All Scenes & Activities

Join Anna as she sits on the beach, looking out to sea, longing for adventure…

What’s your island adventure?

Let’s get ready to draw a map.

If you’re outside, you might find some sand at the beach and use a stick

If you’re inside, find some paper and something to write with

Let’s think about islands!

Where might your island be?

Somewhere… 

…really icy? …roasting hot?! …under water? …high in the clouds? 

…or somewhere else

What shape is it?

Is it…

…round? …square or rectangular? …curvy? …angular? …a mixture?!

What’s on your island?

…mountains? …waterfalls? …a tiny stream? …a forest with high trees? …hills and caves?

…or something else

Draw your island, marking out the different landmarks

What other features might there be?

….an ice castle? …a water park? …an underground maze? …a zoo or an aquarium with unusual creatures?

Decide where on the island you would like these to be and draw them on your map. How can you connect these with pathways? Mark them out.

If you’re going on an adventure across your map, you might like to add a compass with the different direction points on it.

Start with North, South, East, West. What about… Up and Down?

Draw your compass and its points.

Mark the beginning of your journey with a cross or a dot, or another marker shape if you prefer. Draw yourself or a symbol to represent you.

Who’s going with you on your adventure?

Do you start together or meet part way through your journey? Mark where they are on the map when they meet you.

What’s surrounding your island?

…water? …clouds? …the stars in your island’s galaxy..?

How can you set the scene?

What time of day is it?

Is it…

 …after breakfast? …in the middle of the dark night? …just before the world wakes up?

What’s the weather like?

Is it… …cold? …raining? …wild and windy? …calm and warm?

Right, let’s go!

You could…

…record your voice telling the story of your adventure

…film your journey across the map as you take us through your adventure

…write a story or describe the different scenes of your adventure …act out the most dramatic parts when you arrive there

Set on a sunny sandy beach, you join Charlie and Anna as they have some fun with their own shadows…

Where’s your shadow dance and how will you tell it?

On a sunny day go outside and notice where the sun is casting its shadows. Are the shadows on the ground, against a wall, in between objects?

Go to a place with the sun behind you. Begin to move your arms, or your legs – or both – and look at the different shadows the sun creates from the shapes and movements that you make.

What’s interesting or funny about them? What happens when two of you move together, side by side, or one behind the other?

Explore making your movements really big and really small.

Focus on just moving your hands. Move them slowly and smoothly. What does that look like or feel like?

Now move your hands quickly, reaching in different directions.

How else could you move? How can you make your shadows bigger or smaller, or narrower or wider?

You could…

…make shapes like different creatures

…make smooth or crashing waves like water

…create a shadow story from the different ideas you’ve explored

Exploring Inside…

You can explore more shadows indoors, using a torch. You’ll probably need at least two people for this – one to move and one to shine the torch.

What happens when you move the torch around the movement that’s being made? Where do the shadows go?

If you move the torch closer to the person moving or further away from them, how does this change the size of the shadow?

You could…

…add other objects

…tell a story that moves around the room

…give the torch a character

Join Charlie and Anna as they stomp and jump like giants in the woods…

Where will rumble like a giant?

Imagine a giant! How big, and strong, and serious might they be? Try this out with your body. How can we be big, strong, and serious?

Where do you think the giant might be going?

…through the woods?

…to its cave?

…to brush their teeth?

What’s the giant looking for?

…some friends?

…the sea?

…its giant pet squirrel?

Let’s imagine we’re giants!

Make yourself as big as a giant, as strong as a giant, and with serious searching eyes like a giant.

What are YOU looking for?

OK! Let’s get ready to find it!

Taking BIG, SLOW, STRONG STEPS, LET’S GO!!

 …leaving big footprints, pushing away tree branches and splashing through the river…

What else will you do? …stop and look around …look under a giant leaf …shout as loud as you can …let out a giant sneeze

OR…

Giants Play Tag (7yrs +) (adults love this game!)

