Creative Drama

Lesson Plan 1: Expressive Statues

Curriculum Area

• The Arts: Drama (Year 3)

Australian Curriculum Links

• Content Descriptions:
  • Explore role and dramatic action in dramatic play, improvisation, and process drama (ACADRM027)
  • Use voice, facial expression, movement, and space to imagine and establish role and situation (ACADRM028)

Duration

• 60 minutes

Objectives

• Develop confidence and self-expression.
• Understand the use of body language and facial expressions in drama.
• Practice working collaboratively in groups.

Materials

• Open space for movement.
• A list of scenario prompts (prepared by the teacher).

Lesson Breakdown

1. Warm-Up (10 minutes)

• Activity: "Mirror, Mirror"
  • Pair up students.
  • One student in each pair acts as the leader and the other as the mirror.
  • The leader performs slow, exaggerated movements and facial expressions, and their partner mimics them as accurately as possible.
  • After 5 minutes, switch roles.

2. Whole Class Focus (15 minutes)

• Activity: "Expressive Statues"
  • Gather students in a circle.
  • Discuss what "statues" are and how they can represent different emotions or situations.
  • Teacher calls out different emotions (e.g., happy, sad, excited, scared), and students freeze in a pose that represents that emotion.
  • Ask a few students to share and explain their poses.

3. Small Group Focus (25 minutes)

• Activity: "Scenario Statues"
  • Divide the class into small groups of 4.
  • Each group gets a scenario prompt (e.g., "lost in a forest," "winning a race," "finding a hidden treasure").
  • Students create a tableau (frozen scene) representing their scenario using expressive statues.
  • Each group presents their tableau to the class. The rest of the class guesses the scenario being represented and discusses the emotions shown.

4. Reflection (10 minutes)

• Gather students back in a circle.
• Discuss what they learned about using their bodies to express different emotions and situations.
• Encourage students to share how they felt during the activities and anything they found challenging or enjoyable.

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Imaginative Play

Lesson Plan 2: Character Creation

Curriculum Area

• The Arts: Drama (Year 3)

Australian Curriculum Links

• Content Descriptions:
  • Explore role and dramatic action in dramatic play, improvisation, and process drama (ACADRM027)
  • Make and present drama using the elements of role, situation, and space to share ideas (ACADRM029)

Duration

• 60 minutes

Objectives

• Foster imagination and creativity.
• Practice character development.
• Improve collaborative skills through group activities.

Materials

• Costumes and props (if available).
• Paper and markers for creating simple masks or hats (optional).

Lesson Breakdown

1. Warm-Up (10 minutes)

• Activity: "Walk the Space"
  • Students spread out in the room.
  • Teacher gives prompts like "walk like a giant," "tiptoe like a mouse," "march like a soldier."
  • Encourage students to exaggerate their movements and notice how their characters might feel moving in these ways.

2. Whole Class Focus (15 minutes)

• Activity: "Character Voices"
  • Sit students in a circle.
  • Discuss how different characters might talk (e.g., a pirate, a queen, a child).
  • Teacher demonstrates a few examples.
  • Students take turns choosing a character from a list and speaking a sentence or two in that character’s voice.
  • Encourage students to use different pitches, volumes, and speech patterns.

3. Small Group Focus (25 minutes)

• Activity: "Character Scenarios"
  • Divide the class into groups of 4.
  • Each group picks 4 character types from a hat (e.g., clown, explorer, superhero, chef).
  • Groups create a short improvisational scene where each student plays one of the characters.
  • Provide prompts such as “meeting at a bus stop,” “solving a mystery,” or “having a party.”
  • Students perform their scenes for the class.

4. Reflection (10 minutes)

• Gather students back in a circle.
• Discuss how different characters can be brought to life through voice and movement.
• Ask students which character they enjoyed playing the most and why.
• Highlight the importance of collaboration and listening in drama activities.

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These plans are structured to ensure active engagement, creativity, and collaboration among Year 3 students, aligning directly with the Australian Curriculum standards for Drama.