Here is a fun drama/imagination game from the excellent US storyteller David Novak (left) who I saw at work in China.
1. Take a metre ruler and ask the children "what is this?"
2. They will tell you it is a ruler. Ask them to imagine what else it could be.
3. Now they will start telling you that it's a sword or a giant's pencil or an oar or a walking stick. As fun and confidence builds, the answers get more adventurous.
4. Now take a short story you have recently read or studied in class, such as the Aesop Fable, The Lion and the Mouse. Ask the children to use the ruler-object in the story and see how that changes the story. For example: when the lion traps the mouse, he imagines using 'chopsticks' to eat the mouse, or the mouse is playing a 'violin' when it hears the lion's roar. It will reinvigorate the story and reinforce both narrative structure and characterisation. All with a ruler... thanks David!
1. Take a metre ruler and ask the children "what is this?"
2. They will tell you it is a ruler. Ask them to imagine what else it could be.
3. Now they will start telling you that it's a sword or a giant's pencil or an oar or a walking stick. As fun and confidence builds, the answers get more adventurous.
4. Now take a short story you have recently read or studied in class, such as the Aesop Fable, The Lion and the Mouse. Ask the children to use the ruler-object in the story and see how that changes the story. For example: when the lion traps the mouse, he imagines using 'chopsticks' to eat the mouse, or the mouse is playing a 'violin' when it hears the lion's roar. It will reinvigorate the story and reinforce both narrative structure and characterisation. All with a ruler... thanks David!