THEATRE GAME

Run in place, lean back, knees high. Stretch.

"Right and Left"

You will need two lightweight objects – bean bags, stuffed socks or stuffed animals - for children to safely pass around.
Optional: Music

The group stands in a circle and pretend to grab a balloon high from above. Tell the children to pass the pretend balloon to their neighbour on the right and reach up for another balloon, that they pass again to the right. After a minute or so say "Freeze". Now the imaginary ball must be passed in the opposite direction; to the neighbour on the left. After a minute or so interchange: one balloon goes to the right, the next to the left, and the next to the right.

Group sits in a circle. Hand out the two bags, socks or stuffed animals and say: Go! Or start the music. The children must pass the bags in opposite directions (if this is too hard at first use one bag) until you say "Freeze". The children with the bags in hand stand and run around the circle in opposite directions.

If the bag was received from the right, the child runs to the left. When the two meet they exchange the bags, sit in each other's place and pass the ball to the neighbor on the right.

The group is encouraged to speak out if a child runs in the wrong direction or sits in the wrong spot.

​Older Children
​Motor skills

Line up seven to ten at a time. The child at one end has a bean bag (or something). S/he takes it with one hand, passes it to the other hand, and hands it to his/her neighbor. This must move smoothly, not too fast but without pause and looking straight ahead. Without pausing they send the ball back the same way. The second time around toss the ball. The third time around toss the ball back and forth once before tossing it to the neighbour. 


PHONICS and VERBS

Cat, Nap, Rat, Mat, Brat.  Hat, Lap, Map, Sat, Bat
Slap, Sleep, Slip, Slope, Slump.  Slam, Sleet, Slim, Slow, Slum

Conjugate
To sleep, To eat, To sit

(Please refer to the sample Lesson Plan for details)


MIME

1
Two actors:
Actor A must walk around sneaky, looking for something. Look under imaginary objects, behind imaginary bookshelves, move stuff. Every so often look around to see if anyone is following. The Guard appears. Actor A freezes and pretends to be a statue. The Guard walks slowly around A, suspicious, and leaves. A goes back to searching. The Guard walks in again...

2

Three or more actors:
Actors B, C and D follow Actor A close behind taking the same steps, right foot left foot. 
When the Guard/s appear they all freeze in different positions as statues.



DIALOGUE

You will need: a chair, a hat, a string, tape.
Place the hat​ center stage, on the ground, with a string attached so you can pull it from afar. 

​Two actors. A is sleeping on a chair with a newspaper over his/her face. B runs up to A. You can also have more than two actors for the same dialogue

- Wake up! Wake up!
- What's the matter?
- There's a rat!
- What! Where?
- Under the hat.
- Under the hat?
- I just said that. Under the hat.
- How about that. 
- I don't like rats. 
- Where's the cat?

Actor A slowly, hesitantly, walks up to the hat. B follows identically behind like a shadow, step by step. They both stoop at the same time over the hat, and look at each other. A slowly puts a hand out to pick it up but the hat suddenly moves. They jump back. A backs up, turns and runs offstage. B stays as if frozen in time. The hat is pulled quickly offstage and B activates: - Wait for me!

​WORD GAME

Write sentences in the present tense (The rat is under the hat, Jo is sleeping on the chair...)  And write each word of all the sentences on index cards. More complicated? Add a card with the word "not". Even more? Change to the past tense.

Children sit with all the cards in the center upside down (except for "not" which is face up) and take turns turning the cards upright, one at a time. As soon as the words appear to make a correct sentence - any sentence even if it's silly and not the same as the ones on the board - encourage the group to look carefully. The first child/ren to find it is the one that gets to turn the cards face down and shuffle them around, and be the first to start. 

SONG

This cat song is very cool!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjMffHG1V_Q


FORUM

​What does it mean to be spoiled? Is it a good thing to have everything we want as soon as we want it?
What's the difference between what we desire and what is necessary?
What do we take for granted? The refrigerator, light bulbs... What would happen if all the electricity were turned off?
Caruso

Lesson Plan
Cats were domesticated about 10,000 years ago by the Cyprians and the Egyptians. The Egyptians loved their cats very much and when one died they shaved off their eyebrows to show their grief.

There are 33 different breeds of domestic cats. All cats are born with blue eyes and can't see well close up. They need five time more protein than dogs, sleep 16 hours a day and spend 30 percent of their time awake grooming.

Cats have 30 muscles in each ear, which they can turn at 180 degrees. They walk by moving both left feet then both right feet. The only other animals to walk this way are the camel and the giraffe.

Cats will never "miao" to another cat. "Miao" is only used to communicate with humans. They wag their tails when they can't decide what to do, and knead with their paws when they're happy. They like to eat parsley, which is good for them, but they hate the smell of lemon or orange.

The world record for mouse catching was made by a 21 year old cat called Towser, with 28,899 mice.

The cat door was invented in the 17th century by Sir Isacc Newton. He also discovered the universal laws of gravitation.
CAT FACTS

The first cat appeared 30 million years ago, and domesticated about 10,000 years ago by the Cyprians and the Egyptians. The Egyptians loved their cats and when one died they shaved off their eyebrows to show their grief.

Cats have survived falls 33 stories to the ground.

They make about 100 different sounds, dogs make about 10.

A cat's nose is unique, like a thumbprint. 

There are 33 different breeds of domestic cats. All cats are born with blue eyes and can't see well close up. They sleep 16 hours a day and spend 30 percent of their time awake grooming.

Cats have 30 muscles in each ear that they can turn at 180 degrees. They walk by moving both left feet then both right feet. The only other animals to walk this way are the camel and the giraffe.

Cats will never "miao" to another cat. "Miao" is only used to communicate with humans. They wag their tails when they can't decide what to do, and knead with their paws when they're happy. They like to eat parsley, which is good for them.

The world record for mouse catching was made by a 21 year old cat called Towser, with 28,899 mice.

The cat door was invented in the 17th century by Sir Isacc Newton. He also discovered the universal laws of gravitation.