Dance Pad for the Holidays!

Do your kids enjoy watching the holiday musical movies and shows?  

This is a holiday version of the first craft I made to get my kids more involved in their favorite musical shows and songs.  These dance pads can help make screen time active time. Use them to encourage your children to get moving!

This craft is very simple to make, needs minimal supplies, and the little ones love it!

Even with isolation, you can still celebrate the holidays together! Host a virtual holiday party this year and send the link to each of your guests so they can print out their own!  

If you’d like a printable Build Your Own Dance Routine kit, to match the turkey’s feathers, look at our Original Nursery Rhyme Dance Pad.  The Build Your Own Dance Routine portion of the printable is a great way to get your kids to work on their memory skills, creativity, and color matching. For more information on all the benefits for dancing and using a routine, look at this post. 

Supplies

Disclaimer: I am not yet affiliated with any programs. The links below are purely examples of helpful tools. 

• Print out the free template. (BOTTOM OF THE PAGE) The template comes with the following pages:
  • 6 pages make up the Turkey Center of the dance pad.
  • 8 feathers surround the center.

  • The Dance Pad measures 40inches across to make sure your little ones have plenty of room to dance! 

• This craft needs a large piece of corrugated cardboard, such as from a large moving box.
• You’ll also need glue. PVA or school glue is said to be the most effective for cardboard. If you have children who need instant gratification and they need it right now, hot glue will work too and it will set a little faster.
• Another way to get the cardboard to stick is duct tape. Not as pretty but it works.
• Even if you don’t stick this craft together with tape, I definitely recommend using tape to secure the cardboard to the ground when it’s time to dance. Nothing is worse than watching a toddler dance on cardboard and having it take their feet out from under them!I use painters tape on our laminate wood floor, it’s easy to remove and doesn’t leave any adhesive behind. If you want to make this fancier, you can use these no-slip pads. These are also great for the dinosaur head crafts.
• If you want to get really fancy with this craft, you can add these little squeakers under each step. It’s a great effect to have them make noise!

   

Step-By-Step Assembly

Coming soon: the step-by-step YouTube video.

Feather Assembly

The images below show examples of how to put your Free Printable Turkey Dance Pad together.  The feathers will need to be assembled first. The Turkey Center will then be pasted over the ends of the feathers to ensure a smooth look.

• Cut out the feathers. Layout your cardboard. This can be a project board or moving boxes, any corrugated cardboard works!
• From left to right place the feathers on the cardboard. Feathers 1 and 2 are the end feathers. You can switch up the feathers however you want!
• Connect the feathers by the tips of the brown tops to make a classic turkey feather pattern. Don’t worry about the base of the feathers lining up, the extra edges of the bases will be covered by the center.
• Glue in place.

Center Assembly

• Cut out the shapes. I recommend laying the numbering of the Center pages with the cut out pieces to ensure there is no confusion when completing the template.
• Pages 9, 10, and 11 make the top half of the center. Pages 12, 13, and 14 make the lower half of the Center.
• From left to right, connect page 9 of the Center to page 10 of the Center.
• Connect page 11 to the right side of page 10.
• Connect page 12 to the bottom of page 9.
• Connect page 13 to the bottom of page 10.
• Connect page 14 to the bottom of page 11.

• Lay out the feathers to surround the Center.  The feathers will not go all the way around the Center, there will be about an inch and a half of the base of the Center on either side.
• Using white or hot glue, paste the Center over the ends of the petals to give it a smooth finish.
• OPTIONAL STEP: If you are using the  squeakers, you will need to create a space for them to inflate so they will make noise. You will need a second piece of cardboard to back the first piece. Glue the squeakers to the back of the first piece of cardboard behind each petal. Now, around the edges, glue the two pieces of cardboard together so that the squeakers are sandwiched in between. (Warning, it might drive your dogs nuts!) 

That’s it! You have a Do-Re-Mi dance pad for screen time!

Please secure the pad to the floor so your child doesn’t slip!

Here’s Your Free Printable Turkey Dance Pad!