





































Education, Language and Sociology Research 

ISSN 2690-3644 (Print) ISSN 2690-3652 (Online) 

Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 

116 
 

Original Paper 

Child Psychology in the Dance Classroom 

Yuyan Wang1 

1 Moscow State Pedagogical University, Russia 

 

Received: September 17, 2023   Accepted: October 5, 2023   Online Published: October 24, 2023 

doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n4p116        URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n4p116 

 

Abstract 

Child psychology is a discipline that studies the laws of children’s mental activities, and with the 

improvement of social standards, the application of psychology in children’s education is becoming more 

and more widespread. This paper takes children’s psychological development as a fulcrum to gain deep 

insight into children’s psychological characteristics in dance teaching. Taking children as the research 

object, it studies the specific application of psychology in the process of children’s dance teaching 

through its own teaching practice. 

Keywords 

child psychology, pre-class orientation, dance instruction 

 

1. Introduction 

Children’s dance class is mainly to cultivate children’s interest in dance learning, to cultivate children’s 

good behavior on the basis of retaining children’s nature, and to develop children’s physical dance ability. 

Teachers should choose dance learning contents suitable for children, rationally arrange the time of 

teaching modules, and effectively consider children’s psychological activities in dance courses. Teachers 

should not apply the teaching mode of professional institutions to the teaching of children’s dance, and 

they should not focus only on “teaching” and neglect the communication and interaction with children. 

A complete class is usually divided into three stages, namely, pre-course instruction, unfolding of 

teaching content and post-course summarization. 

 

2. Overview of Dance Classroom Introduction Types 

The introduction before class is the key to the whole classroom teaching, through the guidance before 

class into the teaching theme. It is good to arouse the learning interest of young children and instill the 

corresponding general knowledge of dance in young children, so that the teacher can play twice the effect 

with half the effort in the later courses. Taking 30 children and toddlers as survey subjects, it was found 

that 25% of the children and 53% of the toddlers like music introduction; 60% of the children and 30% 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr              Education, Language and Sociology Research              Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 

117 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

of the toddlers like story introduction; 5% of the children and 7% of the toddlers like review introduction; 

10% of the children and 10% of the toddlers like demonstration introduction. While most of the children 

could be attracted by the story scenario, children preferred the musical introduction and the music of 

interest created a strong desire to learn the content. 

2.1 Dance Music Introduction Method 

The music in the classroom is an indispensable background for the dance, students hear the music and 

enter the state of dance learning, quickly attract the children’s attention, and observe the classroom state 

of the students through one to two minutes of music appreciation. 

In teaching practice, try to choose the lyrics more attractive to the children’s dance music, and then ask 

the children to listen to the music with me in a large circle, to exchange what lyrics heard or feel what 

the music expresses, the children speak freely. Teachers have to do is to encourage the students to speak, 

and then the children’s words to make appropriate additions, and then play the music again, encourage 

the children to try to dance on the body, cultivate students’ creative thinking, and help teachers to 

complete the over-guidance on the development of dance teaching content before the class. Take “Little 

Snail” from the first grade textbook of Chinese folk dance as an example: I said to the students after they 

listened to the music: “Teacher heard the little snail, what did you hear?” Some said, “Teacher, what do 

you hear? Some said: “Teacher, I hear a snail carrying a small house on its back”, some said: “I hear the 

snail patting its own little belly”, and some said: “I also hear the sound of thunder and rain”. After 

listening, encourage the children to listen more carefully than the teacher, and then ask the children to 

close their eyes and think about what it would be like if they were a little snail. Think about whether a 

snail is afraid of the sound of thunder. What should a snail do when it rains? Then with the thinking just 

now, please listen to the music again, self-expression, and finally into the teaching of the dance 

combination. 

2.2 Dance Storyline Introduction Method 

The most effective way to get children to quiet down and quickly focus their attention on the teacher is 

to tell a story. 

The story introduction method can pave the way for students’ participation in teaching, but it must be 

related to the content of dance teaching. Teachers should pay attention to analyzing the content of the 

teaching materials, determining whether the materials are suitable for pre-class guidance by storytelling, 

and focusing on communication with students in the process of storytelling. The telling of dance content 

should not only create a reasonable situation, but also be entertaining. 

