SEESAW - Unicorn Theatre teacher... · 2017. 12. 15. · Seesaw, back following a successful run in...

TEACHER RESOURCE PACKSEESAWFOR TEACHERS WORKING WITH PUPILS IN NURSERY - YEAR 1

SEESAWBy Stewart MeltonDirected by Sarah Argent

FROM 26 JAN - 9 MARCHFOR PUPILS IN NURSERY TO YEAR 1

A SEESAW ONLY WORKS WITH TWO.

Being little can be hard work. There are holes to dig, sand castles to make, treasures to find, adventures to be had. It’s much easier when you have a friend to help. But what if making friends is hard work too?

Seesaw, back following a successful run in 2014, is a beautiful, funny and sensitive exploration of the push and pull of friendship, and the ups and downs of being very young.

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION p.4

ABOUT THE PLAY p.5

MAKING THE PLAY: INTERVIEW WITH THE WRITER p.7

MAKING THE PLAY: INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR p.9

DRAMA ACTIVITIES - OVERVIEW p.10

SEQUENCE ONE: THE SANDPIT p.13Explores the setting of the play and looks at the kinds of games children play in an outdoor sandpit.

SEQUENCE TWO: FAVOURITE TOYS p.17Looks at children’s special toys and what happens when they lose them. This theme is explored using a Story Whoosh of Shirley Hughe’s Dogger and a Teacher in Role activity about lost toys.

SEQUENCE THREE: FRIENDS p.21Focuses on the importance of sharing, negotiation and collaboration when forming and maintaining friendships. The sequence uses the story of Pip and Posy’s Snowy day as a stimulus for drama work.

SEQUENCE FOUR: BETTER WITH A FRIEND? p.24Looks at what things are better with someone else and uses the story of Isaac and Iris to explore what happens when we fall out with friends.

SEQUENCE FIVE: SEESAW p.27Provides a simplified Story Whoosh of the play a way of revisiting the story and exploring the children’s responses to what happened between the girl and the boy.

SEQUENCE SIX: REFLECTING ON THE SHOW p.29Suggestions for post-show activities that offer ways of remembering and reflecting on the experience of watching the play. This activity uses images of the production to discuss the different elements of the theatre experience; actors, set and props, lighting, design, costumes, music and special effects.

RESOURCES FOR ACTVITIES p.31

TEACHER RESOURCES

INTRODUCTIONThe Unicorn production of Seesaw is a play about friendship and about taking first steps towards independence. The boy and girl meet in a sandpit. As they get to know each other and negotiate the first steps of a new relationship, they move through ups and downs, they make mistakes and find solutions to their mistakes. Seesaw is a play about children who discover their own inner resources and who grow in confidence.

The classroom activities are designed to support and extend pupils’ visit to the theatre and offer teachers ways to pick up on and explore the themes in the play, before and after a visit. They will use drama and storytelling as ways of exploring ideas that are relevant to the play and to support National Curriculum requirements.

‘All pupils should be enabled to participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama. Pupils should be able to adopt, createand sustain a range of roles, responding appropriately to others in role. They shouldhave opportunities to improvise, devise and script drama for one another and a range of audiences, as well as to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre performances.’ National Curriculum

The resources will also provide links to the EYFS curriculum, though the development of spoken word and to SMCS aspects of learning.

There will be a free teacher CPD day for Seesaw on Friday 12 January from 10am – 4pm where teachers can find out more about the show and gain practical experience of the classroom activities, before leading them with a class.

To find out more about the CPD or book your place, email [email protected].

TEACHER RESOURCES

ABOUT THE PLAYPeach sky. Amber sycamore leaves. Sandpit. Litter bin. Seesaw.

Seesaw follows the developing relationship between a girl and a boy as they meet and play in a sandpit over five seasons. When the audience enter the theatre, they will encounter a huge sandpit, lit with a gentle light reminiscent of autumn.

There is a girl playing in the sandpit with her toy rabbit, Hairy. When the girl runs off a boy enters. The boy turns and waves to someone, we assume an adult watching over from a distance, he waves again. He is drinking a carton of juice. He drops the empty carton on the floor, says ‘oh dear’ picks it up and puts it in the bin.

The boy goes over to the seesaw. He wants to make it a rocket, but when he sits on the seesaw he can’t make it fly, even by jumping.

Noticing leaves falling from the trees, the boy starts gathering a pile of leaves together.

When the girl returns she is in a panic; she has lost Hairy. Looking everywhere, she thinks the boy may have hidden Hairy, or buried him under his pile of leaves. She pushes him out of the way, but Hairy is not there.

So begins the relationship between the girl and the boy. The girl’s distress over the loss of her beloved toy colours their first encounter, but as the play progresses, and the children meet again and again, they find the means to communicate. They find out who each other are; what they have in common and how they are different. They play alongside each other and together, they have fun, they encounter and fix problems, they collaborate and they fall out. Ultimately they learn that a seesaw really works best when there are two of them.

Seesaw is a play about the everyday experiences of children who are stepping out into the world on their own. It is about the way in which children explore the world, and about play as a serious, purposeful activity. It is about discovery and creativity in response to the world around them and complexity and challenge as they make their way in the world and navigate new relationships.

It is also a play about the importance of toys and objects which help children to transition new experiences. When Hairy is finally found buried deep in the sand the children celebrate, but we also know that his absence has given the girl and boy the opportunity to form a firm friendship.

TEACHER RESOURCES

MAKING THE PLAY INTERVIEW WITH WRITER STEWART MELTON

WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR THE SHOW COME FROM?

I had a meeting with Purni (the Artistic Director of the Unicorn) and she asked me whether I had written for under fives, I’ve not and I immediately became curious about writing for that age group having never considered it before.

Purni had an anecdote about when she had a violin lesson and there was another girl who had the violin lesson immediately after her. Purni had a penny in her violin case, spontaneously she gave the penny to the other girl and the following week when she met the girl again this other girl gave her the penny back. This exchange continued between each of the lessons, which spoke to me abouta relationship being formed through a proxy; a shared object. My initial thoughts were an idea of parenting the penny, where each child takes it in turns to become custodian, guardian of the penny. But the penny is very small, not very visible, and not very active on stage, so the next part of the process was to think of what object could be more active and be another character on stage.So the penny has become Hairy the rabbit. Initially the strongest relationship in the play is between the girl and her toy rabbit. But Hairy disappears and the loss of him, the longing for him helps open up the girls view to and attempt to initiate a relationship with this little boy.

AND IT DOESN’T GO WELL AT FIRST?

Well that’s one reading. The girl and boy are forming this relationship and it is their first relationship that has no mediation by adults, so the bumps that they both knock over come simply from inexperience. But I think that adults are just as prone to the same relationship mishaps, the same kind of challenges, obstacles, and mis-apprehensions.

It was very much in my head while writing it to try to think from the point of view of a three-and-a half-year-old, and inhabit their frame of reference, but at the same time thinking about all of the relationships I have had since that age.

I have noticed a tendency within our culture to see children as incomplete adults; it’s always really bothered me. This play comes from the starting point that our protagonists, though they’re three or four, are experiencing the same emotions, and are as intellectually questioning, and penetrating, as any adult character. It was very important to me that it honoured the emotional and intellectual life of an under five person, not a child, a person first and foremost. So that means not cutting the crusts off and including the troughs as well as the peaks.

