24th March

Today we refined the opening to our performance. We added some more that the children can join in with, when I say something like 'put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care'. This gets them excited and involved in the performance, and physically moving so hopefully they will be paying attention at this point. 

To create an atmosphere to set the scene of the first story we thought of 5 things you would find in a magical forest. We came up with toad stools, trees, magical stepping stones on the floor, a stream and singing flowers. My group created the toad stools, using a person curled up into a ball with something on your back, a bit like a shield, decorated to look like the top of a toad stool to make a flat colourful top. This means they can then come out of being a mushroom and move easily. It also makes a good use of the cast. I also had the idea that the toad stools could move, and swap places everynow and then in a kind of dance, to add movement to the scene and make it more magical. 

After we had created each of our parts of the forest we worked together to create the river. I think actually making it makes it much better for the children to watch instead of just having sound effects, as it will bring it to life infront of them and hopefully stimulate their imaginations.