This is like the game of tag you’ll already know but with a few changes to the rules.

The rules for Giants Play Tag are:

ONE! – you can only make big movements

TWO! – you can only move one part of your body at a time (for example, with a reach, or a step, or turning your head to look)

And,

THREE! – you have to move reeeeeeeaaaally slowly

You could add new rules to your game by…

…starting sitting, lying, on your front or back

…only moving sideways

…each having a number and taking turns in order

…take out the ‘tag’ rule and explore moving over, under and around each other in big, slow motion movements

Set deep in the woods, Anna and Charlie come across a new companion…

What ideas do you have for a dance in the woods?

Watch Kira dancing in the woods.

Notice how her movements connect with the sky and the tops of the trees, and also with the strength of the ground and what’s happening underneath the earth…the roots growing and making their own paths.

Listen to the music. Notice how the different sounds connect with the sky and the tops of the trees, and with the ground, just like the movement does.

Can you tell the different energies? The sky and treetops movements have a lighter, softer energy, and the earth and tree roots movements have a heavier, stronger energy.

Learn some of Kira’s movements 

Choose some of Kira’s movements and learn them.

Which ones connect with the sky and the treetops?

And, which ones connect with the ground and the travelling roots? Add some more of your own.

Make sure there are differences in your energy so that you can show the contrast between the lighter and the stronger movements.

Decide which order you would like to perform your sky and earth movements in your dance. Put them together and practise your dance.

You could….

….find a woodland to make and perform your dance…

…teach others your dance or make the dance together with some friends…

…choose your own music which has lighter sounds and deeper sounds…or make your own sounds in the woods…

Think about where your audience could be. Could they be watching from different places?

Set on a tree stump in the woods, Charlie and Anna tell each other stories using their hands…

What’s the little story of your big adventure?

Create a story about a journey through nature

Imagine a place in nature. This place could be peaceful, or have mystery, or be dark and creepy…

What does it look like? Describe what’s there. rocks, trees, stars, water, clouds..?

What time of day is it? early morning, at midnight, after lunch?

What kind of adventure could happen in this place? …finding treasure, meeting with friends, a midnight feast, spotting something rare, building a look-out den…?

Who is going on that adventure..? …you, other people, creatures…?

Write or record your story.

What happens in the end? Is it a cliff-hanger? Is there another episode or chapter…? Is the quest completed..? What was discovered..? Will we ever know…?

Choose 6 to 8 parts of your story that feel important to you.

Find a place to sit with something to lean your hands on – like a mini-stage.

Tell the different parts of the story using your hands on your mini-stage. Practise so you can remember it.

How can you share it with others?

You could record it, or teach it to someone, or ask someone to pick out other parts of the story and have a hand conversation with them about the story.

Join Anna, Charlie and Kira as they go exploring on the hill tops as the sun goes down…

Who will you take with you Night Time Flying?

The next time you’re in the park, on up a hill or in a high or open space, notice the breeze. What direction is it coming from? How strong is it? Feel the breeze and allow it to guide where you travel.

Stop every so often and listen to what it might be saying, or where it might be suggesting you move to next. Is it moving you forwards, backwards or around? Where on your body can you feel the breeze or the wind the most? Is it pushing against one part of your body?

Let it take you on a breezy dance. Keep your eyes open and watch where it’s taking you!

You could

…write a story or a poem about the breeze as a reminder of your time with it.

…note down important words or feelings about your time with the breeze and compare it to what happens next time.

…build a diary or a story of you and the breeze.

…write a story from the perspective of the breeze and how it feels when it meets a human or when humans get in its way!

Join Anna, Charlie and Kira as they go exploring on the hill tops as the sun goes down…

What story is the breeze whispering to you?

The next time you’re in the park, on up a hill or in a high or open space, notice the breeze. What direction is it coming from? How strong is it? Feel the breeze and allow it to guide where you travel.

