Drama-type actitvites for pre-schooler

[dinny]

Any ideas? Or is it all just too Bonnie Langford??

Bear hunt

you can start at stagecoach from 3 onwards

is Stagecoach quite full-on?

3 sounds young to me. My DS1 is 4 and a half and at school. He goes to a one and a half hour drama class on saturday mornings. He seems to enjoy it, in that he does not say he doesn't want to go . Since going he has definitely became a lot more confident.

The group is 4-7 and don't think they do much more than play games and sing songs. They do encourage them to "perform" in front of their peers, in groups at first (ie: you 3 sing to this 3).

Stagecoach is too much for a 3 year old IMO. They do three hours - 1 hour each of drama, dance and singing. Also, they are in mixed ages groups up to teens and you have to leave your child there.

Oh, no, doesn't sound right...sounds scary!

My drama group is a lot more lowkey than that, in fact I struggle to find any "drama" in it if you seen what I mean.

Certainly, my area is full of drama groups for 4+, go along to a few and see what suits..

Stagecoach starts from age 4, not 3.

The 4-6 year old class is called Early Stages and it is only 90 minutes, not the full 3 hours. They do half an hour each of drama, singing and dance.

Even in main school when they stay for the full 3 hours they are always in classes with children of a similar age. No class is larger than 15 and the ages in main school are something like 6/7 - 9/10 year olds, 9/10 - 12/13 year olds and 12/13 - 16 year olds.

Dance in Early Stages is learning to stand properly, move in time, skip, maybe putting a few simple steps together to create a dance.

Even in main school when they stay for the full 3 hours they are always in classes with children of a similar age. No class is larger than 15 and the ages in main school are something like 6/7 - 9/10 year olds, 9/10 - 12/13 year olds and 12/13 - 16 year olds.

Drama is very teacher led. Improvisation, drama/confidence games, going on a journey (think bear hunt) that sort of thing.

Singing is simple warm ups and learning simple children's songs.

Parents have to leave as they distract the children. The child is more concerned about what mum thinks than what they are doing. They get on much better and under less pressure without them.

perform is geared specifically to 4-7 year olds and although I find it rather "american" in style my dd loves it and has loved it from moment 1. So if your dd can hang on a bit.......
or are there any smaller, local things in your area?

Many Gymboree places have a drama type workshop. Not sure what age it is from though.

My dd goes to Helen o'Grady drama academy (franchise I think) these are quite good can start the term they are 5

How about starting your own informal group - or is that too scary?

I've just started ds2 (just 4) at Statgecoach (having hummed and hahed about it for a while and starting a thread on here). He LOVES it. He particularly likes getting a biscuit at break time! PMSL. No seriously, he really does enjoy it and asks quite a lot "is it the weekend? is it my lesson today?"

Oh bless, I wondered how he was getting on jimjams.

Having a few problems with dd at the moment. She is pushing her luck behaviour wise which we will have to nip in the bud. She adores going though.

I think it is a common problem with children who go to school's their parents teach at!

I can imagine! That's quite a tricky balance to get right.

I'm really pleased with Stagecoach I have to say. It suits ds2 down to the ground.