A lot of work for under fives that I’ve seen is very upbeat, very positive. Lovely, but doesn’t seem to acknowledge that life isn’t always fun and I really wanted to make something that recognised that it is not always easy being three-and-a-half and that the world can be a difficult and complicated place.

TEACHER RESOURCES

THE PLAY IS VERY CLOSELY OBSERVED, IS IT ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THOSE SMALL EVERYDAY MOMENTS?

I think the idea that play is children’s work is very important. When you’re three-years-old you don’t think of yourself as three-years-old, you don’t think of yourself as someone who is at play, you have an occupation or a series of occupations. At the beginning of the script is a character list where I’ve added their occupations. I really wanted to offer the director and the actors some pointers as to the interests of their characters.

I really kept in mind when I was writing the character of the girl that she was like a scientist; she would put things to the test, explore the natural environment around them and try to discover things about it.

The boy is a musician; he’s not pretending to be a musician. I think this is something that frustrates me about some other depictions of the very young that I’ve seen; a child pretending to do something, when a child does something. A child just sings a song, or will conduct an experiment.

IN THE PLAY THE TWO CHILDREN FIND THEIR WAY WITHOUT ADULT INTERVENTION; WHY ISN’T THEIR INTERACTION MEDIATED BY GROWN-UPS? For this play I didn’t want any adult characters, to see the children through an adult filter, I did this by banishing the adults to off stage. I thought it was cleaner; part of the challenge of presenting children on stage is the performers are several decades older than the people in question. It seemed to me confusing to have an adult play an adult character and then two adults playing children; this peculiar convention we have; that if it’s an early twenties actor they can play a child, but if you’re in your thirties or forties, or older, you play a grown-up. It seems somewhat arbitrary to me.

THE DIALOGUE THAT YOU’VE WRITTEN IS VERY TRUTHFUL TO THE STRUCTURE AND VOCABULARY CHILDREN OF THAT AGE MIGHT USE. DID YOU OBSERVE A LOT OF CHILDREN IN THE PROCESS OF WRITING?

As a theatre maker you’re always observing. I suppose I thought about friends who have children that age about how their daughters and sons speak.

As much as anything for me it is trying to preserve certain rhythms and cadences, patterns of speech, it was very important to capture that. I think a lot of the language of the play comes out of that age group being very purposeful, obviously there are moments of song and play, but a lot of the time they’re very direct about what they want, what they need and what they’re curious about. A lot of the language of the play came out of trying to capture that.

WHAT HAVE YOU OBSERVED ABOUT HOW CHILDREN IN THE AUDIENCE RESPOND TO THE PLAY?

My experience of writing for young audiences is that they are the best audiences - and the younger the better. I loved watching the play with children, they are the most generous audience members, and they are the most serious audience members. I know when I am at the theatre there’re bits of

TEACHER RESOURCES

my brain thinking about how I’m going to get home or shopping I need to do, I’m not fully present and I suspect that is true of other adults as well. Whereas the audiences at Seesaw I see completely give themselves over to it, which was really heartening. I hope that it is a play that draws the children forward to look and listen.

Sarah (the director) and I discussed in our initial meetings; how focused can we go in, how tightly can we zoom in on the experience of people this age and in a sense how small, how quiet can we be? I think we have both had experienced frustration in other work we’d seen; that it was loud and full of brash colours, and a certain distrust of the audience, that they’d have to be distracted with noise and light rather than invited into a world.

While the audience is not addressed directly and there is no direct interaction, I hope the children feel free to comment, or ask questions of their neighbours. I often noticed the audience members wanting to share the experience and turning to a parent or a teacher or another child, to share something of their experience like ‘the leaves are falling’ a simple kind of reiteration of what they’re observing, what they are witnessing.

IS THIS A NEW CREATIVE COLLABORATION; BETWEEN YOU AS WRITER AND SARAH ARGENT AS DIRECTOR?

Sarah had many years experience of creating devised plays for this age group, I had none and she was used to being responsible for many aspects of the production from design and music and text as well as directorial.

We were both doing something we haven’t done before or, in Sarah’s case, haven’t done for a while. I often start by hearing characters; a rhythm or a distinctive turn of phrase, that’s how I meet them. I suspect that Seesaw is a lot wordier than many plays for this age group, but most of the script is still stage directions. In workshops where we first developed the piece we started with action, with what happened.

IS A LOT OF THE NARRATIVE IS TOLD THROUGH WHAT HAPPENS?

I was mindful that I didn’t want to overburden the audience with masses of speech; I was interested in seeing them do things. I knew that in terms of revealing the different characters thoughts and emotional experience, it had to come as much out of action as through speech. I think a large part of the experience of being that age is experiencing emotions that are larger than you have ability to describe; larger than you’re able to articulate.

TEACHER RESOURCES

MAKING THE PLAY INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR SARAH ARGENT

WHAT IS THE PLAY ABOUT?

On a very basic level, in terms of the narrative, it is simply about two children who meet in a sandpit in which there is a seesaw. We first see the little girl with her rabbit, Hairy. In the course of playing she loses Hairy and when she comes back looking for him she encounters the boy, who she eventually calls ‘sandpit boy’ because she found him in the sandpit. At first she thinks that the boy might be responsible or know where Hairy is, but the boy is confused, he has no idea what she’s talking about. The two children are intrigued by one another and gradually, over a series of comings and goings that span five seasons, they grow in understanding of one another, they grow in understanding in terms of how to share, and they grow in terms of their understanding of the need to collaborate in order for friendship to work which is demonstrated through the very beautiful and clear metaphor of learning how to seesaw.

We don’t see the children with adults; for each of them it is possibly their first encounter with an unknown child that isn’t adult-mediated. We have a notion that there are parents somewhere offstage nearby, but the play explores how the children learn to negotiate with each other entirely independently of adult presence.

Because of this, we sometimes see them engaging in behaviours that they wouldn’t’t exhibit in front of a parent. There are those who advise adults not to intervene with children in their disputes, suggesting that if you do so too soon then they don’t learn how to self-regulate. Obviously there are health and safety issues and moments where adult intervention is imperative, but I think often as adults we tend to rush in and solve the issues that our children are facing with their peer groups when actually it is healthy for them to work these difficult transactions out for themselves in order to learn to share and co-operate.

What I love about the play is that there are real emotional peaks and troughs, heartbreak as well as great joy. For example, when the two children are playing together harmoniously they have such good times but the moment when Hairy is found is very potent - he has been the girl’s transitional object and she has initially been distraught at losing him but, by the time that she finds him, she has realised that the friendship she has developed with a live human being is possibly more powerful and significant than her relationship with her stuffed toy.

DOES THE PLAY NEED A PARTICULAR KIND OF ATTENTION FROM THE AUDIENCE, THE DRAWING IN OF THE CHILDREN?

There can be a parental or teacher expectation at this age of songs and colour and theatrical tricks. The feedback we get repeatedly is ‘I didn’t think my child could sit and be so focused on the action’.I remember talking to a mum at the Unicorn and she said ‘my little boy lived and breathed every moment of that show - his body, his eyes, his breath, followed and mirrored the action moment by moment.’ She told me that when the children were playing harmoniously he was sitting forward,

TEACHER RESOURCES

beaming, and his eyes were wide and bright. When there was a moment of conflict his body language was more self protective; he snuggled in to her. He danced (there is music in the show) he giggled; he went through the full range of human emotions that the characters went through in a really visceral way.

