Drama
Activities
Role
Playing |
Improvisation
| Dance
| Mime
|
Sociodrama
|
Masks
Role
Playing
Ask children to
spend 5 mins thinking about what they would like to be,.e,g
prime minister, famous character, slave, and ask them to act
it out.
Acting in
pairs
Think up a pair of
characters, e.g two nurses, two burglars, two astronauts in
space, etc. and they have to work out how to work together
.
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Improvisation:
Examples of
activities for under 10's :
Wind
Em Up:
Pretend game that
involves asking children to be "wound up" by the pretend
crank on their back. They can be any object, e.g. a robot, a
kitchen appliance etc. which has been wound up. Then they
slowly act out becoming unwound, and eventually coming to a
stop.
Life
Saving
Children pretend to
be a team of doctors, firemen, paramedics etc. fighting to
save a life.
Um
Monologues
Reference:
Edwards, L.
(1999). Exploring Dance and Drama, Book
4. Primary Arts, South Victoria,
Australia.
Time -
30-40mins
Grade - 5 /
6
Skill
Development: Oral language, public speaking, voice
projection, improvisation
Procedure
Ask children to sit
back with a partner. Take it in turns to brainstorm
different topics, one word at a time, e.g. colours, the
universe, school, etc.
First round is
practice, second round is scored by counting the number of
words they got,
Third round you
loose a point every time you make the sound um, er,
ah.
Fourth round, the
children can pick one of the topics they brainstormed, and
have exactly one minute to talk about it. Appoint an Umm
counter for the class, equipped with a class list to count
off the umms.
There's no need to
count how may umms each child got, just make them aware that
they say it.
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Dance:
Reference:
Edwards, L.
(1999). Exploring Dance and Drama, Book
4. Primary Arts, South Victoria,
Australia.
Time: 40
mins
Grade: 4 to
6
Skill
Development: Listening, Movement, Props, Discussion,
Cooperation, Performance, Interpretation.
Picture the
story:
1. Break kids up
into groups of six and ask them to sit in a circle on the
floor. Place a few props in the center of the group, e.g
scarves, hats, feathers, ropes, money etc. It is a good idea
to have one prop per child.
2. Ask each group to
focus on the props put infront of them without discussing
them.
3. Ask the children
to close their eyes and try to imagine the story that is
being told using these props. Play a piece of music while
their eyes are closed.
Music: An
instrumental piece is best. Movie soundtracks can be good
for creating mood.
Discuss the
story:
When the music is
finished, ask the children to share their stories and images
with one another. Ask each group to choose one person's
idea, or combine several ideas to put a movement piece
together to tell a story, using the props to perform for the
rest of the class.
Allow 10 mins to
piece it together.
Story
Dance:
Allow each group to
perform their piece using the props while the music is
playing, incorporating the rhythm into their performance. At
the end of each performance, allow the audience to describe
what they think they saw.
Remind children that
no interpretation of a performance piece can be
wrong.
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Mime:
Reference:
Edwards, L.
(1999). Exploring Dance and Drama, Book
4. Primary Arts, South Victoria,
Australia.
'Pairs
on Chairs'
Time: 20
mins
Grade: 4
&endash;6
Skill
Development: Concentration, Mime, Focus, Body awareness,
creativity, cooperation.
Ask the children to
find a boy/girl partner, collect a chair and find a place in
the room. Each pair needs to improvise a scene where one
person would be sitting in a chair and the other offering
them a service. The only catch is that you are not allowed
to speak.
E.g hairdresser,
dentist…
Watch each
performance quickly, and discuss which ones were effective
and why.
There may be a
number of groups who pretend to speak without sound. This is
not mime, but pretending to speak.
Use one example and
discuss how you could design a scene where you never had to
speak.
E.g. person sitting
on a seat, pretending to be on a moving bus. Old person
struggles up the isle, young person stands up, smiles, and
motions for the older person to sit. Both continue the
journey looking forward as though on a moving
bus.
Ask each group to
design another mime scene using the chair.
Watch each and
discuss the difference.
Quick
Games/Ideas
'A day in the life
of...'
'Changing Shapes' -
children are given a pretend shape to hold, e.g a square,
which turns into a cylinder, circle, etc.
'Mirror
images'
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Sociodrama
Improvisation
Primitive tribe in a
remote area is visited for the first time by an
outsider....
