Playing with Plays

The children are continuing to deepen their understandings and relationships with materials and each other.  It is a joy to see them collaborate and negotiate plans and wonderings.

The tinkering of materials that we witnessed the first week of school, such as making puppets with popsicle sticks to Lego creations, have deepened into more expressive ideas with intent.

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C and L decided to collaborate and create a play for two of their puppets.  I offered to record their words for them exactly as they would like for the play.  After they were satisfied with their plan, they asked to perform the play during the Morning Meeting.  Morning Meeting is a time after Project Work, such as this, that the children have the opportunity to share morning “ahas” with their classmates.  This time allows for reflection for both the presenter(s) and the other children to learn and possibly spark further curiosity.  This is when growth in thinking occurs.

Below are pictures of the puppets taking form.

As you can see, the puppet making was contagious amongst many of the children.

The play, or possible comedy act with the joke, was performed for the class.  Once L and C walked to the front of the room, they quickly realized that there was not a traditional puppet theater present.  They quickly improvised with a step stool and this has become the platform for all puppet shows now.

Z also joined in this idea with a bit of a twist.  She chose to be a one person show and play both parts.  Her idea was more of a dance recital.

A few days past, and the puppets sat on the Making Table.  I had wondered if this idea would pick up steam again or if it had fizzled out for the time being.  Before long, E, A, and A declared that they wanted to make a play together.  I sat back and observed their collaboration, playful banter, and most importantly, their respect for each other's ideas.  Though they wanted to share this play before the written completion of the work, there was so much gained from this experience together:  being able to improvise, flexibility, laughter, expression of both written and oral, and simply...there was pure joy.

Unexpectedly the following day, L and J took a step back from their Lego creations that they had spent quite some time on, and asked me if they could write a play to go with their Lego works.  I kindly reminded them that they did not my permission, but I was glad to support them if they ever got stuck in the process.  They have yet to need me and in the meantime, I will continue to observe their progress.  It  had been exciting to see the idea of stories taking place with different mediums.  

I can't wait to see where this will go!  In my opinion, the beauty of this kind of play is that it ends up more beautiful than one could ever imagine when we let the children take the lead.  

I am looking forward to all the stories that will unfold throughout our journey together this year.