I think we forget how emotionally intelligent many children are and this is so evident through observing the audience leaning forward, completely engaged, giggling and commenting; it is lovely that the children do comment and give advice to the characters. Their comments are much more complex than simply ‘he’s behind you’ - in structuring the script and the action we worked really hard to eliminate any moments where that kind of response might be elicited. They are commenting on the characters’ emotional states, displaying their own emotional understanding.

In the past I have asked the teachers not to ‘shush’ the children. I spoke to one teacher at the end of one of these performances and asked ‘how was it for you?’ She replied that it had been incredibly hard and had gone against her instinct, but that she was so glad that she had let the children respond spontaneously. She was sitting by a little boy who gave a running commentary and she had never realised how emotionally articulate that little boy was, because he’d never been given that amount of space. He was commenting on the emotional states of the two characters and the teacher hadn’t been aware that this little boy was capable of that degree of empathy and understanding of human nature.

We understand why teachers would want to shush as they don’t want your children to spoil the experience for one another or for children from other schools and, of course, they know their own children and what constitutes acceptable behaviour from them, but we ask them to trust that we know what we’re doing as theatre-makers; we have carefully structured this experience so that there will be moments where there can be commentary and then hopefully something will happen that will bring back a non-vocalised focus.

COULD YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE VERBAL AND PHYSICAL LANGUAGE IN THE PLAY?

Despite being a naturalistic piece it has slightly poeticised, heightened, and stylized language. There are also points in the play where you hear one of the characters saying something that is very clearly appropriated from an adult.

There are also long sections without dialogue. Children with English as an additional language will be able to read the story almost as clearly as those who speak English, and deaf children will be able to read a huge amount of what’s happening.

What we were trying to do as far as possible was to make sure there was never a description of something verbal that was not underpinned by a physical representation of the same thing. So that if a character was saying ‘you are a horrible person’ for example, you could see it in the physicality, in the spatial relationship between the two characters, the facial expressions and the body language. But we didn’t want it to be entirely non-verbal, so there is a verbal layer on top of or beside or underneath. But on the whole, a bit like a picture book, you can understand what’s happening from the visual imagery. And it relates to how you learn language through what you see and hear in a particular context.

TEACHER RESOURCES

IT WAS INTERESTING CHOICE FOR THE UNICORN TO TAKE SEESAW TO JORDAN LAST YEAR (AND HOPEFULLY KOLKATA, INDIA LATER THIS YEAR) BECAUSE IT IS QUITE SUBTLE PIECE OF WORK.

I think the subtlety was what excited our colleagues in Jordan. Much of their existing children’s theatre seems to be very narrative-driven, quite colourful, and with a very different, more demonstrative style of performance.

On the second day one of the actors said ‘This is so un-Arabic what you’re asking us to do. I think you want us to draw the audience in and we are traditionally used to a style of theatre for children that pushes out to them’.

It was fascinating directing the piece with Arabic-speaking actors; I learnt a lot about myself as a director and about the clarity of communication both verbal and non-verbal and about what resonates about fundamental human relationships.

There was a little boy in the audience in Jordan whose dad said afterwards that he had been a little bit scared and had snuggled into his dad for reassurance. Not during the thunderstorm as I had suspected but at moments when the two characters were fighting.

I explained to the dad that for me that is a sign of the success of the piece. What we want to do is share work that demonstrates a character’s full range of emotions. I told him it was fantastic that his little boy is emotionally intelligent enough to understand that conflict is unnerving, because I am certain that he is going to witness that in school or nursery. He is going to probably witness other children in much more aggressive conflict situations than we show in the play. We have tried to keep the intensity of the emotion the characters feel, but have controlled the physicality of these moments. The little boy may be party to physical acts of aggression in the future, so what we’re showing, in a safe environment with teachers and parents present, is the way that children behave. We are saying this is a slice of life, this is how children behave: they are jealous of one another’s possessions, they do steal one another’s apple juice even though one of them has said don’t touch it, they do find themselves unable to articulate their emotions and deal with it is by pushing and throwing.

What we’re hoping is that amongst the joy and laughter within the piece, we explore the full range of human emotions both those that are deemed to be negative and positive (although I disliked these terms as I think that all emotions are necessary!). A good piece of theatre (for very young children as much as for adults) won’t only touch on the joyful, positive emotions, it will provide the audience with a diffused, removed focus and through the actions of the characters, to be able to explore emotional states the children might feel and the actions that might arise as a result of those emotions.

TEACHER RESOURCES

DRAMA ACTIVITIESTEACHER RESOURCES

INTRODUCTION

Seesaw explores how, over a series of encounters in a sandpit, two children play alongside each other and together grow in their understanding of the need to collaborate, share and provide support for each other in order for their friendship to work.

Most of what we suggest here are drama activities; working through drama allows children to explore things that matter to them within a fictional context, draw on their prior knowledge and apply it to new situations, develop language as they give expression to new understandings and develop emotional intelligence and critical thinking. It will also allow the children to take responsibility, make decisions, solve problems and explore possibilities from within the drama.

This work will also ask children to put into practice those skills which are the key themes of the play; collaboration, sharing and providing support for each other .

Sequence One: The Sandpit Explores the setting of the play (a sandpit) and looks at the kinds of games children play in an outdoor sandpit.

Sequence Two: Favourite Toys Looks at children’s special toys and what happens when they lose them. This theme is explored using a Story Whoosh of Shirley Hughe’s Dogger and a Teacher in Role activity about lost toys.

Sequence three: Friends Focuses on the importance of sharing, negotiation and collaboration when forming and maintaining friendships. The sequence uses the story of Pip and Posy’s Snowy Day as a stimulus for drama work.

Sequence Four: Better with a Friend? Looks at what things are better with someone else and uses the story of Isaac and Iris to explore what happens when we fall out with friends.

Sequence Five: Seesaw Provides a simplified Story Whoosh of the play as a way of revisiting the story and exploring the children’s responses to what happened between the girl and the boy.

Sequence Six: Reflecting on the Show Suggestions for post-show activities that offer ways of remembering and reflecting on the experience of watching the play. Uses images of the production to discuss the different elements of the theatre experience; actors, set and props, lighting, design, costumes, music and special effects.

SEQUENCE ONE

THE SANDPITAIMS

•To explore the setting of the play, a sandpit, throughout the seasons.

•To develop imaginative play alone and with others.

•To support children in working collaboratively in pairs and small groups.

STRATEGIES

Circle time discussion, Movement, Pair Work, Tableaux, Improvisation, Thought-tracking and Free Play.

RESOURCES

Music from the show.

RUNNING THE ACTIVITIES

STAGE ONE: CIRCLE TIME DISCUSSION

Before you begin explain that the Unicorn play they are coming to see is set in a sandpit in a park. Ask the children if they have played in a large outdoor sandpit before. For those who haven’t you could look at some images of outdoor sandpits. Discuss their experiences of playing in the sand (including smaller sandpits for those children who don’t have experience of an outdoor sandpit).

What activities do they do in the sandpit?

What is their favourite thing to play in the sandpit?

How does the sand feel between their fingers and toes?

Do they take off their shoes and socks in an outdoor sandpit?

What is the best time of year to visit an outdoor sandpit?

What is the sandpit like in winter?

Can you play on your own in the sandpit or is it better to play with a friend?

STAGE TWO: WARM–UP – THE SANDPIT THROUGH THE SEASONS

You may like to underscore this movement exercise with some music.

