The following activities are explained in full detail in the order they are found in the recipes. All other theater games and activities are either explained in the narrative section of this curriculum unit or their source of origin is listed in the “Ingredients.”
Recipe #1
“Three Changes”
Materials
None
Time
20 minutes
Goal
To develop concentration and powers of observation.
Description
Select three student volunteers. Ask them to stand in front of the class. The class members should be told to look at the three students very carefully as they will soon step out into the hall and change three things about their appearance, e.g., push up a sleeve, untie a shoe, take off a watch. The three students should make their changes quickly. When they re-enter the room their classmates will guess the “three changes” one change, one student at a time.
Variation: The students face each other in two lines. Each student has a partner that he observes carefully. The students turn their backs to one another and each makes three changes in their appearances simultaneously. The teacher calls the cue for everyone to turn and face their partner. Taking turns the students guess the three changes that were made by their partners. ***Instead of three changes why not make five changes or even ten. As more changes are made the players are forced to become more creative and inventive.
Recipe #2
“Clay” or “Sculptures”
Materials
None
Time
15-30 minutes
Goals
-
1. To experience the variety of ways in which the human body can be moved and shaped.
-
2. To learn to work together
Description
The teacher directs all the action. A volunteer is chosen to stand in front of the class and to pretend to be a piece of clay. The person as clay can not talk, walk, wiggle, giggle, or move. One at a time the students come up and gently move and shape the clay moving that person into a statue or sculpture-like position. The teacher may ask a student to freeze as he is touching the clay. He then becomes a piece of clay too and is now part of the whole statue or sculpture. All of this is done in silence.
Variations
The students may be asked to work in pairs with one person acting as the clay and the other as the sculptor. Or the students may act as both the clay and the sculptor as they build one at a time, a sculpture depicting a specific action or emotion, e.g., The students might create an angry statue wherein each person freezes one at a time connecting to a previous participant and showing their personal interpretation of anger.
Recipe #3
“Put Your Hands Up in the Air”
“The Alphabet Song”
Materials
None
Time
5-10 minutes
Goals
To help the students warm-up their voices and bodies in a coordinated, creative, and fun manner.
Description
The teacher must learn these rhymes and teach them to the children who can learn them as they do them. Each rhyme is filled with movements, actions, and gestures the children perform as they are speaking the rhymes.
Put your hands up in the air,
Put your hands on your nose.
Put your hands up in the air,
Bend down and touch your toes.
Everybody turn around.
Let’s all jump up and down.
Put your right hand in the air,
Put your right hand on your nose.
Put your left hand in the air,
Bend down and touch your toes.
Everybody turn around.
Let’s all jump up and down.
Put your right hand in the air,
Put your right hand on your hips.
Put your left hand in the air.
Put both hands on your hips.
Everybody turn around.
Let’s all jump up and down.
Walk back quietly to your seat.
Don’t let the teacher hear your feet.
Put your hands in your lap.
Bow your head and take a nap.
Bow your head. . .
And take a nap.
Recipe #4
-
A...is for arms to stretch out wide, stretch them out from side to side.
-
B...is for bend that knees can do. Bend your knees in front of you.
-
C...is for clap your hands up high. Clap them up to the sky.
-
D...is for down to touch your toes. Up and down, follow your nose.
-
E...is for eyes and E is for ears. Blink your eyes and wiggle your ears.
-
F...is for the funny things your do. Hop with one foot in back of you.
-
G...is for a goose that walks with a waddle. Walk and walk and waddle and waddle.
-
H...is for hands that you shake. Shake them hard. They won’t break.
-
I...is for the innings in a baseball game. Throw the baseball. Watch your aim.
-
J...is for Jack all curled up in a box. Pop up when the top unlocks.
-
K...is for kick your legs to the side, like a bronco cowboy rides.
-
L...is for laugh and happy you will be. Ha, ha, ha! Hee, hee, hee!
-
M...is for march in one straight line. March in place and keep your time.
-
N...is for nose. Now, breathe your best. Take a breathe and fill your chest.
-
O...is for over the puddle you step. Great big steps or you’ll get wet.
-
P...is for pull your tummy in. Pull it in and in and in.
-
Q...is for quietly sit in your chair. Now, roar like a big old bear.
-
R...is for row your boat along. Stretch and pull your arms back strong.
-
S...is for stand with toes straight ahead, hands on hips, and a proud tall head.
-
T...is for twist, the dance you do. Twist your knees in front of you.
-
U...is for up when you look at a star. Bend your head back very far.
-
V...is for the voice that comes from your mouth. Open your mouth as a big as a house.
-
W...is for wind the wool up tight. Around your arms with all your might.
-
X...is for extra strong you’ll stay if you do knee bends every day.
-
Y...is what you say when someone tastes yummy. Pat your head and rub your tummy.
-
Z...is for zero, the end of our game. We’ll play it another day and it will be fun...just the same.
Recipe #5
“Knots”
Materials
None
Time
10-15 minutes
Goals
To encourage children to work together as they solve a tricky problem.
Description
The students should be divided in groups of 5-8 people. The teacher may choose to have several groups work at one time or to allow just one group to work with an audience. This game does overexcite some children so the teacher must be firm in making sure that children follow the rules. If a group cannot solve the problem alone the teacher should feel free to help them out.
The group members begin by standing close to each other in a small circle. They put both hands into the center of the circle and hold onto two different people’s hands until all the hands are jumbled up. When everyone is holding two hands the teacher tells the group to become untangled without once breaking their hands apart, stepping over or going under or doing whatever it takes to come back to a full circle without letting go of each other’s hands. It is rare that a knot can not be untangled. This game demands that people work together, listen to each other, and try to be patient as the knot becomes more tangled before it is untangled.