Stop every so often and listen to what it might be saying, or where it might be suggesting you move to next. Is it moving you forwards, backwards or around? Where on your body can you feel the breeze or the wind the most? Is it pushing against one part of your body?

Let it take you on a breezy dance. Keep your eyes open and watch where it’s taking you!

You could

…write a story or a poem about the breeze as a reminder of your time with it.

…note down important words or feelings about your time with the breeze and compare it to what happens next time.

…build a diary or a story of you and the breeze.

…write a story from the perspective of the breeze and how it feels when it meets a human or when humans get in its way!

Join Anna, Charlie and Kira as they stomp along the cliff tops, exploring what they see, hear and feel…

What can you see, hear and feel on your nature adventure?

Choose somewhere in nature to go for a walk with others. Places that are high up where you can see far in the distance and close by will give you lots to connect with.

As you’re walking, what you can hear? …birds chirruping in the sky…the stomping of your feet on the ground…the rustling of the leaves in the wind…?

What else? Are they loud sounds, faint sounds, far away or nearby? Can you tell what’s making the sounds? Or do you need to imagine?

Notice what you can see. Some things will be close up, some much further away. Can you see just part of something, or the whole of it? Do you know what the rest of it looks like? Or can you make something up?!

When you’re moving, or paused for a moment, notice what your body is feeling. Can you feel the wind whoosh past your cheek? Does the tip of your nose feel a bit cold? What about the sun? Is it out, and warming a part of your body?

Take it in turns to tell each other what you see, hear or feel, and what it makes you imagine or think about.

Here are a few ideas you could use to start with.

I can see…..and it looks like….and it makes me feel…

I can hear…and it reminds me of….and I feel…

I can feel…the breeze, or rain drops, or the cold, or the warmth of the sun…or the coolness from the shadows, perhaps?…and I imagine…

Together you could create a poem, and add some movements to express the words

Set deep in the woods, follow along as Anna and Charlie build a den from things they find on the forest floor…

Where’s your den and what is it made of?

Out in the woods or under a solitary tree is a great place to build a den, though you can do all of this inside or in your garden.
If you’re out in the woods, remember to collect things that have already fallen from trees, or are scattered on the woodland floor.

Start collecting different objects. Some will help with the structure of your den, others will cover or decorate it. As you’re collecting and building, start to think about the story of who lives here. Is it you? Is it someone – or someTHING else? Is this something else real or imaginary? How did they get here..?

If you’re building your den at home or inside, think about where in nature your den might be.
Is it…
…in the woods… …high on a mountain range… …underground…
…in the clouds… …nestled in the branches of a tree…
…in a rock cave… …in a shipwreck… …amongst the coral…?

Can you fit inside your den? How can you explore it? Can you invite someone else in? You could ask them to tell you how it feels to be hidden away in this new place.

Set on a tree stump in the woods, and on a rock by the sea, Charlie and Anna tell each other stories using their hands…

What’s the little story of your big adventure?

Create a story about a journey through nature

Imagine a place in nature. This place could be peaceful, or have mystery, or be dark and creepy…

What does it look like? Describe what’s there. rocks, trees, stars, water, clouds..?

What time of day is it? early morning, at midnight, after lunch?

What kind of adventure could happen in this place? …finding treasure, meeting with friends, a midnight feast, spotting something rare, building a look-out den…?

Who is going on that adventure..? …you, other people, creatures…?

Write or record your story.

What happens in the end? Is it a cliff-hanger? Is there another episode or chapter…? Is the quest completed..? What was discovered..? Will we ever know…?

Choose 6 to 8 parts of your story that feel important to you.

Find a place to sit with something to lean your hands on – like a mini-stage.

Tell the different parts of the story using your hands on your mini-stage. Practise so you can remember it.

How can you share it with others?

You could record it, or teach it to someone, or ask someone to pick out other parts of the story and have a hand conversation with them about the story.