A dance lesson slow enough to join in with
Children's videos are fast. They have to be — they are trying to hold attention, not hand it back. So a toddler watches, loves it, grooves along, and never gets a turn. This is the other thing: Claude does one easy move, says one easy word, and then stops dead and waits for your child to say it back. Eight moves, the same eight every time, with a freeze dance in the middle.
Everything happens in your browser. Nothing your child says or does is recorded, listened to or sent anywhere.
How a session goes
Five minutes, and the hardest part is step three.
Stand up somewhere with a bit of space
Put the screen where your child can see it and still move — a table or a shelf works better than a lap. You are dancing too; that is not optional, it is most of how this works.
Press start and let Claude go first
Claude does one move and says one word. Nothing is asked of your child yet — watching is allowed and is usually what happens the first few times.
Wait through the quiet bit
After each word everything goes quiet and Claude puts a hand to his ear. Do not fill the silence. This gap is the entire point of the page, and it can take a week of goes before anything comes back.
Say it with them, then celebrate
Claude repeats the word every other beat so you can say it together. Tap the screen when your child has a go — that sets off the confetti and a cheer.
Freeze!
Every so often the music stops dead and everything on screen turns to ice. Stop with it. Getting ready to stop is more fun for a toddler than stopping, and it is the bit they will ask for again.
The eight moves
In this order, every time. Each one is a thing your child already does on their own, paired with a word they can already nearly say — that pairing is the whole trick. Learn them once and you can do the lot without the screen.
Up!
Both arms straight up in the air.
"Up" is one of the first words nearly every child says, and arms in the air is the easiest thing in the world to copy.
Down!
Flop down small, hands on the floor.
The opposite of the one before. Up and down go together, so they get learned together.
Boom!
One big stamp with one foot.
The word, the foot and the drum all land at the same moment — which is the whole feeling of being on the beat.
Pat pat!
Pat your knees, twice.
The first two-syllable word here, and the friendly kind: the same little sound twice.
Ta-ka!
Two claps, one on each bit.
"Ta" and "ka" are drum sounds — you can say them as easily as you can clap them. Two different sounds in a row, one clap each.
Tick tock!
Wobble side to side like a clock.
Two sounds that differ only in the middle. Swaying gives a wriggly child somewhere to put the waiting.
Hop!
Jump with both feet.
The busiest one for the legs and the easiest one for the mouth — on purpose.
Wheee!
Turn all the way around.
A long happy vowel with no hard sounds at all. Anyone who can make a noise can join in, which is why it goes last.
Questions parents ask
Why is it so much slower than cartoons?
Because speed is the problem. Most children's songs run at 120 beats a minute or faster and never stop, so there is physically nowhere for a small child to join in — they can only watch. This runs at 72 by default, roughly a toddler's own walking pace, and it stops completely after every word. You can make it slower or a little bouncier with the tempo buttons.
What is the silence after each word for?
It is an invitation. A child needs a few seconds of quiet to gather up a word and get it out, and an adult or a video that keeps talking takes that time away. Claude says the word once, then stands still with a hand to his ear and says nothing at all for four beats. If your child needs longer, the "Longer wait" button doubles it.
My child just watches and does not say anything. Is it working?
Yes. Watching comes first, then moving, then sounds, then words — often weeks apart. A child who stomps on "Boom" without saying it has understood the word perfectly, and saying it usually follows. Nothing here keeps score, so there is no way to be behind.
Does it listen to my child through the microphone?
No. There is no microphone access, no recording and no speech recognition anywhere on this site, and there never will be. When your child has a go, you tap the screen and the confetti goes off — a grown-up in the room is a far better judge than any software, and nothing about your child leaves your device.
What are the moves?
Eight, in the same order every time: Up, Down, Boom, Pat pat, Ta-ka, Tick tock, Hop and Wheee. They are all things a toddler already does on their own — arms up, flop down, stamp, clap, wobble, jump, turn around. There is nothing to get right and nothing to correct.
How does the freeze dance work?
Every fourth move there is a freeze round. Claude dances for eight beats, then the drum cuts out, the colour drains from the screen and he turns to stone for four beats before starting again. Nobody has to explain the rule — everything stops at once, so stopping too is the obvious thing to do.
Do we need speakers on?
Yes, ideally. Claude speaks each word aloud using the voice already built into your device, and there is a soft drum keeping time. Both can be switched off separately with the buttons in the top left if you need a quiet version — the words still appear on screen, split into their syllables.
How long does the whole thing take?
About five to six minutes for the full lesson at the default tempo, ending with the whole dance run through in one go. Stop whenever you like — the Again button starts it over. "Just freeze dance" skips the teaching entirely and is closer to three minutes of pure dancing.