Teach-Primary-Issue-19.3

F EATURE S DRAMA www.teachwire.net | 27 Use movement Simple movement activities, such as freezes and mime, will develop creative concentration skills. Grandmother’s Footsteps (below) is great for working on controlled movement. For less confident children, follow-my-leader and copying activities – with the teacher at the front of the class – are good for building confidence in a non-threatening way. You can also adapt party games, such as musical statues, by asking pupils to freeze as characters from a book, film, or story. An activity like Objects (see below), encourages children to respond creatively – and quickly. Explore stories Traditional stories and rhymes work really well when used as a stimulus for drama in the classroom. In Year 1 children will happily act out stories and poems as a whole group and will fully engage with, for example, creating whole-group mimes of different scenes. Act creatively To encourage creativity, teacher-in-role is a great technique. Pretend to be, for example, Goldilocks, and allow yourself to be interviewed about your behaviour. Become Cinderella and ask the children what you need to fetch to create the golden carriage. Add a prop or costume item and become a bullied child looking for advice, a Roman soldier, an Aztec, a Victorian child – the list is endless! Build skills Finally, combine all skills to create whole-class drama. Read the beginning of a story, for example The Giant Turnip , and ask children what they would like to explore, then allocate roles and work to develop their ideas. Use freezes, mime, improvisation and teacher-in-role to explore character and story. Drama is unique in the freedom it allows teachers and the wide range of learning development it engenders. It’s the creative thread that links structured play, learning, and personal and social development – invaluable for children in KS1. TP Ready, STEADY... Alison Chaplin runs Arts on the Move, providing drama teaching resources and information. artsonthemove.co.uk To develop brilliant listening skills, introduce your littlest pupils to drama games, says Alison Chaplin D rama is a brilliant subject for building essential life skills like self-confidence, developing communication skills, teaching children to listen well and respond to instructions. It's also a really fun way to help them to think creatively and to work well with others. Start simple Many basic activities support children in learning to listen and respond to instructions. For example, Fruitbowl (see explanation below) is excellent for teaching interpersonal skills, including concentration, listening, teamwork, self-control, and spatial awareness. Fruitbowl Sit in a circle on chairs. Give everyone the name of a fruit in turn, e.g. apple, pear, banana, apple, pear, banana. One player stands in the middle of the circle and their chair is taken away. The player in the middle calls out one of the fruit names. All players with that fruit name must leave their seat and run to another chair. While the ‘fruits’ are changing places, the player in the middle also tries to find a seat. When everyone has swapped seats, one player will be left in the middle again. This player calls out a fruit name, and the process is repeated. If the player in the middle calls out ‘FRUITBOWL!’ every player must change places and move to a new seat. Grandmother’s Footsteps A player stands at the end of the room with their back to the rest of the group. Place a beanbag or small object between their feet. Everyone tries to creep up to steal the beanbag. The player turns around at regular intervals and, when they turn, everyone freezes. Anyone moving when the player turns around goes back to the beginning. The winner is the person who steals the beanbag. They become the new ‘It’ and the game begins again. Objects Divide into groups of four to six players. Call out the name of an object and the groups have 10 seconds to make the shape of that object using their own bodies, joining together in different ways. Count down slowly from 10 to zero then shout ‘Freeze!’ Try: car, clock, television, bed, or volcano. 3 GAMES TO TRY