Put on a Play

The best course of action to take sometimes isn’t clear until you’ve listed and considered your alternatives. The following paragraphs should help clue you in to what the experts think is significant.

Kids love to dress - up in costumes or other articles of clothing that aren’t their own.
Instead of putting away the Halloween costumes each year, leave them out in a play chest
to be used year round.

Whether you have lots of Halloween costumes or old clothes that you don’t wear
anymore instead of getting rid of them let your kids have them. You will be amazed and
pleasantly surprised at the imaginative play that will result from playing dress - up.
Encourage them to get dressed - up and to put on a play in their costumes. Invite the
neighborhood kids over to participate or just watch the show.

Props are great too, let the kids go around the house ( with the rule that it will all be put
away ) to collect things they need for a play. A curtain and stage aren’t necessary, but if
you can find a way to improvise for either it will add to the excitement and sense of pride
the children will have for their production.

You can get involved too. Let your children direct you on what you need to say or do
during the play. Get into the role and have fun, don’t worry who is watching or that you
can’t act your kids will be thrilled that you are joining in the fun.

The play may change each time or the same play may be acted out again and again.
Consider video taping the efforts for future enjoyment or add the tape to a time capsule to
be opened in 5 - 10 years from now. Just keep in mind that the type of tape or disc you are
using may be obsolete by the time you open the time capsule. Or transcribe the play and
write out the script to add to the time capsule, maybe your grandchildren will use it in the
future.
There’s a lot to understand about Put on a Play. We were able to provide you with some of the facts above, but there is still plenty more to write about in subsequent articles.