Vegetable Tango

I use this as a start to learning vegetables. I hang picture cards on the board (or in small groups with no board lay them on the floor) in the following pattern:

Potatoes	Onions
Carrots	Cucumbers
Red and Green Peppers	Tomatoes

Beginning with potatoes, at each word I ask if anyone knows what it is in English. I have the kids standing and introduce motions for each word. After the addition of a new word, I go back to potatoes and do the entire sequence.

Potatoes:

Hands into fists circle around each other once while saying “potatoes”, then right fist up (elbow bent). Kids copy. Then this motion followed by one where the left fist goes up. Kids copy. Then these two, followed by three circles, saying “potatoes” each time, then both fists up.

Onions:

Deep knee bend saying “on…” then jump in the air saying “..ions”. Kids copy. Same movement twice.

Carrots:

Hands at sides “Car-“ Hands clap overhead “-rots”. Four times in a row.

Cucumbers:

Left hand on nose (like holding it shut but not really) , right hand in the air. Sink toward the ground swaying and bending knees. (think 60’s swim dance) saying “cuuuuucumber”. Same movement twice.

Red and Green Peppers:

“Red”-right hand out, palm up, elbow bent. “and”. “Green”-left hand out, palm up, elbow bent (right hand has remained up). “Peppers”- clap hands. Same sequence twice.

Tomatoes.

“To-“ stamp right foot. “Ma-“ cross left leg in front of right. “-Toes” uncross right leg and stamp, then clap hands. Do the same motions in the opposite direction. Repeat sequence. (So you have said “Tomatoes” four times).

Once the kids have the sequence, I tell them it is a tango and we can put it to music. Any tango will do. I have been using this instrumental tango.

Tango Instrumental – YouTube

This video is a second-grade class. I usually fade out after the second time, as you can see that they start to lose focus.