Your town is
engulfed by nuclear radiation,.....
You live in the
'slums' of downtown Big City, you are trying to support your
family....
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Masks
The power of
masks
This lesson plan was
developed by Curriculum Corporation.
Learning
areas
The Arts
Level
Middle to lower
primary
Description
Students move
through a series of study centers to examine cultural
contexts for masks. They design and build a mask for
themselves. This activity is a part of the unit Behind the
mask'. The unit explores the idea of masks, from facial
expressions and mime, through face painting and tattooing to
more formal masks.
Purpose
To develop an
appreciation of the various purposes for masks and the skill
to make a mask for a special purpose.
Duration
2&endash;3
sessions
Possible
outcomes
In relation to The
arts &emdash; a curriculum profile for Australian schools,
work in this activity could lead to the achievement of
outcomes in the following strands:
Visual
arts
Creating, making and
presenting
Arts criticism and
aesthetics
Past and present
contexts
This also has links
to other learning areas such as Mathematics and Studies of
society and environment.
Materials
required
Each student will
need paper, pencil and coloured pencils or
textas.
The class will
need:
- face
paints
- cardboard and
white paper
- elastic or
tape
- staples
- glue or sticky
tape
- strips of
newspaper
- papier-mâché
glue
A range of work
stations presenting a variety of materials, for
instance:
- examples of face
decoration;
- party masks, and
pictures of cartoon super heroes in masks
- masks from other
countries such as Europe, Africa and
Indonesia
- pictures and
artifacts showing animal masks including those of Ancient
Egypt and Indian totems
Many of these may be
brought to class by students as a result of the resource
hunt in step 1 below.
Procedure
The following focus
activities could run concurrently in the classroom, or
sequentially, as listed here. If organised as a set of
learning centers, student tutors and/or parents may
facilitate the learning. Students make several masks and
contribute to a class exhibition.
1 Introducing
masks
Discuss students'
ideas about masks, encouraging a broad range of views.
Invite students to participate in a resource hunt and
contribute to establishing the learning centers. With the
class, label, describe and categorise the items collected
(for example, masks or face designs; masks for fun, for
hunting).
2 Focus on painted
faces
Students examine
examples of face decoration and are challenged to think
about people who decorate their faces, how it is done and
why.
Ask students to draw
a picture of their partner's face, design a pattern and draw
it on the picture. Encourage them to think about patterns,
lines and colours and then write about their design,
explaining their choices of pattern and colours. Students
finish by decorating their partner's face. Extra care needs
to be taken when painting near the eyes.
3 Focus on disguise
and deception
Students examine
masks used for disguise or deception, and discuss why people
wear these masks, and when. Have students design, make and
appraise a party mask for themselves. It should keep their
identity a secret but still allow them to speak clearly and
eat easily.
When the masks are
completed use the following questions to help with
appraisal.
- Did you stick to
your plan?
- Did you have to
change anything?
- What was the
most difficult part of making the mask?
- Were the
materials you used right for the task?
- What would you
change if you made another mask?
4. Focus on masks
for magic
Have students
examine pictures, artifacts and/or masks from other
countries where masks are designed to scare away evil
spirits or invoke the power of the spirit world to protect
the owners or wearers. Focus discussion on the feelings
aroused by the mask in the person wearing it and someone
looking at it.
Students design,
make and appraise a tube mask. Begin with a piece of cover
paper rolled into a cylinder big enough to fit snugly over
the head, and stapled when it fits. Explain and model
techniques such as curling, pleating and fringing paper.
Invite students to write about their masks, giving them
names, deciding who would wear their masks and when, where
and why they might be worn.
5. Focus on animal
masks
Using stimulus
material, explore animal masks. Explain to students that
many cultures have made masks to represent admired animals,
in the hope of taking on some of their attributes, such as
strength, cunning, swiftness.
In groups, have
students list animals they think represent strength,
cleverness, sneakiness
Individuals then
choose an animal with a particular quality they think is
sometimes a part of their character and design, make and
appraise a papier-mâché mask of that
animal.
Provide strips of
newspaper, white paper and papier-mâché glue.
Instruct students, as necessary, in the techniques of making
papier-mâché. Depending on the shape of the
animal's face, they could put the papier-mâché
over a balloon, or on one side of a blown-up (empty) wine
cask.
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