The same toddler dance course combination “ants fall into the river” as an example: “there is a lovely 

little ant in the lake to play alone, but accidentally fell into the river, the little ant and afraid, and sad, it 

is more eager to be safe to board the shore ah, when the children guess what the little ant saw? (triggered 

the children’s thinking, actively speaking) it saw a small leaf floating on the lake, the little ant hurriedly 

swam over to sit on the small leaf floating back to the shore.” Teachers should be patient with children’s 

questions and give them time to digest and understand the story. 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr              Education, Language and Sociology Research              Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 

118 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

2.3 Dance Content Review Introduction Method 

The content of the dance course is linked section by section, teachers will assign corresponding dance 

homework after class, then teachers should check last week’s homework before the second class, which 

can make students and parents pay attention to the dance class, and do more practice in the classroom, 

and uninterrupted dance training can make the students have a greater improvement in physical fitness 

and dance skills, and can also make teachers put the dance class into the hands of students and parents. 

It also enables teachers to put dance lessons into the hands of students and parents. 

This will not only make the students and parents pay attention to the dance class and do more practice in 

class, but also make the teacher carry out the course content more smoothly. Before teaching a new lesson, 

the teacher should connect what the students have learned with the textbook content, so that they can 

learn from the past and make what they have learned more solid and lay a foundation for the new content. 

2.4 Dance Movement Demonstration Introduction Method 

The demonstration introduction method is very direct and more suitable for children. In the classroom, 

the teacher can act as an audience in front of the students, directly conveying to the students the teaching 

objectives and content of the lesson, so that the students are clear about what needs to be mastered in this 

lesson, and then demonstrating for the students in the background of music. In the process of 

demonstration, the teacher’s performance should be full of children’s interest and resonate with the 

students. 

 

3. Development of Dance Teaching Content 

The development of curriculum content is the core of the whole classroom teaching, which requires 

teachers to teach and students to learn, and finally complete the teaching goals together. Children’s dance 

courses include basic skills training, dance combination, game teaching and other contents. 

3.1 Basic Skills 

Basic skills are the foundation of all dances, including flexibility and control. Children’s bones are highly 

plastic, and solving the most basic soft openness is one thing. Secondly, dance itself is transformed into 

beauty only through sweat and tears, so that children can feel the joy of “I insist, I gain”. Finally, children 

who practice the basic skills of suffering will be mentally strong later. However, the premise of all training 

is that the method should be scientific, correct and measured. Often children who are physically willing 

to suffer will be more willing to put into action than other children, and those who can be willing to 

persevere will be stronger inside than other children. Encouragement should be given as long as the 

student persists, and the student will give more because of his or her progress, and this will form a good 

cycle. When practicing the basic skills, it is best for the teacher to do the demonstration while explaining 

the preparatory movements, the course of the movements and the details of the final completion of the 

basic skills. It is also possible to let the children do the demonstration while the teacher explains in words 

and guides the children with his hands to pay attention to the movement status of each part of the body 

when doing a certain basic skill, emphasizes the correctness of the basic skill movements, and then walks 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr              Education, Language and Sociology Research              Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 

119 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

to each of the children, instructs and reviews them one by one, and reminds them repeatedly. In addition, 

individual differences should be taken into account when practicing, and teaching should be tailored to 

the needs of the children. 

3.2 Dance Ensembles 

The learning of dance combination is the main content of this course. Teachers should choose the music 

and dance combinations that young children are interested in for training, such as rhythm training, 

imitation training, performance training and so on. Young children’s attention is easily distracted. 

Teachers should use language to attract students’ attention during the teaching process, enter the group 

after explaining the demonstration movements, and instruct students one by one. Through the students’ 

“POSE” movements, let the students feel that the teacher cares about them, and form a kind of 

psychological and emotional communication. 

3.3 Game Teaching 

Game teaching simply means playing with children, guiding them into a state of relaxation and playing 

a role in adjusting their state. Children in the game activities in the exercise of the body, in fact, is in the 

excavation of their various abilities, so the children’s dance classroom games can choose rhythmic games, 

imitation games, coordination games, double or multiple cooperation games, etc., in the process not only 

exercise the ability of the students to learn the basic skills of dance but also bring the teachers and students 

closer to each other’s emotional distance. 

 

4. Dance Class Summary 

After class summary is the feedback of the whole class, it is the summary, review and reinforcement of 

the teacher’s teaching content, and it is the summary of classroom teaching. The objects of children’s 

dance classroom summarization are students, parents and teachers themselves. Students are the objects 

of dance teaching, teachers comb through what they have learned with children before class to deepen 

their impression and use the time of summarizing after class to communicate with children again in 

psychological language; parents are the supervisors and reflectors of dance teaching, parents can 

supervise the children’s dance practice under the classroom, and they can also communicate with the 

teachers in time; teachers are the executors of dance teaching, teachers can summarize the progress, 

content and reinforcement of the teaching through the after class. Teachers are the executors of dance 

teaching, and teachers can reflect on the progress, content and effect of teaching through summarizing 

after class, and moderately adjust the specific teaching program when necessary. 

