Please Take Your Seats....

Last week one of the older children introduced Eve to the idea of putting on a show.... between us we conjured up a little theatre made from the hollow wooden blocks, and then they were off..... after a bit of practice Eve felt confident enough to strike out on her own..... this was the show she put on for her Grandparents on Saturday!

"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, please take your seats, the show is about to begin!"

We all took our seats and waited for the curtain to go up!

There followed a wonderful story about all the characters (lots of them) and a robber that crept in in the night..... cue some hysterically funny pantomime lines like

"Where is that robber?"

"He's behind you"

"Oh, no he isn't"

Oh, yes he is!"

We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves..... I suggested an interval after a while and provided ice creams.  Eve was so entrenched in the world of make believe by then that she didn't realise that I was actually offering REAL ice creams!!

When she announced that there were five parts to the show in total I muttered something to my dad about the length and it was compared to Macbeth.... my Dad said "Act 1, Scene 2" and Faith replied "That makes three"..... cue more laughter..... it was laughter that was good for the soul!

I'm really delighted that Eve is exploring dramatic play in this way..... It's not an area that I'm entirely comfortable with.... I never was at school and I'm definitely not now, so it's great to see her emjoying it so much and it has emboldened me to try some more dramatic play idea, especially as all of my childminding 'holiday family' seem to be into shows too!!

The book Supporting Creativity and Imagination in the Early Years by Bernadette Duffy has some fantastic and interesting ideas for dramatic play, not the cheapest book but well worth it as it is one to dip into again and again!