Each child finds a space and sits down. Each child or a group of children are assigned a specific word and a corresponding action. The narrator/teacher reads the story aloud, and when the children hear their word, they must jump up and do their actions. The words are in bold to assist the teacher.
Movement: Action.
Boast/boastful/boasting: Stand up straight and puff out the chest.
Woods: Children make themselves into trees.
Animals: Each child chooses a different animal found in the woods and moves like that animal.
Hare: Make bunny ears with your hands.
Fast: Children move as fast as they can.
Run: Run on the spot.
fTortoise: Children bend over as if they have something heavy on their back.
Slow: Children move in slow motion around the room.
Narrator: Once upon a time, there was a very boastful hare that lived in the woods with lots of other animals. He was always boasting about how fast he could run. He boasted, “I’m the fastest animal in the woods. No one can run as fast as me.” The other animals were tired of listening to him. One day the tortoise said to the hare, “Hare you are so boastful. I challenge you to a race.” Hare laughed and said, “Tortoise, you will never beat me. You are too slow and steady.” They decided whoever got to the other side of the woods the fastest was the winner. All the other animals in the woods came to watch the race. The hare ran as fast as he could through the woods. After a while, he thought to himself, “I’m so fast that slow tortoise will never beat me. I think I will take a quick nap.” Soon he fell asleep. The tortoise walked slowly through the woods. He passed the sleeping hare. The animals watched the tortoise near the finishing line. The animals cheered loudly. The hare woke up and ran as fast as he could through the woods to the finishing line, but it was too late. The slow tortoise had won the race. All the animals in the woods congratulated the tortoise. The hare had to remind himself that he shouldn’t boast about his fast pace because slow and steady won the race.
Physical warm-up: Get each child to find a clear space. They must make sure that they are not touching anyone else. The children crouch down on the floor and make a ball shape with their bodies. The teacher explains that all children are magic rocks and that the teacher is a magic wizard. The teacher waves the magic wand and says: “Magic rocks turn into hares.” All the children turn into hares and move around the room as hares. The teacher then says: “Magic rocks turn into magic rocks.” The children return to their clear spaces and crouch down on the floor again as quickly as possible. The magic wizard can change the magic rocks into the animal they can be found in the jungle.
Variation: The children can take it turns to be the magic wizard.
Role on the wall: Divide the class into groups of four. Give each group either an outline of the hare or the tortoise and ask the children to draw or write inside the image the different characteristics or personality traits of the hare or the tortoise. If they are too young to write, get them to draw inside the image. The teacher may also ask them what their word and write I. For them. Each group talks about their image and the words or drawings that they put inside.
Still Image/Thought Tracking: Ask each child to make a still image of the Hare at the beginning of the race. The teacher taps each child on the shoulder, and they must say how they feel. Then get them to make a still image of the hare at the end of the race. The teacher taps each child on the shoulder, and they must say how they feel. Can they tell the difference?
Slow-motion: Divide the class into pairs, and one of the children is the hare, and the other is the tortoise. They go to starting line, and they are going to move in slow motion to the finishing line but showing what happened between the start of the race and the ending.
Extension: They can go fast forwards or rewind.
Teacher in Role: The teacher takes on the role of the tortoise. She tells the children she feels sorry for the hare because he thought he was the fastest in the forest and now he is upset. Ask the children what they suggest they could do to make him feel better.
Hot seating: One of the children volunteers to be the hare. The hare sits in the hot seat, and the rest of the children asks him questions.
Three Little Pigs – a drama workshop.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears – a drama workshop.
The Hare and the Tortoise – a five minute play.
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