This is the ultimate activity book for star-struck kids who love singing, dancing and show business! Ideal for the superstars of tomorrow, this book is bursting with fun activities based on a stage school theme. With drawing, colouring and doodling activities, plus games, puzzles and things to make and do, there's something creative and fun to do on every page.

Drama games are not staged plays but a dynamic form in which children explore their minds and the world around them. They can use their play-acting in sensory games, pantomimes, story games with puppets, in creating masks and costumes, and much more.

Drama games allow children to get more in touch with themselves and what they want to be, and are a delightful way to discover the freedom, creativity, and expression of acting- and living.

The "SmartFun"Activity series encourage imagination, social interaction, and self-expression in children. To make the books easy to use, games are marked according to appropriate age levels, length of play time, and group size, using helpful icons. Most games are non-competitive and none require special skills or training. The series is widely used in homes, schools, daycare centers, clubs, and summer camp.

Pull back the curtain and enter a world where mystery and magic take centre stage in a gloriously gothic adventure from Jenni Spangler, illustrated by Chris Mould. Twelve-year-old Tig works at Manchester's Theatre Royale, cleaning, selling tickets and doing anything else that is asked of her by her tyrannical boss, Mr Snell. Tig will do whatever it takes to get closer to her dream - to become a Stage Manager and spend her days inventing new ways to imagine and build the intricate machinery and props that bring the exciting productions to life! But when a strange new act - a talking machine - arrives at the Theatre Royale, it moves and behaves in a way that Tig just can't work out. It's as though it's alive somehow . . . And when the machine appears to be hiding a dangerous secret, Tig must race against time to solve the mystery, before everything and everyone she cares about is lost forever. A Victorian adventure full of ghost, gadgets and shifty villains, from the critically-acclaimed Jenni Spangler, who's debut The Vanishing Trick, was selected as Waterstones Book of the Month. Praise for THE VANISHING TRICK: A thrilling, original, evocative and eerie tale - I adored it!' Michelle Harrison, author of A Pinch of Magic 'A thrilling page-turner. Madame Pinchbeck is a gloriously Dickensian villain' Abi Elphinstone, author of Sky Song 'Ghosts, gadgets, likeable villains and unlikely heroes: The Vanishing Trick is a dark and dazzling adventure' Emma Carroll, author of Letters from the Lighthouse 'A completely enthralling tale, oozing with atmosphere and originality' Catherine Doyle, author of The Storm Keeper's Island

A family service for the Jewish Sabbath.

An excitingly different approach to sharing Bible stories with children What is a Whoosh? It's a drama strategy developed by the Royal Shakespeare Company's education unit and popularised in schools, involving every child in physical interaction with the story. Why Whoosh? It enables children to retain details of the narrative more effectively and to discuss the meaning of a story with greater understanding and insight. And it's lots of fun! What's in this book? 50 Bible stories for use with 7-11 year olds, follow-up activities, discussion starters and prayers, and tips for leaders on how to use the whooshing technique. How do I use this book? It can be used with minimal preparation to provide a full Bible story teaching programme or to supplement an existing one, and is suitable for a range of contexts: Sunday school, midweek group, family service, holiday club, Messy Church celebration, or primary school.

When she first became interested in using puppets in library programs, Jean Pollock discovered there were few interesting scripts suitable for amateur puppeteers that were appropriate for performance in library and school settings. She decided to write plays taking into account the puppet collection available, the time available for rehearsal and performance, and limited puppeteering skills. The plays acknowledge that children know what is funny and what is not, appreciate and use witticisms, and have the sophistication to follow a plot and participate in the joy of creating an illusion. Playful and fast-paced, the scripts are simple enough to be suitable for young audiences, while the humor and interaction between puppets and the audience will extend the appeal to older children as well. Each play is supported with useful production notes, program building notes to adapt the plays for classroom and library use, and a bibliography listing books and media that can be used to develop a study unit or program around the play.

In his thirteenth year, Will Sparrow, liar and thief, becomes a runaway. On the road, he encounters a series of con artists--a pickpocket, a tooth puller, a pig trainer, a conjurer--and learns that others are more adept than he at lying and thieving. Then he reluctantly joins a traveling troupe of "oddities," including a dwarf and a cat-faced girl, holding himself apart from the "monsters" and resolving to be on guard against further deceptions. At last Will is forced to understand that appearances are misleading and that he has been his own worst deceiver. The rowdy world of market fairs in Elizabethan England is the colorful backdrop for Newbery medalist Cushman's new comic masterpiece.

When Kay Harker meets a mysterious Punch and Judy man on his way home for Christmas, he little realizes that he is about to be plunged into adventure. The old man entrusts Kay with a strange puzzle box - the Box of Delights - before suddenly disappearing. Kay soon discovers two things: the box can transport him through time and space, and there is a plot to steal it. He must battle heroically against terrifying forces of evil in order to win the day... This thrilling BBC Radio adaptation boasts a stellar cast, including Donald Sinden, Lionel Jeffries, Spike Milligan and Celia Imrie. 3 CDs. 3 hrs.

What does it mean to teach Shakespeare with purpose? It means freeing teachers from the notion that teaching Shakespeare means teaching everything, or teaching "Western Civilisation" and universal themes. Instead, this invigorating new book equips teachers to enable student-centred discovery of these complex texts. Because Shakespeare's plays are excellent vehicles for many topics -history, socio-cultural norms and mores, vocabulary, rhetoric, literary tropes and terminology, performance history, performance strategies - it is tempting to teach his plays as though they are good for teaching everything. This lens-free approach, however, often centres the classroom on the teacher as the expert and renders Shakespeare's plays as fixed, determined, and dead. Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose shows teachers how to approach Shakespeare's works as vehicles for collaborative exploration, to develop intentional frames for discovery, and to release the texts from over-determined interpretations. In other words, this book presents how to teach Shakespeare's plays as living, breathing, and evolving texts.

Chained to the hold of a slave ship bound for the Caribbean, a terrified young girl's only comfort is the voice of a woman she can't see. She is told 'Anansi stories', tales of the crafty spider whose cunning and humorous tricks give the girl the resilience and wit she needs to survive.

In illustrations and rhyme describes the dancing of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, one of the most famous tap dancers of all time.

Having fled from Garmany in 1933 to escape the Nazis, Anne Frank and her family were forced into hiding in 1940. Anne, devoted to writing about her experiences, tells us of the tensions and terrors during the period in which the family hid in an attic above a factory, their home for two years.

Lights, camera ... kidnap! 'Dreams of stardom; sibling rivalry & a gripping ending, Sister to a Star has it all & I gobbled up the entire book' BONKERS ABOUT BOOKS Evie is forever crossing swords with her twin. While she practises her after-school fencing, Tallulah is winning movie auditions. Neither of them could have imagined how their worlds would collide, but when Tallulah goes to Hollywood Evie goes too - as her sister's identical stand-in. But that changes, when the film needs some all-action sword-play. Soon Evie's the one enjoying the limelight - that is, until Tallulah goes missing ... An action-packed sibling adventure of twin rivalry, glamour and skulduggery set against the bright lights of Hollywood! Written by ex-Olympic fencer, Eloise Smith Features a diverse ensemble cast of brave and spirited kids you can't help but root for!

Although a classmate says that she cannot play Peter Pan in the school play because she is black, Grace discovers that she can do anything she sets her mind to do.

Forty-five complete mime routines for performers of all ages, adaptable to audiences of different types. This book may be used as a class text or a library resource. In addition to the wide variety of routines are technique suggestions and ideas about makeup, props, staging, where and when to perform, and teamwork! Routines for solo and ensemble presentation.