*This post contains affiliate links. Updated April 2023 Most young girls love to dance. They are not self-conscious about how they look the way many adults are and it is such a fun from of self-expression. There are probably many girls in your troop who take dance lessons as one of their extra-curricular activities. To earn the Dancer Badge, you can take a field trip to a dance studio for a free class. Another way to earn it is to have an older girl who has been taking dance for many years come and do this Try It for you. The third way to earn this badge is to lead it yourself. Be sure to email the parents and let them know for their daughters to dress comfortably for the meeting, as they will be moving a lot! Sneakers and leggings or sweatpants would be most appropriate. If the girls have dance clothes they want to wear. let them! This Try It is very similar to the old Junior Dance badge that my troop earned a few years ago. It was one of the most fun meetings we have ever had! Step 1 Warm Up No matter what physical activity you are going to do, it is important to warm up for 5-10 minutes to get the body ready. Deep breathing, gentle stretching and slow movements are all a part of the warm up. This is also a good place for the girls to get out their giggles. Step 2 Try a New Dance There are so many wonderful and easy dances to do! When I did the Junior dance badge, I taught my girls how to do the Alley Cat. I downloaded the song to my phone and had a speaker so we could learn it. It is also an old school dance that none of them had ever tried before and it was easy for them to do. Other dances you can teach the girls are: The Electric Slide The Twist The Charleston The Cotton Eyed Joe The Macarena You can even try teaching an international dance like: The Irish Jig The Mexican Hat Dance The Hora I did these with my troop and found videos on YouTube to help me learn the steps. This album has songs that you can download individually to your phone or iPad and play for the girls as they earn this badge. Step 3 Make Up a Dance A dance can tell a story. You will divide the girls into groups and they will have about 15 minutes to create a simple dance that will tell a tale. If the girls cannot think of anything, have some backup ideas like: Cleaning your room Going on a roller coaster The first day of school Having to move to a new school Another option for making up a dance is to give each group a bag of props, and they have to incorporate the props into the dance! Lots of room for imagination! Step 4 Teach Your Dance Each group gets to show their dance one time and then have the others follow their lead. Be sure that every group takes a turn. Another way to do this is have the girls perform their dance and the other girls have to guess what the story is about. Step 5 Calm Breathing Learning how to control your breath helps calm frazzled nerves. If a child is nervous about performing in her group dance, then you might want to do this step before step 4. Here is a helpful video.