Mary Mary and the Canary
I
sing approximately 8 songs during my 45-60 min interactive show featuring Clare,
the forgetful hand puppet. Clare loses her 3 eggs and during the show the
children help her find them. One is in my fisherman’s hat, one in my rocket
helmet and one in my magic hankie, which I make disappear. I provide my own
professional sound equipment (including PA and headset), along with my colourful
sets, props, costumes, public liability insurance and a police check. It takes
me about 15 mins to set up the show and 15 mins to pack up. I charge $200 per
show which includes a free CD (valued at $30), a follow up teaching kit, free
colouring sheets and stamp of Clare, the canary, for every child in the
audience. In addition, every show is unique. The following is a list of the 15
songs on my CD which you can choose to be incorporated in the performance:
Eg.
Put some soil into a pot, with your finger make a hole
Put a seed in, cover it, sit back and watch it grow
With a little water, with a little sunshine
You can have a garden looking just like mine.
2. At
the Playground - children participate by doing the actions of their
favourite play equipment.
Eg. Let’s swing on the bars like a monkey ( ee ee )
Climb up a ladder and slide down (wheeeeee)
Let’s hold each other’s hands and spin around
Go faster and faster on the merry-go-round
3. Let's
Play Dress ups – children can dress up as their favourite superheros or
nursery rhyme or fairy tale characters.
Eg. Batman, Spiderman Superman, Snow White, Cinderella, Captain
Hook, Peter Pan,
Alice in Wonderland, Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffet, Wee Willie Winkie.
4 When
I Grow Up - I take out 8 hats from my box of hats. Each hat represents a
different job children can do
when
they grow up. I put on the hats one by one and the children copy my actions and
pretend to be:
Eg. a fire fighter, police officer, surgeon, chef, pilot, train driver,
baker, fisherman.
5. Welcome
to My Gym – I emphasize the importance of exercising and keeping our
bodies fit and healthy.
The
children participate by doing exercises.
Eg. stretch to the left, right, up, down; star jumps;
leg stretches on the floor (in, out) and row row your boat (push, pull)
in pairs
6.
We're
Going on a Holiday - about all the different places to go to and different
things to do on a holiday.
Eg. go to a circus, theme park, movies, restaurant; go fishing, canoeing,
biking and kite flying.
7.
C’mon Let’s Dance –
children dance a bit of rap, disco, hip hop, rock and roll and follow my
instructions (prepositions of place are reinforced)
Eg. Let’s jump to the left,
jump to the right, wave our hands high
in the sky
Step to the front, step to the
back, move our feet like this and that
Let’s roll our arms in, roll
our arms out, turn ourselves right around
Clap up high, clap down low, move up and down
like a yo-yo.
8
Jungle
Jive- children participate by doing the actions and sounds of 4 jungle
animals.
Eg. Leo Lion (roar roar), Mia Monkey (ee ee), Ellie Elephant (nia
nia) and Carl Croc (snap snap)
9.
In My Dreams – children sing
along with the chorus in this song and are encouraged to relax, keep still and
think of
happy
thoughts when they lie in bed ready to sleep and dream
Eg. I can ride a horse in a forest, pick flowers in a bunch
I can play with my animal friends, sit down and have a picnic lunch.
10.
Rocket Kid – a new set is
unravelled on stage of the Solar System. The children are asked to
look at it and guess
what the next song is about. I
elicit from them vocabulary such as: the moon, stars,
sun, planets and all their names. I
dress up and put on a glittery
silver helmet, knee pads, a rocket on my back (it has a light bulb which
actually lights up
at blast off) and a silver remote control guitar in the shape of a rocket. I ask
the children to put on their costume too
and be rocket kids with me.
During the song, the children count backwards from 10 to 1 for blast off, dance
along to a
rock ‘n’ roll number, play their electric guitars and do the moonwalk.
11.
Copy
Me – children pretend to play the flute, guitar, piano and drums while
singing my simple melody.
Eg. Do di do do do do da ; la la la la la la la; di di di di di di di;
bang a bang bang bang bang bang bang. Then
in the following verse they find a partner to clap their hands together with
while singing.
12.
` Copy
Me – children do the song all over again but double the speed for twice
the fun.
13.
Mummy’s Fingers Go Walking
–the children walk with their fingers around all the different parts of their
body from
head to toe.
Eg. thumb nail, knuckle, wrist, elbow, shoulder, neck,
arm, palm, toe, ankle, knee, thigh, hip,
belly button,
chest, chin, mouth, nose, eyebrow, head, back, bottom, cheeks
14.
Mummy’s
Big Helper Am I – all the types of jobs young children can do to help
around the house. Eg. clean
up
my
room, feed the fish, rake up the leaves, close the fridge door, help wash the
car and throw rubbish in the bin.
15. Hook,
Line and Sinker – I teach the children how to fish.
Eg.
I put my bait on the hook, I cast the line out, I wait for a nibble then I hook
it by the mouth.
16
Underwater
Limbo - children swim
under the limbo stick like Trish the fish, Bruce the Octopus, Rob the
Lobster,
Fab the
crab etc
In addition, I have written more songs which will be recorded in the near
future. The topics include: Farm
and
Australian animals;, Dinosaurs and Robbie Robot.