Christmas Family Show
Based on the book by John Hay & Garry Parsons
TEACHER’S EDUCATION RESOURCE This Education Resource is available for teachers and education practitioners to support young people’s enjoyment and learning around Curve’s production of The Owl Who Came For Christmas In this resource you will find different activities that aim to extend your children’s theatrical experience back in the classroom/nursery setting. Each activity can be adapted to suit the age and ability of your children. All the activities are about using imagination and creativity – there are no limits to the imagination, there are no rights or wrongs here!
The Owl Who Came For Christmas © John Hay and Garry Parsons 2022 – Macmillan Children’s Books
This is how to a run a simple puppet workshop with students using the three principles of puppetry.
ACTIVITY ONE Find some scrap paper or bits of recycling that you have left over. Taking your bit of scrap/recycling ask them to choose where the top is (for the head) and where the bottom of the puppet is (legs or tail). BREATHING Now, imagine the puppet is breathing. How do we breathe? How would the puppet move if it was breathing? LOOKING Now let’s see where the puppet is looking. Is it looking around the room? Can it look at the teacher? Can it look at the other puppets in the room? MOVING Now start imagining that the puppet is moving. How would it move? Slowly? Fast? Gently? Stomping? Gliding?
ACTIVITY TWO Let’s take our puppets on a journey. To do this the teacher/practitioner can use a drum or something to bang on or even just clap to help create a beat. The beat will follow the story and the puppet will follow the beat. Here is a simple plot to follow... Your puppet goes for a walk in the forest It smells the flowers It looks up at the clouds Suddenly there is a loud thump There is another, louder thud! Your puppet looks around to see what it is... It’s a lovely fresh apple fallen from a tree Your puppet takes a juicy bite Ah now it’s stuffed, it curls up for a nap And falls fast asleep You can create your own story or get your young people to add lines to the story.
ACTIVITY ONE Teacher/Practitioner chooses four or five items from around the room that everyone uses all the time – a chair, a table etc. Is there a way we can make those things from natural items? e.g. a chair could be a tree stump, or lots of leaves that make a comfy cushion?
In the story of The Owl Who Came For Christmas, the family choose to buy a real Christmas tree rather than use a plastic one. Questions/discussion point: Plastic trees are good because... Real trees are good because... We’re going to make our own scene now out of natural materials.
Go outside and hunt for the natural items (or if this isn’t possible teacher can bring natural items in). For younger students they can make a collage using the items you have found from nature. For older students you could create mini-installations or “sets” around the room. What do we think worked well? How could we improve on our ideas? Have we made a good set for a play?
ACTIVITY TWO Create a poster or advertisement for one of your set design pieces from natural products that might make people want to buy it. On the poster: • Draw a picture of your set piece • Give it a name (like Comfy Leafy Cushions) • Write three facts about your item (e.g. lightweight, soft, colourful)
ACTIVITY THREE Pitch your new product to the class or ask for a few volunteers who want to pitch. Each pitch should include: • An introduction of yourself and the product • Explain what the product does and what it’s made of • Tell us why it’s good and we should buy it! Things to think about: VOICE – is your voice loud and clear enough for everyone to hear? Imagine you’re in the playground talking to your friend over all the noise – does that help? Do you sound excited about the product? EYE CONTACT – can you look at a minimum of three people when you speak? BODY – can you stand up straight and tall, like your head is trying to touch the ceiling? FACE – smile as you talk! This is your brilliant idea so be proud of it. TIME – keep it short, one minute is plenty.
You can go out on a nature walk to collect these items as a group, or the teacher/practitioner can bring them in.
PINE CONE OWL • Attach wings – you could use leaves, feathers, sticks, or pieces of scrap paper. • Stick on two eyes – you could use scraps of paper, shells, stones, buttons or googly eyes. • Beak – a smaller pine cone, some bark from a tree, a twig, or a scrap of yellow paper. • Experiment with different ideas! What do the children think works well? What other animals could you make?
Here is the rap from The Owl Who Came For Christmas
Peck me a rhythm, peck me a beat Who can tap their furry feet? Flap your wings in the air Swish your tails like you just don’t care Wiggle around like a wiggly worm Fly up high and give us a twirl When I say tweet, you say twooo! Tweet! Twooo! Tweet! Twoooo! You can use this as a call and repeat song, so the teacher/practitioner calls, and everyone repeats. Now add a movement for each action, can you use different parts of your body? Your fingers? Your nose? Your shoulders? (You can make this into a dance routine). Try getting some basic percussion out to jam along to the song – just like the actors in the show! If you don’t have any instruments, what other things do you have in your space that can make great sounds? Pots and pans? Shakers? Can you think of some other animals that live in the forest? How would they move? Can we guess what each other are? Can you think of your own line to add to the rap? e.g. bounce around like a bouncy rabbit!
ACTIVITY ONE Read through the story of The Owl Who Came For Christmas on the storytime mats. For each page, choose a few young people to come up to the front and become the characters you can see on the page. Can the children create a freeze-frame to show the rest of the group what the scene might look like – and then how they would move and sound if they came alive? For every page, choose different children to play the characters in the story so everyone gets a turn. You might find the children remember other characters not in the book (but that were in the play) or with physical items they saw (like trees or a star).
ACTIVITY TWO Split the class into small groups and ask them to create a freeze-frame, like a photo, with no words, about Christmas. E.g. Opening presents, playing in the snow, eating Christmas cake. Now can they add a word or a sound to their freeze frame that they all say that makes their picture come alive. Ask each group to come up and show their freeze frame to the rest of the class. Explain that as the class watch the groups perform, they are becoming an audience. Discuss with them, what makes a good audience? (listening, clapping at the end etc.) Discuss what they liked about coming to the theatre to see the show, or what they are excited about, if they haven’t seen it yet. Have they been to a play or show before? How do they think it is different to watching a film or TV show?
We hope you have enjoyed some of these activities related to
and that you enjoyed the show!
© Macmillan Publishers International Ltd