Tell the children that you are all going to imagine that you have come to a playground with an enormous sandpit filling the whole school hall!

TEACHER RESOURCES

First, you are all going to take off your shoes and socks and put them at the edge of the sandpit (around the sides of the hall). You can choose to mime this if you prefer. During the movement narrative you may like to include comments the children made in the circle time discussion about their experience of the sand and sandpit.

Ask them to walk onto the sandpit and follow your narration. Allow the children space to act out each suggestion.

• It is spring. The sand is very fine and soft – imagine the sand between your toes. You gently scrunch up your feet and feel the soft sand as you pad around the sandpit. Now you sit on the sand and scoop up the sand letting it run through your fingers. You push your toes deep into the sand and cover your feet and legs. Next you lie back and stretch out your arms and legs, moving them in and out to make a sand angel. Finally, you stand and brush off all the sand that’s on you.

•The sun is getting stronger. It is summer. A lovely warm summer day. In fact, you are too hot in your jumper and you take it off. You put on a sun hat and drink from a bottle of water. The sand has got very hot in the sunshine and you dance over the sandpit so your feet don’t touch the sand for too long. You sprinkle some of your water onto the sand and stand wriggling your toes in the cool pool you have made.

• In autumn, the sand cools and you feel a breeze. Have a little shiver and put on a warm cosy jumper. A little light rain begins to fall. Feel the gentle drops of rain on the palms of your hands. The sand is wet and firm under your feet. Take a stick and draw a picture in the wet sand. The wind blows and leaves begin to fall from the trees above. Can you catch them? Your bare feet are cold. You run and put your shoes and socks back on.

•Now it’s winter. You put on a coat, hat and scarf. The sand is hard under foot. Maybe it is covered in crunchy leaves or a morning frost but nevertheless you are still able to take your spade and dig into the sand and begin to shape a sandcastle.

STAGE THREE: BUILDING YOUR SANDCASTLE

Explain to the children that they are now going to imagine building a sandcastle in this sandpit.

Show the children some images of sandcastles; there are many images of children’s sandcastles on line, as well as more complex sandcastles created by adults.

First demonstrate the building of an imaginary sandcastle for the children, describing the key stages.

Now talk the children through the creation of their own sandcastle following the same structure:

•First take your bucket and spade and begin to fill the bucket with sand.

•Use your spade to pat the sand down in the bucket.

•Turn your bucket upside down on the ground and gently take the bucket off, leaving the sand behind.

•Maybe you decide to put your bucket down and just use your hands to dig into the sand and begin to shape some towers on your castle.

•Dig a moat around your castle and take your bucket, fill it with water and pour it into the moat.

•Now look for things to decorate your castle; maybe something that can be the flag on top – a twig, or a leaf perhaps? Pebbles, shells and leaves can all be good for decorating your castle. Maybe you find something else as you dig deep into the sand, something that someone else has

TEACHER RESOURCES

lost that can decorate your castle – I wonder what that could be?

•Encourage them to think in detail about their sandcastle and what other features it might have.

Allow the children a few minutes to create their castles. As the children build go around and ask them about their work.

Then ask the class to consider who lives in their castle. Is it lots of people? Is it just one person who lives alone? Are there any creatures that live in the castle?

Hear a few ideas before moving on to the next exercise.

STAGE FOUR: SHOWING YOUR SANDCASTLE TO A FRIEND

• In pairs ask the children to describe their imaginary sandcastles to each other. Encourage them to use lots of detail. Model this for them by describing your own sandcastle, take a walk around the outside of it as you point out all the wonderful features and answer any questions they might have about your castle.

•Once the children have spent a few minutes describing their sandcastle and those that live in them to each other, ask a few children to share their descriptions with the whole class.

•You may like to ask children to report back on what their partner told them as opposed to describing their own castle.

STAGE FIVE: PLAYING WITH FRIENDS IN THE SAND

• In groups of four, ask the children to work with each other to create a circle using their bodies. Encourage the children to think of different ways they can work together to physically create the circle. Comment on collaborative work and imaginative ideas in creating the circles.

•Next ask them to make a square and then a triangle.

•Discuss which shape they found easiest to make using their bodies and why.

•Discuss how easy it was to work as a group on this task. Did it need one person to be the leader, or were they able to share ideas? Discuss how neither approach is right or wrong if they managed to make their shapes, and how it can be difficult to work together if everyone has good ideas.

•Now explain to the children that you would like them to work together to use their bodies to create - a sandcastle.

•When they have done this ask the children to agree in their groups who lives in this castle and include that character in their tableaux.

Thought Tracking

•Making your way around the room explain to the children that you are going to speak to each of the characters in their castles and find out who they are. Respond to the frozen images as you see them and explain to the characters that when you tap them on the shoulder, their characters should come to life.

•Ask the children questions as the character in their castle, for example:

Do you have a moat around your castle?

Does anyone try to get into your castle?

TEACHER RESOURCES

What do you like to do in your castle?

What do you feed the dragon who lives in your dungeons?

Powerful Space Rocket

•Once you have visited each sandcastle in turn, repeat this exercise but this time ask the children to individually create a powerful space rocket with an astronaut inside. Thought track the astronauts about their adventures. Responding to the frozen images as you see them. For example:

‘Ah! Astronaut you look very excited just before you take off. What do you hope to find in space?’

•Finally, you can explain to the groups that when you clap your hands their space rocket is going to come to life and blast off. They can move their bodies but must remain in their spot, imagining they are going straight up into space and they should think of the movements and sound effects they could create to accompany this.

Erupting Volcano

•You could repeat this exercise a third and final time by asking the children to create an enormous erupting Volcano with a scientist observing the eruption. Use some images of volcanoes and make sure the children know what a volcano is and what happens when it erupts.

•Ask the scientist what they think as the watch the volcano and what they see happening with the volcano.

•Finally, you can explain to the groups that when you clap your hands their Volcano is going to come to life and erupt. How can they show the movement and sound effects of the eruption and the hot lava pouring out of the top of the volcano?

STAGE SIX: GOING ON AN ADVENTURE

Explain to the children that they now have the opportunity to choose one of those adventures to go on as a group; the castle, the space rocket or the volcano. Give them a few minutes to act out their adventure and then give the children the opportunity to perform for the rest of the class.

STAGE SEVEN: CIRCLE TIME SHARING

Gather the children back into a circle. Hear feedback on the different adventures the groups went on and how they collaborated:

Did you always find it easy to play together?

How easy was it for them to agree on their ideas?

What solutions did they find if they had too many ideas and had to choose one?

TEACHER RESOURCES

SEQUENCE TWO

FAVOURITE TOYSAIMS

•To explore the idea of favourite toys and what they mean to children.

•To explore what it might feel like to lose and to re-find something we care about.

•To act out a Story Whoosh of Dogger by Shirley Hughes

STRATEGIES

Movement, Pair Work, Whole Group Discussion, Improvisation, Thought-tracking, Story Whoosh.

RESOURCES

Dogger story book by Shirley Hughes, picture of the girl with her rabbit in Seesaw, paper and coloured pencils, Story Whoosh (Resource 1)

TIME

60 mins


STAGE ONE: WARM UP – A WORLD OF TOYS

Explain to the children that in this session you are going to be thinking about favourite toys. To start with you are going to think about all the different toys there are and how they might move. Ask the children to find a space on their own and make a frozen statue of a toy rabbit. Comment on the rabbits and then explain to the children that when you clap your hands: bang on the tambourine, the toy rabbit is going to come to life. When you bang on the tambourine a second time the toy rabbits will freeze again. Try out some other favourite toys using the list below and taking suggestions from the class.

