl and walk patterns. This can happen for different reasons – but usually, there is some form of “help” from a prop, or an adult person, that has made it possible to fast-track, or even skip, the homolateral stage of locomotion.

Skipping developmental steps can create repercussions. Kids who walk too soon usually learn to use momentum to balance themselves, so they often don’t develop the necessary muscle strength on each side. You see this when kids seem to walk, or even ride a two-wheeler perfectly well, but can’t stand on one leg for very long at all.

So, it’s not a good idea to teach kids to walk by pushing little carts and other things with wheels. It’s best to start them in this old fashioned, homolateral, way: The not-quite-toddler holds on to a couch or a low table, and puts weight on one foot – and stops. Step – stop. All the way along the length, and then, again, in the other direction. This promotes homolateral stability and balance. This way, when the child begins to walk without support, falling down happens much less often.

Sometimes, even worms are too far advanced on the developmental spectrum. So we can go back a step, to homologous movement. This is an up-down, symmetrical orientation, when both arms pull, and both legs push simultaneously.

I am a caterpillar, crawling on my belly . . .

We can go back one step further still – to spinal movements, undifferentiated wriggling. Sometimes, kids just have the wiggles and they need to wiggle them out!

I am a jellyfish, wriggling all over . . .

Below are the lyrics to I Am A Lizard, Extended Version. When you teach it, modeling the movements is essential – few children will be able to follow the verbal cues. (You do show them which sides to do from a standing position, if you don’t want to belly crawl yourself!)

You can do a little hands-on encouragement to show them which arms and legs to use, by just touching the shoulder and hip they need to move. Often, that tactile information is what makes the new coordination possible. But as always, don’t push too hard to get the “right” movement. If the kids aren’t ready to be lizards, just stick with worms until they are! After a while, the children will associate the different animals with the different kinds of movements.

 I Am A Lizard, Extended Version

1. Spinal           

“Belly wiggle!”

I am a jellyfish, wriggling all over,

Wriggling, wriggling, wriggling, wriggling, wriggling all over.

Stick my tongue out, eat some plankton!

Stick my tongue out, eat some plankton!

2.Homologous

“Belly crawl, both arms at the same time!”

I am a caterpillar, crawling on my belly,

Crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling on my belly.

Stick my tongue out, eat some leaves! (2X)

3. Homolateral

“Belly crawl, same side!”

I am a worm, crawling on my belly,

Crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling on my belly.

Stick my tongue out, eat some dirt! (2X)

4. Contralateral

“Belly crawl, diagonal!”

I am a lizard, crawling on my belly,

Crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling on my belly.

Stick my tongue out, catch a fly! (2X)

5. Homologous/ Load-Bearing

“Rock back and forth!”

I am a turtle, rocking on my body,

Rocking, rocking, rocking, rocking, rocking on my body.

(Stick out tongue) Stick my tongue out, eat some plants! (2X)

“Crawl hands and knees!”

6. Contralateral/Locomotor           

I am a turtle, crawling to the water,

Crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling to the water.

SPLASH!

This song can also be a great transition to a standing position! If you want to use it for that, don’t splash. Just, “Stick my tongue out, eat some plants!” twice more.Then, get up on your feet!

7. Contralateral/Bipedal           

“Stand up and walk!”

I am a person, walking on my two feet,

Walking, walking, walking, walking, walking on my two feet.

Wave my hand and say, “Hello!” (2X)

Note: The tune to “I Am A Lizard” is on the Rappin’ on the Reflexes CD. The words to “I am a lizard” begin with the classic “Na na na  boo boo” tune:

Sol mi, la sol mi, Sol sol mi, la sol mi

And continue on with:

(High) Do do la la sol sol fa fa mi do re ti do- do-.

Do re mi mi, re re do--- (2X).