Do you ever have a day you wish you could relive over and over?
For me, that day was May 29th when the children at Early Beginnings Academy performed the musical Little Red Riding Hood.
(Click here to read about how the musical was created.)
May 29th was an awesome day. Everyone (parents and family members included) got to see the children SHINE!
Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf meet for the first time
On the left: The Woodsman
Behind: The squirrels in the forest
Flowers in the forest
Here are just some of the ways the children benefit from preparing performances like these:
* Children work on improving their expressive langauge skills by learning lines from the play
* Children work on nonverbal communciation by activating voice output devices to tell the audience: “Act 1” or “Act 2”
* Children have practice memorizing lines and song lyrics
* Children gain in depth knowledge of the character they played. For example, those playing the birds in the forest read books about birds, sketched birds, and had input on what their costume should look like.
* Children were creatively involved by painting the background scenery and helping to create their costumes.
Background Scenery created by the children
* Children work on impulse control by waiting for their turn to say their lines.
* Children role play by “acting” as their character. For example, we really worked on the Big Bad Wolf’s speaking voice so it would sound just like we thought a wolf would.
* Children had the opportunity to see what it felt like to practice each day and have that culminate in a performance in front of a live audience.
There are so many areas that are addressed when a musical is practiced and performed.
The children talked about it for weeks later and kept asking me “Can we go to the Big Room?” (where all our rehearsals were held.)
It was a great day for the children and I felt so proud of them.
To see something that was started on a piece of scratch paper come to life in a live performance complete with costumes, musical numbers, programs, and an audience was truly amazing.
* All pictures used with written parent consent.
Leave A Comment