•Floppy Rag Doll

•Dinosaur

•Marching Soldier

•Jack in the box

•Dancing Ballerina

•Big Cuddly Bear

•Crying Baby

TEACHER RESOURCES

•Zooming Aeroplane

•Wizard with magic wand

•Snapping Crocodile

•Noisy Fire Engine

•Wind up Robot – slowly winding down until it stops (to a count down from 5 to 1).

In pairs ask one person to be the child and the other their favourite robot. Ask the child to wind up the toy robot and watch it move; remember it can only walk in straight lines. What happens to the robot when it needs to be wound up again?

STAGE TWO: DRAWING ACTIVITY – FAVOURITE TOY

Show the children the picture of the girl with her favourite toy, a cuddly rabbit who she has named ‘Hairy’. Explain that she likes the rabbit because:

• It is soft and cuddly

•She can take it anywhere and Hairy can join in her games

•She likes to look after Hairy – she can put him to bed, feed him and tell him her ideas about things.

Ask the children to draw a favourite toy a child might love and carry around with them when they are young. This could be a toy they have owned themselves or they could imagine what a favourite toy might be like.

When they have drawn their toys move the class into pairs and ask them to show their favourite toy to their partner and explain what it is about the toy they really like, and what they like doing with their toy.

Now ask the children to put the pictures to one side and make an image of them both with their toys. They might be playing with them together or separately. When you clap your hands they can bring these images to life. See some of the improvisations and hear about what they like about their favourite toys.

STAGE THREE: PAIR IMPROVISATIONS – ACTING OUT/FREEZE FRAME/THOUGHT TRACK •Ask them to imagine one of them has lost their favourite toy and act out what happens. What

does the friend say to them? Do they try and find the toy? What happens if they can’t find it?

•See one or two of the improvisations and discuss how the children feel if they do find the toy and how they feel if they don’t. Is it possible to replace a favourite toy? What can the friend do to make them feel better?

STAGE FOUR: DOGGER STORY WHOOSH•A Story Whoosh is a way of acting out a story with the whole class, that allows you to see the

main narrative, action and characters in a story in broad brush strokes. It is important to go around the circle with each child taking part in turn, making it an accessible and inclusive activity

TEACHER RESOURCES

in which all children contribute to telling the story. As the teacher, you will need to take an active narrator/director role and support the children in the creation of the images.

•This Story Whoosh is based on the story by Shirley Hughes. You could read the story looking at the pictures with the children before acting it out.

•With the children in a circle, read out each line of the Story Whoosh, taking it in turns around the circle ask the children to come up and act out the different moments in the story. Explain that they can play objects and animals as well as the main characters of the story. Children can repeat the lines of text that the characters say after you, or you can just read them aloud as children show the moment.

•When you come to a Whoosh in the story, the children who are making the images go back to their seats, and you invite the next children in the circle to make the next section of the story.

STAGE FIVE: PAIRS IMPROVISATION

Ask the children to get into pairs and imagine they are Bella in her bed and Dave in his bed that night, both cuddling up to their cuddly toys and talking about the day. Ask all the pairs to imagine the conversation that Bella and Dave have. Ask a few pairs to continue their discussion between Bella and Dave so that the rest of the group can hear.

Why do you think Bella was so kind to Dave?

Do you think it was hard for her to give up her prize?

What might have been going through her head just before she made the decision?

What might Dave want to say to Bella?

STAGE SIX: THE MAGIC TOYS

Start by narrating the following story of the old lady (or old man) and the Magic Toys: An old lady has been collecting lost toys that she has found on walks that she takes each day to the shops, library or the park. When she finds a toy she worries that the toy should not be left out alone in the cold or the wet and so she takes the toy home to look after it.

She puts all of these toys into her sitting room and she grows to love them.

Every night before she goes to bed she says goodnight to the toys and wonders who they might belong to and whether that child is missing their toy. Little does she know that once she shuts the sitting room door at night the toys come to life. One morning she realizes that the toys are not in the same place she left them the night before. They seem to have moved.

Play a game of Magic Toys:

•Ask the children find a space in the hall, and to imagine they are one of the lost toy’s in the Old man or lady’s sitting room.

•Explain that when you turn your back the toys come to life and move around, changing places with each other. But the old lady must not see them move.

•As the ‘old person’ exclaim that it is time for bed, say goodnight to the toys and set off for bed.

•Turn back around as if you’ve forgotten something and then act as if you’re confused – ‘I’m sure

TEACHER RESOURCES

that toy was over there by the window and that one was on the table next to the TV.’

•Repeat this game a few times, each time being more confused about where you left the toys.

•Continue to narrate the story: this happens a few nights in a row and one evening the old lady decides to get up in the middle of the night to find out what is going on. She creeps downstairs, opens the door and catches the toys all moving around and swapping places.

Teacher in Role

• In role as the old lady (or man) catch the Magic Toys and begin to talk to them, asking them what they are doing.

•Now move the discussion on to ask the toys about themselves and their former life:

Where were they lost?

Who is their owner?

What was their life like with their child? How did they look after them, play with them and care for them?

Do they think their owner will be missing them?

How would their owner feel if they were discovered again?

Would they like to try and be returned to their owner or stay here with you?

•Depending on the children’s responses in-role as the toys come up with a plan of action, maybe you could ask for their ideas and help in re-uniting them with their owners. You could write a poster that could be put up in the library or a shop window or on a tree or lamppost.

• In role as the Old Lady, explain that you will be the friend that can help them and in return they can help you. It may be that you don’t want them to leave and finds it difficult to let them go. By playing this reality you can pose a problem that they feel compelled to help resolve. Is there something they can think of that will help her in this difficult moment? Why are the toys important to her? Did she have a toy as a child that she lost and has never been able to replace?

•Come out of role and as a whole class decide how you would like the story to end, make sure you are happy with the resolution for all characters in the story.

TEACHER RESOURCES

SEQUENCE THREE

FRIENDSAIMS

•To consider what happens when you want to play one thing and another person wants to play another?

•To experience sharing ideas and collaborating.

•To explore what it is like to try and share others ideas and how it can build friendships.

STRATEGIES

Whole Group Drama Games, Pair Work, Story Whoosh, Teacher in Role, Pair improvisation.

RESOURCES

Pip and Posy The Snowy Day story book by Axel Scheffler.

TIME

45 mins


STAGE ONE: WARM UP GAMES

- Yes let’s

•This exercise allows the children to experience what it is like to simply say ‘yes’ to the ideas of others and in turn to have everyone say ‘yes’ and participate in their suggestion.

•Explain to the children that you are all going to play a game together called ‘Yes, let’s’ in this game the children make suggestions as to what activity you could all mime doing. For example, if someone says ‘Let’s all gallop on horses/swim in custard/climb a beanstalk!’ Every calls back ‘Yes, lets!’ and mimes doing this for a few seconds. You can use a tambourine or drum to signal it is another person’s turn to make a suggestion. Explain to the children that they should put their hand up when they have an idea and each person is allowed one turn.

What did they like about this game?

Was there anything they didn’t like?

How did it feel when everyone said yes and tried your idea out?

