The Dinosaur Stomp™
A 2-minute, no-materials movement break. Loud, fast, and ends in a freeze. Use it in your classroom, your library, your kitchen, your circle, your therapy room, your living room. It's the activity tucked inside the book — and it's free for anyone who works with kids.
CLAWS! TAIL! STOMP! ROAR!
Lead it in 2 minutes flat.
Set three rules
Feet stay rooted. When the leader freezes, everybody freezes. We go faster together. (10 seconds.)
CLAWS!
Hands up like dinosaur claws. Grr at the air.
TAIL!
Hips swing left and right behind you, like a swishing tail.
STOMP!
Big stomps in place. Heavy feet. (This is the proprioceptive piece OTs love.)
ROAR!
One big, joyful roar. Or a quiet one for indoor voices. The choice is yours.
Repeat — louder & faster
Two or three more rounds. Build the energy.
FREEZE!
Hold for 5–10 seconds. This is the most important part. Stillness becomes a choice the kid just made.
Move into the quiet thing
Storytime. The test. Bedtime. The dinner table. The freeze hands you a calmer room.
Every body can do this dance.
The dance moves are a starting point, not a requirement. The book intentionally shows kids with mobility devices joining in. Make the moves fit the bodies in your room.
- Wheelchair users: claws and tail are the same; "stomp" can be a foot tap, a hand drum on lap, or a chair rock; ROAR as written.
- Kids who don't like loud: swap ROAR for an indoor-voice "rrrr", or a silent open-mouth roar.
- Tiny spaces: seated version — finger-claws, shoulder-tail, foot-stomps, mouth-roar.
- Sensory-sensitive learners: warn ahead, dim lights, slow the tempo, emphasize the freeze.
- One-on-one: use it as a body-scan tool — what does your body feel like before? after? what changed?
The science (in plain English).
The Dinosaur Stomp pairs proprioceptive input (heavy work — stomping, big body movement) with vestibular activation and a deliberate down-regulation (the freeze). It's the same arc OTs use, the same arc Polyvagal-informed practitioners describe, and the same arc any good preschool teacher already knows by feel.
Activation
Big movement gives the body what it's been asking for. Wiggle gets a destination.
Regulation
The structured freeze invites the nervous system to choose stillness — a felt experience kids can recall later.
Co-regulation
An adult leading the rhythm settles the room. Kids learn the pattern from a body they trust.
This isn't a therapeutic intervention or a clinical claim. It's a developmentally appropriate movement break that helps many kids feel ready to do the next thing. Pair with formal supports (OT, counseling, IEPs) where they exist — never as a replacement.
"The Dinosaur Stomp" — by The Twisty Town Band
Mr. Twisty wrote a follow-along song that pairs with the activity — built to accelerate, then freeze. Available at MrTwisty.com.
Listen at MrTwisty.com Visit Twisty Town