Using fun songs in your baby ballet classes can actually work in your favor as a teacher! Working with two-year old dancers requires a strategic mix of entertainment and education, all while keeping the class constantly flowing. Any downtime in between exercises can quickly lead to kids roaming off, playing with their dot, or distracting other dancers.
My advice is to make a bell-to-bell playlist for your class that switches between ballet exercises and fun songs. Here is what I do:
- Make a playlist that is about the same duration of the class to ensure you can fill the entire time
- Start by adding typical ballet exercises (refer to my baby ballet syllabus and lesson plan for ideas)
- Add songs that are fun/educational
- Example: A song with different animal noises, have the kids try to dance like the animal
- See more songs below!
- Shuffle the playlist so there is 1 fun song/activity after every 2-3 dances exercises
The playlist I made for my 30 minute baby ballet classes:
Music is a huge asset to learning for this age. Learning colors, animals, shapes, are all typically supported by an accompanying song, so why not do that with ballet moves? I found several preschool-focused artists on Spotify who create albums specifically for baby ballet center-floor activities. The artists sing the names of the moves and different instructions throughout the song. By the end of the year, the students actually know a little bit of terminology through this. Also important to remember that the kids will always be more excited to do the moves when there is a fun song to dance to!
For example, I use the first song for tendus and piques, and the second song for plies and trying passes.
If my class is feeling extra hyper, I use the “Party Freeze Song”, it has the kids jump, skip, clap, turn, and freeze to the beat of the song. It works great for getting out the “sillies,” as I casually call them in my class, and kids can focus much better after!
The “Goldfish” song is a really cute story-telling and movement-based song that has dancers “swim around” like fish and do different poses and movements. It is also great practice for getting kids to quickly run back to their dots, as the song tells them to quickly “swim back to their rock,” and it actually works really well. Its great for a warmup to get students listening, moving, and prepared to learn.
Another great warmup song is this Jungle track, which has lyrics that tells the young dancers to do movements based on different animals in the jungle. Kids enjoy the different animal noises and being creative with the movement. It’s also a good option if you don’t want them running around a ton like the previous two songs.
(Post Updated August 2026)
