- paper hat (red on one side, green on the other)
- dialogue
- folktale
MA Standards:
Literature/RL.PK.MA.3: With prompting and support, act out characters and events from a story or poem read aloud.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Book Appreciation and Knowledge: Retells stories or information from books through conversation, artistic works, creative movement, or drama.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 10: Engage actively in read-aloud activities by asking questions, offering ideas, predicting or retelling important parts of a story or informational book.
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 12: Listen to, recite, sing, and dramatize a variety of age-appropriate literature.
EEC Infant and Toddler Guidelines:
PW50: The older toddler engages in a variety of physical activities
Role Play “It’s Red! It’s Green!”
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Skill Focus: Creative Expression, Imaginative Play, Retelling, Vocabulary
Review with children what a folktale is: a story that originates in a culture and has been passed down for generations.
Invite children to act out the African folktale featured in It’s Red! It’s Green! Ask,
- Who are the people in the story? (a farmer; two good friends)
- Select a child to be the farmer. Give the “farmer” a paper hat that is red on one side and green on the other.
Guide children to reconstruct the story or have them create a new story. Encourage them to make up and add dialogue as they act out the story. Review that dialogue is what characters say in a story. Children can also sing “Red Hat, Green Hat” as they act out the story.
Adaptation: For groups with children of varying ages, pair older and younger children to work together so that older children can “guide” younger ones in making up dialogue.