Beginning drama with very young children can be a daunting prospect, but the benefits for children performing to an audience are endless. Developing speaking and listening skills, boosting self-confidence and self-esteem, developing language skills and using expressive arts are all specified as both prime and specific areas of learning in the EYFS 2012. Early Years performances need to be approached in the correct way and include lots of repetitive movements, actions, rhymes, songs and music. They need to be highly interactive, incredibly simple and above all fun for all concerned! This Little Book is a toolbox of techniques and ideas, which can be used within any Early Years drama activity including mime, facial expression and gesture, clapping and rhythms, statues and tableaux, creation and use of props and dressing up.

Author Biography

Cler Lewis is a Drama practitioner and storyteller with many years of experience working in early years, both in the UK and abroad. She has worked closely with Polka Theatre, The National Theatre Discover Programme, The National Maritime Museum and many nurseries and children's centres teaching, developing performances, workshops and stories for young children. She was also the storyteller and drama artist for 5x5x5=creativity, an enquiry project for early years settings based on principles developed in Reggio Emilia. This was part of a nationwide research project which fed directly into the development of the new foundation stage curriculum. Rebecca Aburrow has worked with young children, both in the UK and USA, for almost twenty years. She has spent the last fourteen years teaching in a primary school following a BA(ED) hons in English Literature specialising in teaching children in KS1 and the Early Years. Rebecca has taught drama to children of all ages and is aware of its endless benefits. She is a firm believer that performances with young children can, and ought to be, so much fun for everyone concerned.