Kids
This is our section dedicated to all things related to theatre for youth.
You can find our weekly theatre games here, articles about theatre education, our kid's perspective articles, playpackets and links to our partnership articles with Sassy Mama.
If you have a great idea for getting kids involved in the arts, please contact us!
If you want HKELD to come to your school to teach a workshop on arts criticism, contact us!
Theatre Game of the Week #93-12-12
This game is great for increasing a group's teamwork. It's also a great way to use piles of newspapers that are destined for the recycling bin.
Theatre Game of the Week #825-11-12
The holidays are coming soon so I play this game with theatre students around this time of year to talk about holidays. It uses drama to talk about my favorite part of the holiday season. Epic family disasters!
Theatre Game of the Week #719-11-12
Sometimes when you're a teacher you just need the kids to be quiet for 10 minutes. The act of focusing can be challenging for some groups. Whether it be students with ADHD, obsessive texting students or kids that just chatter on like monkeys at the zoo you need to have a couple games in your back pocket that can be used to refocus a group's energy.
Theatre Game of the Week #612-11-12
We've been doing a lot of physical games in the past few weeks. I thought I'd do one that is for vocals. A lot of local students have issues with speaking quietly when you ask them questions. Theatre games can be a great way to encourage speaking loudly and improve a student's public speaking skills. Public speaking is an important skill to learn, just think of all those horrible wedding toasts you've sat through...
Theatre Game of the Week #54-11-12
Hong Kong kids in local schools have it bad... They're shoved into one classroom for an 8 hour period and put into a tiny desk. The teachers that teach the different subjects come in and out, preach to the kids for an hour on a microphone, and the kids are trapped inside this classroom with bars on the windows. I thought my high school sucked... And then I started teaching in band 3 schools over here. Active learning is really important as a tool in Hong Kong schools as it gives kids an opportunity to move around.
Theatre Game of the Week #429-10-12
I think it's really important to learn things from your friends who are artists who are trained in different countries. You can find that there are similar games we all play that have different names and variations but are of the same root. There is a game in the US called Red Light/Green Light. We played it a lot as kids and in theatre classes used it as a basis for controlling the body from stopping and starting. In England I've heard friends refer to it as Giant's Treasure. In France it's called un, deux, tois, soleil. "A rose by any other name is just as sweet, no?"
Hong Kong Kids23-10-12
Recently in Hong Kong people have been abuzz about a youtube video known as Hong Kong Kids. Here is the link to the video if you haven't seen it. Created by a local rapper SKiBs it's got a bit of controversy behind it due to the content of the video and the unfair image that people feel it portrays of Hong Kong's youth.
Theatre Game of the Week #322-10-12
This is an excellent game for vocabulary building and for days where you're focusing on physical movement. It's just like Telephone (or as some people call it Chinese Whispers) that you used to play as a kid but you use actions rather than whispering.
Kids' Perspective-Waiting for Godot-Full Text19-10-12
We've had a request to show some of the full reviews that the students wrote on their recent trip to see and critique ABA's Waiting for Godot. Here are two of them that we thought very well written:
Kid's Perspective-Waiting for Godot19-10-12
On Tuesday we met with students to give a quick workshop on critical writing and arts reviewing in Hong Kong. They're awesome kids and are super smart. I've always said that kids are the best critics you'll ever get as an artist. They have no problem telling you that you sucked. The students went to go see ABA Productions' version of Waiting for Godot. They wrote their own critiques of the show and we've decided to publish excerpts of each. Some students have chosen to write under a pen name to protect their identities. (Because we all know actors are vicious beasts...) If you wish to see a "grown up" opinion of Godot you can read it here.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9