Get Your Groove On at the Library!

You’re never too little to start dancing! Did you know that dancing is great for your child’s early learning and development? Music and dance engage little brains, cultivate communication skills, and spark creativity and imagination. Exploring dance lets your child learn self-expression and self-confidence, while also improving physical skills like balance and coordination. Plano Public Library offers music and movement programs for little learners.

Dance Party (Ages 2 to 5 Years)

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Books 

Want to enjoy some dancing and rhythm at home? Check out these titles from the library’s collection: 

Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayers Print 

A garden produces a variety of edible plants, such as corn that grows up, onions that grow down, and tomato vines that twine all around. Peppers grow up. Potatoes grow down. Pumpkins vine around and around. From seeds dropping into soil to corn bursting from its stalks, from children chasing butterflies to ants burrowing underground, everything in this vibrant picture book pulses with life — in all directions! Sprightly illustrations set the mood for a rhythmic text that follows nature’s course to a final feast of backyard bounty. 

Giant Dance Party by Betsy Bird Print 

Six-year-old Lexy Tanz loves dancing so much that she wants to share her skills with others, and when she is becoming discouraged because no one wants lessons from a girl so small, a herd of hairy giants arrives to test her teaching ability. 

How Do You Wokka-Wokka? by Elizabeth Bluemle Print 

A young boy who likes to “wokka-wokka, shimmy-shake, and shocka-shocka” gathers his neighbors together for a surprise celebration. 

Dancing Feet! by Lindsey Craig Print | eBook 

Easy-to-read, rhyming text depicts different animals dancing. 

Wiggle by Doreen Cronin Print 

Rhyming text describes the many ways to wiggle. 

Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojanles, Think of That! by Leo Dillon Print 

In illustrations and rhyme describes the dancing of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, one of the most famous tap dancers of all time. 

Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming Print 

Illustrations and rhyming text reveal the great variety of beetles and their swirling, humming, crashing activities. 

Brontorina by James Howe Print 

Despite her size and not having the proper footwear, a determined dinosaur pursues her dream of becoming a ballerina. 

Bea at Ballet by Rachel Isadora Print 

Bea and her friends have fun attending a toddler ballet class. 

Duck Sock-Hop by Jane Kohuth Print 

Ducks dance their socks off at their weekly sock-hop. 

Chicken, Chicken, Duck! by Nadia Krilanovich Print 

Easy-to-read, rhythmic text about a group of farm animals, led by a tenacious duck, who play a noisy game together. 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Print | Board Book | eBook | Spanish | DVD 

An alphabet rhyme/chant that relates what happens when the whole alphabet tries to climb a coconut tree. 

Let’s Dance, Grandma by Nigel McMullan Print 

More than anything, Lucy loves to dance. But her mother warns her not to try to dance when her grandma comes to visit, because grandmas simply do not dance. Together Lucy and her grandma play ball, hide-and-seek, cards, and even dress up. But what Lucy wants more than anything is to dance one dance with her grandma. Will she get her wish? 

Down by the Cool of the Pool by Tony Mitton Print 

Frog and the other animals have a dancing good time both in and out of the water in the cool of the pool. 

Bee-Bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park Print 

A child, eager for a favorite meal, helps with the shopping, food preparation, and table setting. 

Deer Dancer by Mary Lyn Ray Print 

A child who is in a woodland clearing to practice dancing spies a deer and observes how it leaps and turns. 

I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofiled-Morrison Print | eBook 

On a trip to the park with her mother, a young girl hears a rhythm coming from the world around her and begins to move to the beat, finally beginning an impromptu dance in which other children join her. 

Dance with Me by Charles R. Smith, Jr. Print 

A boy uses his whole body as he dances to the beat. 

Tanka Tanka Skunk by Steve Webb Print 

Uses animal names to introduce rhythmic language and rhyme, as Tanka the elephant and his friend Skunk play drums to keep the beat. 

Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson Print 

Hilda Hippo tries other, quieter, activities when her jungle friends are disturbed by her dancing, but nothing else makes her happy until Water Buffalo suggests swimming and she finds a new way to express herself.