Babywearing Dance Class

I attended a conference last September and one of the presentations that spoke to me most was all about not forgetting that adults are people too. I love programming for kids so much that sometimes I forget that our youngest programs (and ones I run most often) are about adults just as much as the babies. My library focuses a lot on making ourselves a welcoming environment that encourages family bonding as well as learning, so I think focusing on caregiver wants and needs combined with baby's is a fantastic way to accomplish that. This is a long way of saying that the presentation inspired me to offer a Babywearing Dance Class at the library. 

The hot video of 2016 was from GroovaRoo and I got most of my tips for adapting it to a library setting from Tales For the Tiny. Both are fantastic resources. I also found several videos, linked below, which were exercise videos designed for adults but I found them easily adaptable for holding a baby in a carrier. 

As families were settling in and getting babies strapped in, one of my coworkers (who is a huge babywearing enthusiast) brought in some of her baby carriers to demonstrate different types parents might be interested in. I think this was a nice touch because we had babies from 5 weeks to 16 months old, so there was a wide range of carrier needs. I didn't want to take up too much time at the beginning, but I added a quick spiel about the benefits of babywearing dance (having fun as an adult, connecting with your baby, connecting with other caregivers, etc).

Here's what we danced to:

1. We warmed up to Gettin' Jiggy With It, inspired by this YouTube video:

2. Then we got our arms warmed up with Baby, inspired by this video:

3. After a short break, we got silly with a Mamma Mia dance, demonstrated in this video:

4. We ended with our most difficult dance, Uptown Funk. Some moves were inspired by this video, but a lot of the moves had to be adapted for holding/carrying a baby:

5. We ended with taking everybody out of their carriers and freestyling to End of the Line:

As several videos and blogs suggested, I borrowed a baby carrier and held a large stuffed bear while I danced (since I do not have my own baby). Even though it was not as heavy as a baby, it was really helpful to remind me of what the caregivers could do/could not do while wearing their carriers. Next time I run the program I will demonstrate the moves a bit more and give the caregivers a little extra time to practice before dancing to music, but everyone still had a lot of fun. Plus, the caregivers all stayed after the program to talk and compare baby notes which is always wonderful to see. I also recommend checking out the GroovaRoo website, as they have some great safety tips as well as talking points about the benefits of babywearing dance.