ENTERTAINING CHILDREN...
School holidays, children moaning 'there's nothing to do' and the dreaded 'I"m bored'. We've all been there. And when faced with a child that states 'I'm bored' and you tell them they could always do fun stuff like clean their room, or read the books they should have read for school- only to be met by the death stare. What to do?
There's always lots of options, some even include nothing to do with cleaning.
Last weekend Other Half and myself headed into the city with Little Miss, Miss A and Master R. We lunched at Fed Square then a wander through the graffitied alleyways which raised much discussion.
Why are they allowed to do that?
Can anyone come along and paint?
Cover Little Miss's eyes, there are bad words painted there...and there...and over there. (As Other Half says, at least it got them reading).
They oohed and aahed over the three groups of brides posing for photographs. They discussed which were favourites and then the million dollar question, what makes it art and not just painting lines and stuff on a wall?
After a stop to purchase lolly bags (and such a sweet guy that served us, he so earned his wages that day), it was time to head to the Art Centre.
We were seeing Frank Woodley in his children's production of Noodlenut.
Frank has now written two children's books in his Kizmet series. 'Kizmet and the Case of the Tassie Tiger' and 'Kizmet and the Case of the Smashed Violin'. Both, as you would have expected are funny, but they also have amazing illustrations by the man himself. A talent I didn't know he had.
The play Noodlenut was a combination of reading the story of Noodlenut complete with his own illustrations, slapstick humour, video clips and telling some humorous stories regarding bullies, karate, sorting out the game of tiggy (what is it with pausing? ) and a disastrous show-and-tell at school.
The kids loved it. Even Little Miss who was two years younger than the recommended audience age.
They laughed at his slapstick most of all. The walking into the door, repeatedly - the slippery mango pip - the booger to silence the music - the pencil stuck up his nose. The more gross it was, the more laughs.
Entertaining children is tough. Keeping them focused for an hour, amazingly difficult. Frank did it well. Not only was it down to content, I felt the majority of why it worked was down to pacing, delivery and style. Something to remember for every performance, whether for children or not.
It doesn't hurt to know how to do a bit of sleight of hand either.
Vicki
There's always lots of options, some even include nothing to do with cleaning.
Last weekend Other Half and myself headed into the city with Little Miss, Miss A and Master R. We lunched at Fed Square then a wander through the graffitied alleyways which raised much discussion.
Why are they allowed to do that?
Can anyone come along and paint?
Cover Little Miss's eyes, there are bad words painted there...and there...and over there. (As Other Half says, at least it got them reading).
They oohed and aahed over the three groups of brides posing for photographs. They discussed which were favourites and then the million dollar question, what makes it art and not just painting lines and stuff on a wall?
After a stop to purchase lolly bags (and such a sweet guy that served us, he so earned his wages that day), it was time to head to the Art Centre.
We were seeing Frank Woodley in his children's production of Noodlenut.
Frank has now written two children's books in his Kizmet series. 'Kizmet and the Case of the Tassie Tiger' and 'Kizmet and the Case of the Smashed Violin'. Both, as you would have expected are funny, but they also have amazing illustrations by the man himself. A talent I didn't know he had.
The play Noodlenut was a combination of reading the story of Noodlenut complete with his own illustrations, slapstick humour, video clips and telling some humorous stories regarding bullies, karate, sorting out the game of tiggy (what is it with pausing? ) and a disastrous show-and-tell at school.
The kids loved it. Even Little Miss who was two years younger than the recommended audience age.
They laughed at his slapstick most of all. The walking into the door, repeatedly - the slippery mango pip - the booger to silence the music - the pencil stuck up his nose. The more gross it was, the more laughs.
Entertaining children is tough. Keeping them focused for an hour, amazingly difficult. Frank did it well. Not only was it down to content, I felt the majority of why it worked was down to pacing, delivery and style. Something to remember for every performance, whether for children or not.
It doesn't hurt to know how to do a bit of sleight of hand either.
Vicki
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