The Power of Pretend …

One of the special powers of theater is that, by bringing a character to life, the actor is able to relate to that character’s real experience. It can bring insights, empathy and self awareness. The purpose of these activities is to help your child step into new worlds easily and playfully. When you meet them in that pretend world, all sorts of new discoveries await.

• Let’s pretend to be … animals. See if you can guess what animal.
• Then – pretend to be a cow who wants all the daisies but the other cows are eating them too quickly
• A butterfly who can’t decide what pretty flower to visit.
• A dog who can’t remember where he buried his bone.
• Then – move on to people and situations. First, pretend to be a fussy baby. (Kids LOVE to be fussy babies.) Someone who is too tired to eat their meal. Someone who doesn’t want to wake up.
• Finally, onto real people. Can you act out mommy when you spill something in the back of the car. Pretend to be grandpa trying to find his glasses. Pretend to be your teacher teaching a science lesson. Pretend to be a bully and then pretend to be someone who stands up to the bully.
• Have some fun pretending to be your child in a common situation.
• You can make a routine of anticipating upcoming, perhaps stressful, situations. Play out ways they could deal with them. Let’s pretend all the kids at the party are talking and someone feels left out.