Today's workshop was an abundance of active, fun learning and excitement for the children.
Continuing on with our theme of the Wizard of Oz, Margaret began with a series of warm up activities with the children taking on the movement patterns and sounds of the various characters in the Wizard of Oz. They were challenged to recall these characters and their emotions and feelings and use their own knowledge of how a lion might move or indeed a dog or a rusty iron man. The children are becoming really familiar with the story but also how we can show feelings and emotions using our bodies e.g. the cowardly lion lowers his shoulders and folds into himself.
We moved onto musical statues where the children used their acting talents to embody a character from the Wizard of Oz when called out. Margaret prompted with a call and response which took a bit of getting used to for the children but a skill that will be practiced here in anticipation for our call and response upcoming poem.
The final part of the workshop was a real treat for the children as they got to play ‘dress up’. Margaret set up the large shadow screen and the children used props behind the screen to portray different characters....spot a few in the photo's that don't belong to the traditional story! This was a fantastic opportunity for the children to get lost in the fun, use their imaginations and adapt a carefree uninhibited version of themselves. The children had to guess and imagine what the behind the screen character was and even envisage what the ‘story’ behind what they could see was. They were thrilled when their classmate ‘revealed themselves’ to the audience. Each child participated and got a chance to become ‘actors’.
Next week we look forward to developing our own adapted poem for the children's interpretation of the story of the Wizard of Oz and Margaret has promised to bring along a musical surprise for the children to experience in next weeks workshop...!
