Suggested Schedule
FRIDAY
Kick off the long weekend with a celebration of the season and the cycles of life with Cyclo–after school and listen to Yassama and the Beaded Calabash before bed!
SATURDAY
Start your morning off with the beautiful music of Taama and then have a rest in late afternoon with a snuggle on the couch and rainforest journey with A Bucket of Beetles. Before bed, tune into one or two of the stories from Krysta!
SUNDAY
Have a refreshing morning wake up with the water adventure H2O and then head outdoors to a puddle, pool, bucket, tub, or lake to make your own water play. Later on, spark some sound experiments of your own or make your own solo orchestra with instruments and other sound making objects around you after viewing The Cozy One-Man Band! Have another bedtime story with one of the featured books from Krysta!
MONDAY
Yawn and stretch and wake from your nest with the two colourful birds of Tweet Tweet! and then head out to the park, forest, garden for some birdwatching! Bring your tp roll binoculars and open your eyes and ears to the bird and their different sounds. After lunch, watch My Silly Yum! and enjoy all the silly fun-ghi surprises along the way. For your late afternoon or after dinner feature watch the heart-warming Old Man and the River. Before bed, listen to and watch the last two stories from Krysta!
WeeTips for Parents
Watch Together!
This is a great opportunity to observe how your child engages with the shows and their content! Let them move about freely-dance if they want to or comment/narrate/question.
Don’t Rate it-Draw it!
After the show, avoid questions like “Did you like it?” or to impose a response through statements like “That was great, wasn’t it?” Young children need time to process and unpack. I suggest you give them some paper and drawing tools and encourage them to draw a picture about the show first and then have them share their creation. Through this, you’ll learn what’s captured their curiosity and how they’ve interpreted the show.
Recall! Retell!
Asking your child to retell the story is a great way to draw out what they enjoyed, what surprised them, what questions they might have? “Tell me what did you see in eg. Cyclo? What happened?”
Replay!
Now that you’ve watched together, if your child wants to watch again on their own while you’re nearby, please encourage that. Children benefit greatly from re-watching-just like storybooks, they love to read them or have them read to them over and over. You might want to ask “What did you notice this time?”
Here are some easy suggestions
to enhance your family’s viewing experience!
Taama
- Make shakers from plastic containers and grab a plastic bucket.
- Shake and play along with the performers.
- Can you make up a clapping game and song together using your names or actions?
- Call and response-you make a sound and have your child repeat it back, now make a rhythm, and again repeat.
Cyclo
- Talk about the different cycles you saw celebrated in the show-in natural and human life
- Recreate the different seasonal scenes in a small box or your Pizza Box Theatre!
- Add finger puppets just like in the show
- Create your own pom poms
Tweet Tweet
Make your own cardboard binoculars from tp rolls or rolled construction paper and head out to find your own rare birds in the park. Indoor option, parent and child take turns being the bird and the bird watcher!
DreamScape At Home
Visit the showpage for DreamScape At Home and read the guide ThinkArts has created for parents and caregivers to create their own sensory experiences for children.
Grass Films
Visit the showpage for Grass Films and read the guide for families created by Second Hand Dance!
A Bucket of Beetles
- Beetles are a kind of insect and there are many different kinds of beetles. How many insects can we list? Have a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon with you as you watch and everytime you see an insect make a mark. Share how many you’ve spotted after!
Shadow Puppet Bugs
- In the opening scene of the show, we see the shadows of all sorts of bugs and beetles. These are shadow puppets and you can make your own shadow puppets too. They can be inspired by the creatures in the show or you can design your own.
- Use your Pizza Box Theatre to recreate scenes from the show and play with shadows.
My Silly Yum
Draw all the mushrooms you see in the show, colour them, attach straws, stir sticks or pencils to them and animate them through puppetry! You can make different sounds for each. Create a show in your Pizza Box Theatre
Old Man and the River
As a family, you can retell the story together using your bodies rather than puppets. Choose who wil be the Old Man, the River Faerie, the trees, the sun, moon, and clouds. Don’t forget the dragonfly and the leaf!
H20
- This one’s easy! Get some water play going! Indoors and out! Experiment with different vessels and materials and observe and describe how the water behaves. A good vocabulary boost
- Note the different sounds of dripping, pouring, splashing. Can you make that sound with your voice? Add your bodies. Can you swirl like water, freeze, splash, swoosh?
The Cozy One-Man Band
- Sound Detectives!! In the show, the musician/inventory creates different percussion sounds using different objects. Invite the students to observe, listen, and describe different sounds around them.
- Created Sound |We know we can make sounds with our breath and voice, clapping sounds with our hands or against our bodies. Using a pencil or pen and very very gently, tap the things around you. How is each sound distinct? Using your fingers, what sounds can you make? For example, scratching against a table, crumpling paper etc.? What about your feet? Try to find words to describe the sounds.
- “Found” Sound | Sound is all around. Invite each student to close their eyes and listen to what sounds are around them, either close by or in the distance. Ask them to identify at least 5 sounds. The fan of their computer, their pet, traffic outside etc. Ask them to describe the sounds. Are they loud, soft, unpleasant? Irritating? Scary?
- Write down all your findings!