Clubs4Children

Drama uses a number of skills and is recognised as one of the best learning tools, the world over, for children of all ages who wish to acquire these wide–ranging skills early in life.

During our drama sessions all participants will be given the opportunity to

explore non–verbal communication and learn how to use movement both effectively and expressively
put their trust in others and learn that their actions may affect/limit other peoples
develop agility and co–ordination
take pleasure in their physical self and in interaction with others
develop positive attitudes
increase confidence and self esteem
develop concentration and memory
create and sustain roles
use actions to convey characters
use language effectively
develop spontaneity and improvisation skills
develop scenes and incidents

At the beginning of each session the children will be told which key skills each activity seeks to develop and what the session aims to achieve.

Physical games establish rules and appropriate responses and it is important to spend some time on games and simple exercises to establish boundaries and modes of behaviour before allowing the younger child to move on to anything more complex.

Clapping games develop speaking and listening skills and also work well when used as icebreakers.

Simple movement exercises, such as mirrors, robots, statues, etc. increase spatial awareness and further develop concentration skills. Musical Statues is an excellent example of a valid movement game.

Follow–my–leader and copying games and exercises build confidence and introduce new concepts in a non–threatening way.

Mime work introduces the concept of ’pretending’and allows for roles to develop from the child’s ideas.

Nursery rhymes, songs, stories, music, pictures, sounds, etc. allow young children to respond to a specified context.

The range of drama activities at KS2 would go further and include

participation in a wider range of drama activities
a keener evaluation of their own and others’ contributions to the overall effectiveness of performances
games which teach a number of skills, including negotiation, concentration, speaking and listening, the ability to learn lines, focusing on a particular task for a period of time, working as a team and spatial awareness

Pupils are taught to

create, adapt and sustain different roles, individually and in groups
use character, action and narrative to convey story themes, emotions and ideas in devised and scripted plays
use dramatic conventions to explore characters and issues, e.g. hotseating, flashback, representing issues in different ways

Drama activities for Year 5 and 6 include

games with more complex instructions and which also demand improved concentration and physical games which challenge balance
issue–based drama using dilemmas and problems to which they can relate or which draws upon experiences they may have had and which can lead to some very powerful work
the exploration of role play in a variety of ways and by using a number of different drama methods

Children in Years 5 and 6 will enjoy the opportunity of directing and developing the drama work themselves and will happily take a single idea or issue as far as it will go for a sustained period.

Using a stimulus also works well with this age group, especially as a basis for exploring individual problems, dilemmas or issues.

They will want to ’perform’ much more and need to be carefully monitored to ensure that they don’t divert into too much product–based drama, or theatre.