TEACHER RESOURCES

Puppet Partners

•This exercise asks that the children experience what it is like to say ‘yes’ and follow someone else’s decision-making as well as to experience taking the lead.

• In pairs, explain that they are going to take turns to be a puppet and the puppeteer. The puppet needs to lie on the ground. The puppeteer chooses which (imaginary) string to pull to operate the puppet. If the puppeteer pulls an imaginary string above the left leg that leg rises up. When the puppeteer lowers the imaginary string the leg will be lowered. If the puppeteer pulls an imaginary string above the right arm. That arm rises. It is important to remind the children that the puppeteer does not touch the puppet. The puppet moves only when the puppeteer gently pulls up and lowers the imaginary strings. Practise doing it slowly at first, before trying to move around the room. Swap over so that the puppet now becomes the puppeteer. Discuss:

What was it like doing this exercise?

How did it feel to lead? How did it feel to follow?

Which did you prefer and why?

Opposites

•This games asks the children to consider what it is like if someone always does the opposite of what you ask?

•Gather the children into a circle and stand in the middle. Explain to the children that this game is called ‘Opposites’. It is a call and response game. The person in the middle has six paired words with actions to choose from. They call out and perform one of the six paired words. The rest of the class in the circle then call out and perform the opposite. If you say ‘Yes’ they say ‘No’.

Yes (nodding head up and down) / No (shaking head from side to side)

Stop (Hand held out in front showing stop signal)/ Go (running very fast on the spot)

Up (standing up on tip toe) / Down (crouching down)

Yum (rubbing your tummy) / Yuck (poking your tongue out)

Sunshine (making a big sunshine with your hands) / Pitter Patter (Doing drops of rain with your fingers)

Mouse (Giving yourself little mouse whiskers)/ Rabbit (hopping up and down with big ears)

•Encourage children who are ‘the callers’ to play the game as if they really want the rest of the class to do what they say and show how they feel when people do the opposite.

What did it feel like when no-one followed your lead?

Have there been times in your life when you’ve wanted other people to do what you want them to do and they won’t do it?

STAGE TWO: THE SNOWY DAY STORY WHOOSH•With the children in a circle, read out each line of the Story Whoosh (Resource 2). Taking it in

turns around the circle, ask the children to come up and act out the different moments in the story. Explain that they can play objects/animals as well as the main characters of the story. Children can repeat the lines of text that the characters say, or you can just read them aloud as

TEACHER RESOURCES

children show the moment.

•When you come to a whoosh in the story, the children who are in the circle making the images go back to their seats, and then start with the next children in the circle to make the next section of the story.

TEACHER RESOURCES

SEQUENCE FOUR

BETTER WITH A FRIEND?AIMS

•To consider whether some games are better when played with others.

•To explore the nature of friendship and sharing experiences through the Story Whoosh Iris and Isaac.

•To look at what happens when we fall out with our friends.

STRATEGIES

Whole Class Drama Game, Pair Work, Story Whoosh, Pair Improvisation, Thought Track.

RESOURCES

Isaac and Iris story book by Catherine Rayner.

TIME

45 mins


STAGE ONE: WARM UP GAMES

Anyone Who

•This game gives children the opportunity to consider how we share interests and sometimes differ in the toys and games we like, and how that makes the world a more interesting place. What would the world be like if we all liked the same thing?

•Gather the children into a circle. Explain to the children that you are going to say something/ make a statement starting with the words ‘Anyone who…’ and if they agree with what you say they stand up and come to the middle of the circle. For example:

Anyone who likes to ride on a scooter

Anyone who likes cuddly toys

Anyone who likes to make a den

Anyone who likes to look at the stars

TEACHER RESOURCES

Anyone who ………….

•Discuss what it is like when lots of people share the same idea and what it is like when only one or two people agree on something.

Nose to Floor / Nose to Nose

•This exercise aims to encourage the children to consider how much fun sharing a game can be.

•Firstly, ask the children to find a space in the room to stand in on their own. Explain to them that you are going to call out parts of the body and that the children need to make sure that part of the body is touching the floor. You might like to try:

Nose to floor

Nose and two thumbs to floor

Two heels and bottoms to floor

•Now ask the children to find a partner. Explain that this time the body parts must touch their partner. You could try:

Thumbs to thumbs (both of their thumbs touching both of their partner’s thumbs)

Tummy to tummy and nose to nose

Knees to knees and cheek to cheek

Back to back and ear to ear

•Discuss what it was like playing the game first using the floor and then with a partner. Which version of the games did they enjoy more and why?

•Discuss what other games are more fun to play with someone else.

STAGE TWO: IRIS AND ISAAC STORY WHOOSH•Show the children the first page of the book (Isaac and Iris sitting back to back) and read the line

‘Iris and Isaac were not friends anymore.’

•Discuss: How can we tell from the picture that the bears are not friends?

Is there anything different you notice about each of them?

Why do you imagine they might not be friends?

•Ask everyone to have a go at showing Iris’s position at the beginning of the story, and then Isaac’s. Can they describe how they feel in that position and what Isaac and Iris might be thinking?

•Read the rest of the story to the class, showing them the pictures.

•Move the class into a circle and act out the Isaac and Iris Story Whoosh (Resource 3).

STAGE THREE: PAIRS ACTIVITYTell the class that this time; they’re going to act out parts of the story in pairs and that you will tell them the different moments they can act out together. Explain that if you say FREEZE, you will thought track the bears in the story, so we can hear what they are thinking at that moment.

TEACHER RESOURCES

1. Isaac trying to get in Iris’ snow nest – wriggling and nudging.

2. Iris sees that they have flattened the nest with all their wriggling and nudging. Iris stomps off in one direction. Isaac stomps off in another.

3. Iris sees the ducks. Isaac sees the foxes (freeze and thought track).

4. Iris sees the ice cave. Isaac sees the northern lights.

5. Isaac then sees Iris (thought track). They come back together.

6. Together they make a new snow cave – patting and shaping – and curl up inside together.

STAGE FOUR: TALKING ABOUT THEIR DAY•Explain that, inside the snow cave, Isaac and Iris talked about what happened that day. First, ask

what might they say to each other about what they had each seen and done that day? Then ask what might they want to say to each other now they are back together.

•Let all the pairs have a go at improvising this conversation. Freeze the class and ask a few pairs to continue their conversation so that the rest of the group can hear what their Isaac and Iris are saying to each other.

TEACHER RESOURCES

SEQUENCE FIVE

FAVOURITE TOYSAIMS

•To revisit and recall what the children saw in the play

•To explore the children’s responses to what happens in the play

STRATEGIES

Story Whoosh, Circle Time Discussion.

RESOURCES

Seesaw Story Whoosh (Resource 4).

TIME

30 mins


STAGE ONE: SEESAW STORY WHOOSH

•Set up a circle and explain that you are going to act out the story of the play they came to see at the Unicorn Theatre.

•Act out the Seesaw Story Whoosh part one (Resource 4)

STAGE TWO: PAIRED DISCUSSIONS•Move the class into pairs and ask one of the pairs to play the girl or the boy and the other person

to be someone in their family later that day. Who might they tell about what happened? It might be a brother or sister, or a parent or grandparent. Ask the children to imagine the conversation the girl or boy had that evening and how much they would say about their time in the sandpit. It might start with the relative asking: How was your day today, what did you do?

•Alternatively ask all the children to be the girl or the boy and you could play the relative asking them questions about their day and what they did in the park.

