Nursery Rhyme Nativities: Three Easy-to-Perform Plays for Pre-school and Early Years Learning - Softcover

Ogden, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184101236X ISBN 13: 9781841012360

Publisher: Barnabas, 2002

Synopsis

One of the biggest problems faced by teachers working with very young children at Christmas is how to involve pre-readers in the nativity play with the minimum of fuss and manageable preparation. This book offers three very diverse plays, each telling the story of the first Christmas from a different perspective, using well known nursery rhyme tunes to bring the storyline to life. Simple directions, props and costumes ensure that the children are given the opportunity to participate fully in the performance. The material has been field tested with reception age children, and the book includes music notation and photocopy permission.

About this title

Review

www.christians-in-education.org.uk/resourcereviews/338 This book commends itself as a book of three Christmas plays, aimed at the youngest of our children, which can be performed with a minimum of fuss and manageable preparation. The stories are told with the suggestion that adults (or very competent older children) should read the parts of the narrators, with the young children miming the action and singing the songs with the audience joining in the singing. The songs all use the tunes of nursery rhymes and have newly written words to fit the story e.g. Mary's Song sung to the tune of 'London Bridge is Falling Down'. Illustrated photocopiable pages of song words are given with the suggestion that they could be put on acetate or made into booklets. The book includes simple music scores and craft templates including animal masks and crib figures. This book is a wonderful resource for pre-school and KS1 teachers and also for church groups who rarely have a full complement of actors until the day of the play -- the numbers of those acting is infinitely flexible. This is a book that I will be passing on to my vicar, our pre-school leader and my KS1 manager. I rather suspect that they will be fighting over it! Reviewer: Jan Randall, Class Teacher and RE Manager, Nursling Primary School, Southampton, Hampshire Review posted on: 23 October 2008 -- Jan Randall Association of Christian Teachers

About the Author

Brian Ogden was for many years a teacher and RE advisor for the diocese of Peterborough and Chelmsford. He is author of many popular books in the Barnabas range and a regular speaker in schools, typically sharing his stories and his work with more than 7,000 children in the course of a year.

Edition details

• Publisher: Barnabas
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 184101236X
• ISBN 13: 9781841012360
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 64
• Illustrator: Allen Marie