![]() My kids and I love to make reels. We didn't always make reels though. This is a relatively new development. Here is how it started... We love music and love to dance to music. In fact, there was a period of time where we had nightly dance parties before we made our way upstairs to bath time. It was our last chance to dance our energy out for the day before we needed to settle down. We had our favorite songs and those songs would sometimes change with the seasons or holidays. They also would change based upon what characters and TV Shows we were loving at the moment. After dance parties, I started recording some of the kids' dance moves. Every now and then, we'd hear a song on Alexa that just made them want to dance. They had some pretty good moves. These started as just quick little videos like shuffling feet to a beat or doing the chicken dance. All of a sudden, I learned the magic of reels. We can record random moments of our dancing and combine them to make a cute "music video." What is a "reel"? It's basically a recorded video set to music. Before, we used to play music on Alexa and record our dancing with her playing in the background. The music was always hard to hear. With a reel, the music just plays over our video - which is perfect. You can still sync the music to your dance moves if you need to, but ours are just so generic that it doesn't matter what section of the song is playing. Why are reels so great and why should you do them with your kids? 1. It gets them moving. My kids get so much energy out running and jumping around to the music. 2. It fosters creativity. My kids love trying to think of new props and costumes to use. 3. You don't have to post them. I used to NEVER post on my personal account, but we can bank a lot of saved "draft" reels which are basically unposted ones and we can re-watch them over and over. 4. They make great memories. My kids love to rewatch reels rather than just videos and pictures of themselves. We even make reels of our videos after visiting different places. It makes our trips more memorable and fun. 5. It's modified screen time. It's like using a screen, but not really. They get to use some technology, but again, not really! We love it! Never made a reel and want to try it? Here are my top tips to getting started with reels and kids: 1. Don't stress too much about getting the perfect shot or perfect content. You can edit all of your clips and sometimes the most unassuming shots are the best! 2. Just get started! We play usually the music we want in the background on Alexa or the TV and dance around, then we add the music to our reel. 3. The more fun the song, the more fun the kids have! We've danced to "Baby Shark" and "Them Bones" so many times! It doesn't have to be a popular song, just a song that gets them smiling and happy! 4. Take multiple different videos of different lengths rather than one really long video. Try to move your camera around and zoom in and out for different shots. This makes the video more fun to watch rather than one really long one. 5. Speed up some of the video. It is tough to sit through a long reel - even for kids watching videos of themselves. It's so nice that you can speed up and slow down certain parts of the video. 6. You don't have to post! This is probably why it took us so long to actually try it out! Also - don't expect the first reel to be the best, but the kids will love it! Whether you've tried a reel before or not, let me know if you give it a shot! What works for you and your family? Any tips I'm missing??
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