• Return to the Story Whoosh and continue with Part Two. You could stop the story at any time and create a time later in the day when one of the children is talking about what happened that day.

TEACHER RESOURCES

STAGE THREE: CIRCLE TIME DISCUSSION

How does the Girl feel when she can’t find Hairy?

Does the Boy help the Girl find Hairy?

What does the Girl like doing?

What does the Boy like doing?

Do they like doing anything together?

Do they have any disagreements?

How do they make things better when they have an argument?

Have they made friends at the end of the play?

TEACHER RESOURCES

SEQUENCE SIX

REFLECTING ON THE SHOWAIMS

•To reflect on the play and revisit the moments which have stayed with your pupils.

•To explore the relationship between the girl and the boy and reflect on the themes of collaborating, sharing and providing support for one another.

•To reflect on the set, lighting, music and sound effects in the show.

STRATEGIES

Circle Time and Pair Discussion, Acting Out and Freeze Frames.

RESOURCES

Music from the show.

TIME

45 mins


STAGE ONE: THINKING BACK AND REMEMBERING

You may like to play some music in the background during this exercise.

•Ask the children to find a space on their own, lie down and close their eyes. Ask them to think back to the show (you could talk them through your journey to the theatre, up to the point the show began) and to answer the following questions in their heads:

What did you see?

Can you think of three different things the children did in the show?

What did you hear? Did you hear any music or other sounds during the show?

Can you remember any words that were said?

Did you touch anything? What did it feel like?

What did you think about?

TEACHER RESOURCES

What did you feel?

How did the Girl lose her toy rabbit? How did she feel when she found it?

How did the Girl and the Boy get on?

•Gather the children into a circle, re-ask the questions and hear some of their responses.

STAGE TWO: RECREATING MOMENTS• In pairs, ask the children to discuss a moment from the show that they can remember very clearly

and ask them to describe it to their partner in as much detail as possible. Teachers may want to model this to the class first. Pairs should discuss one person’s moment first and then the other person’s.

•Hear some of these moments back.

•Now ask the pairs to practice acting out one moment and then the other; they only need to be five seconds or so long. Remind the children that they can include what they remember the characters saying to each other. Ask the children to end each moment with a freeze frame, so that it is clear when it has finished.

• In a circle, explain that each pair will come into the middle and show their two moments, performing one and then the other. Ask them to hold the freeze frame at the end of the first moment, before moving into the second moment.

•Use a percussion instrument, like a triangle or a drum, to signal for the pairs to move from one moment to the next and for the next pair to come into the circle, so that the acting out is given some structure and a sense of performance.

•After all the pairs have shown their moments, ask the class to discuss the moments they chose. It is fine if there are multiple interpretations of the same moment – you could discuss with the class why this moment might be such a popular choice.

STAGE THREE: SEESAW – THE THEATRE EXPERIENCE•Using the images provided (Resources 5 and 6) ask the children what they remembered about

the set, music, lights, props and costume.

•Explain that everything they saw and heard had been chosen and decided on by the designer, the director and the musical director. Discuss some of the things the children noticed, for example: the children’s clothing (costumes) in different scenes, the leaves dropping from the sky, the lighting and sound during the storm scene.

Can the children imagine why the company chose the things they did?

Is there anything they would have done differently?

•Discuss the way in which theatre is different to films and television and the way in which we all use our imaginations when we are watching a play.

TEACHER RESOURCES

RESOURCE ONE - STORY WHOOSH SCRIPT - DOGGER

There was a boy called Dave.

His favourite toy was a soft brown toy dog called Dogger. He loved cuddling him.

Dave took Dogger everywhere.

Sometimes Dave pulled Dogger on a lead made of string like a real dog.

Whoosh

When it was cold Dave wrapped Dogger in a blanket

Whoosh

When he got really dirty he washed him in a bowl of soapy water and hung him on the washing line to dry.

Whoosh

One afternoon Dave took Dogger with him when he and his mum went to collect his big sister Bella from school.

In the school playground they were getting ready for the school summer fair.

Dave pushed Dogger through the railings so he could get a better look.

Bella came out of school. ‘Can we have an ice cream mum?’ said Bella.

Their Mum gave them some money and they rushed to the ice cream van.

They walked home enjoying their ice creams.

Whoosh

At Bedtime Dave couldn’t find Dogger.

Mum helped Dave look everywhere – they looked under the bed, behind the cupboard, underneath the stairs.

Bella helped too and took all the toys (train set, superhero doll, dinosaur, robot) out of the toy box to check if Dogger was there.

Dad came home searched outside in the garden with his torch.

Nobody could find Dogger.

Whoosh

Dave was very sad when he went to bed.

Bella lent him one of her teddies but it was not the same as having Dogger.

Whoosh

The next day Dave, Bella and Dad went to the school fair.

There were lots of different stalls.

Bella won first prize in the Raffle. It was a huge Teddy Bear almost as big as Dave.

Bella gave the bear a huge hug.

RESOURCES

Dave didn’t like the bear at all. He was really missing Dogger so he went sadly off on his own to look at the stalls.

Whoosh

Dave went to look at the toy stall. There were lots of different toys there. And right at the back there was Dogger sitting amongst other toys; a doll, some animals, a despicable me doll. Dave had label on him saying 5p.

Dave checked in his pockets. He only had 3p. It wasn’t enough!

Whoosh

Dave ran to find Mum and Dad but he couldn’t find them, he found Bella and told her what had happened.

They rushed back to the toy stall.

But something terrible had happened. Dogger had just been bought by a little girl!

Dave began to cry.

Bella said ‘Dogger actually belongs to Dave could we please buy him back?’ But the little girl said ‘No!’

Dave cried and cried.

Whoosh

Bella seeing Dave so upset did something very kind.

She said to the girl ‘can we swap Dogger for this teddy Bear I won in the raffle?’

The little girl said yes and they swapped teddies.

Dave hugged Dogger and he hugged Bella too.

‘Thank you, Bella’ he said.

Whoosh – the end

RESOURCES

RESOURCE TWO - STORY WHOOSH SCRIPT - PIP AND POSY

It was a very snowy day.

Pip and Posy wanted to go out and play.

So they put on their warm jumpers, their stripy socks, their puffy coats, their waterproof boots, their cosy scarves and their woollen mittens.

Whoosh

Pip and Posy went out into the snow.

Wherever they walked they left big footprints.

Whoosh

They caught snowflakes on their tongues.

Whoosh

They lay down in the snow and made snow angels with big wings.

Whoosh

Next they pulled their sledge up to the top of the hill and zoomed down the other side. ‘Wheeeee!’ they shouted.

It was a lot of fun.

Whoosh

Then Posy had an idea.

‘Let’s build a snowmouse!’ she said.

‘But I want a snowRABBIT!’ said Pip

They both started to build and argue.

‘SnowMOUSE!’ said Posy.

‘SnowRABBIT!!’ said Pip.

A group of children were playing snowball fights, but stopped their game and watched as Pip and Posy built and argued.

Whoosh

Posy was so cross with Pip that she threw the snowmouse’s head at him!

Oh dear!

Pip was so cross with Posy that he pushed her and she fell into the snow.

Oh dear!

Now both Pip and Posy were very cold and very sad indeed.

The other children looked on.

Whoosh

RESOURCES

Then Posy did a very kind thing. She brushed the snow off Pip. ‘I am sorry for making you all snowy, Pip.’

