Humpty Dumpty Preschool Lesson Plans
Drama Extensions from Nursery Rhymes in the Early Years
Jul 27, 2009
Drama comes naturally to young children. They often participate in pretend situations, acting as mummy feeding the baby or a doctor treating a patient. This natural need to be someone else and to act out life as seen from the character’s view is supported in the early years classroom with activities that develop the child’s ability to use his or her imagination, body and voice. These are the tools of the dramatist.
Nursery rhymes are excellent springboards for drama activities in the early years classroom. This can be exemplified using the popular rhyme Humpty Dumpty.
A Narrative Pantomime of Humpty Dumpty
Young children, especially those with limited verbal ability, enjoy the drama experience of telling the story of Humpty using facial expressions, gestures and movement instead of using words. The rhyme calls for two groups of children. One group takes on the role of Humpty. As the rhyme is recited, they show their understanding of the lines as they sit on a make-belief wall and then fall off. The remaining children become the king’s men and galloping horses who have difficulty putting Humpty back again.
Movement activities can also be organized for young children to practice using their bodies to tell the story of Humpty, to respond to and extend the tale of Humpty.
The Humpty Dumpty Charade
Children who are familiar with pantomimes move on to play nursery rhyme charades. Children mime the entire rhyme or portray a character in the rhyme while the rest of the group guesses the answer.
A more challenging charade is to have children mime the reason why Humpty fell. Was it pushed? Did it lose its balance? They can also take turns to act out the silly ways in which the King’s horses and men failed to fix up Humpty. Did they use needle and thread, sticky tape and even hammer and nails? The rest of the class guesses what is mimed.
Sound Effects for Humpty Dumpty
As the teacher recites the rhyme, this time instead of actions, the children make up possible sounds to accompany the rhyme. These include Humpty’s fall, the galloping of horses and the sounds of putting Humpty back again.
Telling the Tale of Humpty Dumpty
Children can start off with a recitation of the rhyme. A child recites the first two lines of Humpty Dumpty while the rest take on the lines of the king’s horses and men. Have the children carry the drama of the tale in their voices.
They can progress on to tell the tale of Humpty in their own words, which is excellent for the development of verbal expression. Teachers can encourage them to add on from where the story stopped. Did anyone else come along to help Humpty?
The Nursery Rhyme Prop Box
Teachers can place a Nursery Rhyme prop box in the classroom with items suggesting roles from the rhymes or the repertoire of actions connected with the rhyme. It is also a good idea to involve the children in the design and filling up of prop boxes.
In the case of Humpty Dumpty, children may find a plastic egg, dough that can be shaped into an egg or blocks to build up the wall. There may be toy soldiers and horses, of course. With these props the children can have a small world play, moving the characters around to re-enact the story or to expand on it. Real eggs can also be used with interesting learning outcomes.
There may be masks, costumes and accessories in the box for children to play out the rhyme as well. Humpty can have an egg faced mask and the soldiers can have caps, for example.
The nursery rhyme prop box encourages children to engage in socio-dramatic play involving characters from different nursery rhymes. Perhaps Incy Wincy Spider came along and scared Humpty off the wall. Or did Humpty fall off as it tried to jump over the moon with the cow? What if Humpty went up the hill with Jill? Children will truly enjoy making up new tales and acting these out.
Humpty Dumpty Puppet Shows
Children can also tell the tale of tragic Humpty using puppets. A stage can be made using a cardboard box with a large cut-out hole. Puppets can come in all forms, store bought or made by the children themselves, using sticks, gloves, plates and paper bags, for example. An interesting variation is to have a Humpty Dumpty shadow play using either hand movements or puppets.
Creating and Not Imitating Responses to the Rhyme
In all these exercises, it is important that the teacher gives suggestions to help the children understand the character or story line more fully. Equally important is for the teacher to leave the children to produce movements, make sounds, come out new scripts and dialogue which they think are appropriate. Teachers are to refrain from dictating to the children how exactly they want the children to respond to the rhyme. This is imitation rather than a creative response to the rhyme.
In short, nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty can spark off many drama activities that allow the young child to show their understanding of the rhyme and to enjoy creative liberties with its story line and characterization.
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