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Play-Acting

The children should have the joy of living in far lands, in other persons, in other times--a delightful double existence; and this joy they will find, for the most part, in their story books. (Charlotte Mason - Home Education p. 153)









We will be beginning our version of Pre-K in the fall, and one of the things that I'm excited about is reading through A Treasury of Children's Literature.  The pictures are lovely, and the stories are timeless.  Of course, at age 4.5, Buddy is not yet ready for narration, but I'd love for him to really enjoy the stories.  So, for our form of narration, we will be acting out our stories every week.  The boys love to do this.  They've already performed The Three Little Pigs, but they've also recently enjoyed their lion masks that they made at church to perform the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den.




It really is amazing how much they remember if they "narrate" the story.  Daniel and the Lion's Den is definitely a favorite around here now.

As knowledge is not assimilated until it is reproduced, children should "tell back" after a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have read. (Charlotte Mason, Toward a Philosophy of Education, p. 155)
As a sort of side note... we've also found that play-acting has been especially beneficial in "acting out" how to behave well.  For example, we've  been practicing how to come to Mommy by hiding in a room.  Then, when mommy calls their name, they yell, "Coming!" and come running to where I am.  They find it incredibly fun and they know exactly what to do when the appropriate time arises.
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