Pip then brushed the snow off Posy. ‘And I am sorry for pushing you, said Pip.’

They decided to go inside again where it was nice and warm.

Whoosh

Inside they took off all of their wet things; their wet gloves, scarves, boots, coats and socks.

And they got out their playdough and made mice AND rabbits.

And frogs and pigs and birds and elephants and cows and giraffes as well. Hooray!

Whoosh – The End

RESOURCES

RESOURCE THREE - STORY WHOOSH SCRIPT - ISAAC AND IRIS

Iris and Isaac are not friends anymore.

Whoosh

Iris had made a snow nest and had got in.

Isaac had tried to get in too – wriggling and nudging and shoving…

Until – they realised all their nudging and wiggling had flattened the snow nest.

Iris stomps off one way, Isaac stomps off the other way.

Whoosh

Iris sees some Eider Ducks, soaring and swooping high in the sky. (Choose five or so children to play the ducks).

‘Look it’s the ducks!’ she said. But Isaac was not there to see them.

Whoosh

Isaac, stomping, sees some Arctic Foxes playing on the snow.

‘That looks like fun’ he says and sighs.

Whoosh

Iris, trudging, sees a huge echoey ice cave (four or so children to make a cave). The rest of the class can echo back when Iris speaks into the cave.

‘Oh wow, Isaac would love this’. If only he was here.

Whoosh

Isaac, plodding sadly, sees the northern lights. (five or so children to play the lights flickering).

‘Iris adores the lights’ I wish she was here to see them too.

Whoosh

Isaac wanders further, until he sees the most wonderful thing.

It’s Iris.

The bears back together.

Whoosh

Iris and Isaac are happy again. They shuffle, nudge, pat and shape a perfect snow nest to curl up inside together.

Whoosh – The End

RESOURCES

RESOURCE FOUR - STORY WHOOSH SCRIPT - SEESAW

Part One

A little girl is playing with her toy rabbit Hairy in the sand pit.

She hugs Hairy.

She hops like a rabbit.

She draws in the sand with a stick ‘I can draw everything. I can draw mountains. I can draw houses’.

‘I need to go to the toilet’.

The girl runs off.

Whoosh

A boy comes to the sandpit drinking from an apple juice carton with a straw.

He finishes his apple juice and throws it on the sand ‘sorry’. He picks it up and puts it in the bin.

He goes to the seesaw and sits on one end to play rockets ’10, 9, 8, 7………..Blast Off!’

‘Oh dear’. The seesaw cannot blast off as there is nobody else on the other end.

Whoosh

The girl returns looking for her toy Rabbit.

‘Hairy? Hairy?’ She can’t find him.

The boy is scooping leaves into piles, saying ‘more leaves, more leaves’.

The girl asks him ‘Where’s Hairy? Are you hiding him?’

The boy scoops more leaves into a pile.

Girl ‘What’s that? Let me see’. She sweeps the pile of leaves with her stick.

The boy grabs her stick.

The girl says ‘Let go. It’s mine.’ She pulls the stick from the boy.

The boy falls over and runs off.

Whoosh

The girl is digging in the sand looking for her toy rabbit ‘are you in the ground Hairy?’

The boy comes on and starts to build up piles of sand.

The girl says ‘Hello Sandpit Boy’ and joins him.

She says ‘Pat it down carefully’.

He says ‘Pat it flat’.

She says ‘It’s a mountain’.

He says ‘No. it’s a space rocket’.

RESOURCES

She says ‘It’s a volcano mountain. Look!’

She throws sand into the air making volcanic explosion noises. ‘Pfwoosh!’

The boy joins her. ‘Pfwoosh!’

Sand goes in the girl’s face.

Girl ‘Owwww!’

Whoosh

RESOURCES

Part two

The girl is standing on her tiptoes looking for Hairy. ‘Hairy where are you?!’

The boy comes on with a carton of drink.

‘Hello Sandpit Boy. Can I have some drink?’

‘No you drink it all’.

‘No I don’t’.

He turns away.

Whoosh

The girl gets onto the seesaw. ‘I need to go up’

The boy gets on to the seesaw. They seesaw up and down.

She says ‘I’m a hopping rabbit!’

Boy ‘I’m a rocket!’

They laugh as they go up and down.

Whoosh

The Boy jumps off seesaw and says ‘I need to go toilet’.

Girl ‘Can I have some drink?’

Boy ‘No, my drink………..I need to go toilet!’

Boy runs off leaving the drink behind.

Girl picks up drink. Finishes it and throws carton in the bin.

Whoosh

Girl is drawing with stick in the sand.

Boy runs on. ‘Where’s my drink?!’

Girl ‘in the bin’.

Boy ‘You drank it all on purpose, you are not nice!

Boy grabs the stick.

Girl ‘Let go!’

Boy pushes girl, goes to the bin and drops the stick in. Boy runs off.

Girl sits on sand and feels something underneath it. She digs and pulls out Hairy.

Girl ‘It’s you! You came back!’

Whoosh

A summers day. Girl has arranged winter clothes on the sand to form a rocket shape.

She talks to Hairy; ‘These are the wings and these are the controls for the counting down.’

RESOURCES

Boy comes on. ‘It’s Hairy! He hopped home. Space rocket! Can I help?’

The girl turns away clutching Hairy.

Boy runs off and runs back on with two juice cartons. ‘Do you want a drink?’

Whoosh

They both drink their juice. Girl finishes and drops juice on sand.

Boy ‘You got to bin the drink box’.

Girl ‘You do it. You bin things’.

Boy ‘Have to go home now. Tidy up time.’

The boy scoops up Hairy and the ‘rocket’ clothes.

Girl ‘give him back! They have a tug of war with Hairy.

Boy wins tug of war.

Girl ‘You are a horrible person!’

Boy gives Hairy to girl and runs off.

Girl ‘Sorry Sandpit boy!’

Whoosh

Another Day.

Girl goes to Seesaw. Puts Hairy on one end. Sits on the other end. Can’t Seesaw.

Boy appears ‘Hello. Hello Hairy’.

He puts Hairy gently on middle of Seesaw and climbs on to other end of the Seesaw.

Girl ’10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4…….

Boy ‘3,2,1!

They both make blast off noises and laugh.

Boy ‘Do you want some drink?’

Girl ‘You’ve only got one’.

Boy ‘But you not got a drink’.

Girl ‘I promise I won’t drink it all.’.

They share the juice.

Whoosh – The End

RESOURCES

RESOURCE FIVE - IMAGES FROM THE SHOW

RESOURCES

RESOURCE SIX - IMAGES OF PLAYGROUND OBJECTS

•Drinks Carton https://goo.gl/images/PKnPzx

•Stick https://goo.gl/images/5XzE9b

•Sandpit http://www.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Content.aspx?PageID=521&ItemID=19

•Seesaw https://goo.gl/images/mDNXfP

•Rabbit https://goo.gl/images/wJJBNx

•Bin http://www.recycledesign.com/receptacles.html

•Leaf https://goo.gl/images/KFGhDq

RESOURCES

SEESAWA Unicorn production

By Stewart MeltonDirected by Sarah Argent Resource pack written by Leonie Dodd and Catherine Greenwood

SEESAW - Unicorn Theatre teacher... · 2017. 12. 15. · Seesaw, back following a successful run in...

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Transcript of SEESAW - Unicorn Theatre teacher... · 2017. 12. 15. · Seesaw, back following a successful run in...