Plays

Last year I started taking the children to our local theater to experience various plays, musicals and puppetry. During the week, through out the school year, local schools and homeschoolers can attend these shows for only $4 and get pretty incredible seats. We are generally seated within the first 3 rows!

It has now become a part of our regular curriculum and we enjoy watching them together, especially since they are based on popular children’s books. There have been many times that we’ve gone to the library directly after a performance to check out a book the performance was based on!

This year we have seen:
If you give a pig a pancake and other storybooks (musical)
Leo Lionni’s Swimmy, Frederick & Inch by Inch (puppetry)

One of our favorite companies to see is The Mermaid Theater of Nova Scotia.
They are somewhat known for their non shushing shows. Meaning, teachers and parents are encouraged to not shush the children. They want them to get excited about what they are seeing. It is encouraged. While our children tend to whisper, or abstain from talking altogether during the show, they do enjoy when the performers come out at the end of the show to discuss the props that are used in the show and allow the children to ask questions. G-man now spends a good portion of the show trying to figure out how they do the special effects or use the props. Pumpkin and Bear tend to get lost in the story which is also nice to see. I am very proud of the attention span she has at just three years old. Academically she is doing very well. Potty training, not so much!

You can watch a clip from their Swimmy performance here or download the resource guide.
The study guide for If you give a Pig a pancake and other storybooks is here.

Additional Lesson plans:
Swimmy number assessment print out
Leo Lionni Teaching Guide for Swimmy, Frederick and Inch by Inch