4.1 Teachers Can Quickly Refine the Essence of Classroom Content and Deepen Students’ Learning 

Impression through Oral Explanation and Demonstration 

Teachers can comment on students’ classroom performance and learning accordingly, encouraging 

children with good expressions, those who do exercises after class, those with good classroom discipline, 

those who have made progress in basic skills, those who remember movements well, and those who are 

expressive in dance, and explaining the teacher’s expectations and giving certain rewards to other 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr              Education, Language and Sociology Research              Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 

120 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

children who do not receive praise. Children like activities that are performative or competitive, so 

teachers can set aside about ten minutes in each lesson’s vignette to re-enforce new content learned in 

class. For example, divide the students into two groups, one group of students to perform, the other group 

of students as a small audience, after the performance, one by one says that the children in the performing 

group danced well and can dance better, and then the two groups swap. Or invite parents to come into 

the classroom to enjoy the children’s performance. When summarizing after class, it is recommended to 

use cell phones to record the performance combinations, I believe that the students will be more engaged 

in the performance, and the parents can also supervise the children’s practice in the classroom through 

the video. Want children’s dance ability to improve fast, Teachers need to both motivate and inspire 

students to learn, but also to raise the importance of parents, after-class summary is a good opportunity. 

4.2 Assign Homework 

For the Chinese education model, homework is the most direct means to consolidate the classroom. The 

content of homework includes two parts: one is the dance part of the homework, requiring a fixed time 

every day to practice the basic skills and review the dance combinations; the other is the aspects of life: 

such as washing their own cups of water, organizing their own schoolbags and so on. Cultivating a sense 

of responsibility in children from an early age is first of all a sense of responsibility for oneself, followed 

by a sense of responsibility for those around them. Dance educators should nurture people before teaching 

dance. 

4.3 Creative Content 

At the end of each class, I tell the children a little knowledge of etiquette, the most common being greeting 

etiquette and table manners. Dance is an elegant art. While educators and students learn and improve 

their professional knowledge, they also need to improve their own quality and promote the overall 

development of human beings. 

Teachers should believe in their students and respect them. The experiments of the American 

psychologist Rosenthal show that if teachers have love and patience for their students, then the students 

will also study hard and be active according to the teachers’ wishes. The ideal teacher-student relationship 

is not a simple teaching-learning relationship, but a peaceful coexistence relationship that is human-

centered and promotes the development of both personalities. Teachers can only become children’s 

teachers if they treat themselves as children as well. 

 

5. Conclusion 

The popularity of children’s dance makes the teaching of children’s dance more and more demanding. 

More and more children are learning dance, and there are numerous dance-related training centers, and 

there is no shortage of professional dance teachers. Under such fierce competition, parents and training 

organizations have higher and higher requirements for teachers. Teachers’ comprehensive ability is not 

only shown in the professional theory, but also in their own quality. Only when the teachers’ teaching 

ability is improved, the quality of the dance classroom can be improved. 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr              Education, Language and Sociology Research              Vol. 4, No. 4, 2023 

121 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

In ordinary teaching, teachers just let students unilaterally accept the classroom content. Using child 

psychology in the dance classroom, firstly, we should improve the relationship between teachers and 

students, and then “teach by example”, which can make teachers get a better learning experience in 

“teaching” and “learning”. This can make the teacher’s “teaching” and “learning” to get better learning 

benefits, improve the emotional exchange between teachers and students, can make the children have 

more interest in dance and curiosity, and the dance classroom will progress very smoothly, and its greatest 

value is to improve the efficiency of dance teaching, so that the effect of teaching and learning is more 

significant. 

The use of psychology in children’s dance teaching can implement differentiated education in a collective 

learning environment, targeting, cultivating children’s personal self-control and patience, letting them 

understand that life is a persistent process just like learning dance, and cultivating children’s spirit of 

hard work and perseverance from childhood. At the same time, it can also cultivate children’s good 

behavior, perseverance and fortitude. Child psychology education is an important way to cultivate 

children’s good behavior, perseverance, desire to explore new things and collective learning ability. 

Therefore, child psychology not only plays a great role in the effectiveness of dance teaching, but also 

allows children to develop their abilities in various aspects through dance learning. 

 

References 

Fan, J. Z., & Gao, H. X. (2010). Microgram Teaching Tutorial. Beijing Normal University Press.  

Liu, H. L. (2008). Science and Education Wenhui. Talking about interest cultivation in children’s dance 

teaching.  

Lv, Y. S. (2000, April). Dance Pedagogy. Shanghai Music Press.  

Wang, X. L. (2012). An Introduction to the Influence of Dance on Children’s Thinking. Academy.  


