I love a theme. So, when there is a school talent show there cannot just be a series of acts in a row, there must be a theme to tie everything together. Way more fun! Last year it was the Stone Age. This year is was a Medieval Kingdom. Kids love castles and adults love Game of Thrones – DONE!
Storyline: A king from China, King Wong, travels from China to visit IMS Kingdom. To celebrate the King’s arrival, the IMS Kingdom gathers all of the talents from across the land to entertain the King. The colourful court made up of King Oliver, Queen Flora and Princesses Ivy and Rose all watch and add their two cents after performances while court jesters and Masters of Ceremonies keep the show lively and rolling.
My job as the art teacher is to make the stage and the kids look good. So, for the set I had students paint bricks on individual pieces of paper before taping them all together to create a paper wall as the stage backdrop. I also used the brick paper to decorate the entrance to the hall.
For the King and the court I created headpieces for them to wear. I used my old stand by, which is using a headband as a base for the headpieces, then paper macheing and finishing them with painted details – cheap, easy and looks great on stage.
In art class I still needed to teach one point perspective, so we looked at castles from around the world, studied their similar characteristics and then students created their own castles showing perspective by representing things in the distance as small, and things in the foreground as larger.
In Lower Primary we sponge painted bricks on black paper before cutting out the castle shapes. Students painted hills in the background then glued the castle and added windows, doors, flags and much more.
For upper primary, students first designed their castle in pencil and then outlined it with black marker. Because colouring the castle would take too long, students did light watercolour washes on the building and then coloured the rest of the detail with coloured pencils.
I may not be Jon Snow but my name is Kit…Ms. Kit! Lover of themes and theatrics! Fare thee well until next year, Talent Show!