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How to Teach Children Acting Skills

Children don't always feel comfortable being as loud, goofy or emotive as they want to be. Acting is one outlet that expresses feelings and emotions in a controlled environment. Acting also allows for freedom of expression, creating different characters and story lines with facial movements, gestures, vocals and costumes. Voice coaching also helps kids learn to speak clearly and lessens the fear of speaking in front of others. There is no wrong or right way to act, so lessons in drama should be a mixture of play and introduction into the world of acting rather than strict rules of behavior.

Instructions

    • 1

      Take your class to a public performance. When children take their first acting lessons at a young age, they've rarely seen a play performed. If you're not able to take them to a live performance, show kids a video of a play being performed.

    • 2

      Introduce kids to facial expression and emotion. Show kids how to use their bodies to express emotions. One way to do this is to organize students into a basic game of charades. One student or a group of students must act out a film or an object lesson without speaking while the other students get to shout out guesses as they performance goes on.

    • 3

      Perform vocal warm ups. Vocal exercising loosens the muscles in throat and mouth. Tongue twisters are fun to repeat as a group and help children overcome shyness before they perform on their own. Try "A big black bug bit a big black bear and the big black bear bled blood" or "The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue, the tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips."

    • 4

      Schedule a simple first performance. For children's first performance, give each child a poem to read out loud to the class or family. Shel Silverstein poems are children friendly and entertaining to both children and parents. As children practice, they should speak clearly and encourage to use their imagination when it comes to acting out the words. Let them use different voices and gestures as they see fit.

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