Pre-show Activity

Activity: Introduction and applause

What you’ll need: N/A

Children stand in a circle and take turns taking one step into the circle and saying their name loudly and proudly. After each child has a turn, everyone gives them a huge round of applause. You can extend this activity by:

• Adding a gesture
• Adding a sentence about something they love
• Saying their name in an interesting way
• Saying their name with particular dynamics (gently, loudly etc)
• Saying their name and adding a descriptive word that starts with the same letter (eg. Fantastic Felix!)

This builds confidence and can lead to discussions about how to be a supportive audience member. Ask the children how it made them feel to receive applause?

Learning Outcome Elaborations

1.1 Children feel safe, secure and supported.

1.3 Children develop knowledgeable and confident self-identities.

1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect.

Post-show Activity

Activity: Photo Album

What you’ll need: Camera/ipad/iphone, printer, computer, stationery

Take photographs of your children preparing for the visit to the theatre, in the foyer and at the end of the performance when the actors invite the audience to view the set.

Make the photos into a book or develop a slide show on a computer or screen in a central, accessible location. Provide opportunities for children/family members to view, interact with, and respond to them. Ask children what the difference was between the foyer and the theatre? What did they notice about both spaces? Did they feel comfortable?

Children could each choose a photo of themselves to ‘frame’. Use ready-made paper frames which they can decorate, or paste the photo onto a piece of cardboard, allowing the children to decorate the ‘frame’.

Learning Outcome Elaborations

1.3 Children develop knowledgeable and confident self-identities.

1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect.

Pre-show Activity

Activity: Being a member of an audience

What you’ll need: Stationery

Have discussions about attending live performance, this can include music and dance, as well as theatre. What shows, if any, have they seen performed? What were their reactions when they saw these shows? Did they laugh? Cry? Were they scared? What was the difference between seeing something live and watching a film or a television show?

What rules did they have to follow? What were their responsibilities? Create a ‘respectful audience’ chart. Remember that children do not have to be quiet at live performance, but their responses do need to be respectful to the performers and other audience members.

Learning Outcome Elaborations

2.1 Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for an active community participation.

2.2 Children respond to diversity with respect.

Post-show Activity

Activity: Grug and his friends

What you’ll need: Drawing gear      

Who are Grug’s friends? How did we know that they are friends? Are Grug and his friends the same or do they look very different? What did Cara do to help Grug have a better day? What did Grug do to help Snail? Do the children have a friend of family member who is their ‘Cara’ or ‘Snail’? If they need  something, who are the people who help them? Who do they help? Can you be friends with someone who looks very different to you?

Ask children to draw a picture of someone helping them or vice versa. It could be based on a real incident or an imagined one.

Learning Outcome Elaborations

2.1 Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active community participation.

Pre-show Activity

Activity: Grug’s emotions

What you’ll need: A copy of Grug goes Fishing or another Grug title that contains a variety of emotions. Craft gear for puppet making.

After reading Grug goes Fishing, make a list of emotions and feelings that Grug experiences through the book. Discuss how Ted Prior has used illustration to show us what Grug is feeling.  The list can be made up of words and/or ‘smiley’ faces that show the different emotions. Discuss the incidents that caused these emotions.

Play small snippets of music that inspire a range of emotions (sadness, suspense, adventure, happiness) and ask children to identify which words/images match the music.

Ask children to respond to the music using their faces and their bodies. Lead children to come up with some gestures that link to emotions and put these into a sequence. In small groups or as a class, invent a sad dance and a happy dance.

Learning Outcome Elaborations

3.1 Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing.

3.2 Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing.

Post-Show Activity

Activity: Grug’s house

What you’ll need: Craft materials, stationery

Introduce the word ‘set’, and discuss how many ‘settings’ were incorporated into the ‘set’, by recalling what they saw during the performance. Focus on Grug’s home. Did it look like the home in the books? What were the defining features? What objects were there to make Grug’s life more comfortable? What do we need to make our home comfortable?

Grug lives alone but they don’t. Do they have a special place they can call their own?  How do they feel in that space? Is it important for people to have a safe space? Children can draw their favourite place, including the things that make it comfortable.

In your drama or home corner, set up Grug’s house. What can you find or make that you can put in the space to make it look like his home did in the show and the books? Name this space a ‘set’. Children can make puppets, character hats/masks  or role play the characters in this space.

Learning Outcome Elaborations

3.1 Children become strong in their social and emotional wellbeing.

3.2 Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing.

Pre-show Activity

Activity: Grug has a problem!

What you’ll need: A selection of Grug books

Rotate the Grug stories as the feature story of the week. Have a selection of the Grug books in the drama/reading/home corner and turn it into a lending library.

Guide children to make observations on how Grug solves problems. What problems does he encounter? Is a problem and a mistake the same thing? Which problems does he solve alone or with friends? Are there times where he doesn’t succeed at solving a problem? How does he feel about that? Are there other ways he could solve some of those problem or fix his mistakes? What do you think he has learnt from these experiences? What will he do differently next time? Set up a drama role play using the characters of Grug, Cara and Snail, that is focussed on solving a problem, e.g. Grug is having a party but his food cupboard is empty. How/where can he find enough food for his friends?

Learning Outcome Elaborations

4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

4.2 Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating.

Post-show Activity

Title: Reflection!

What you’ll need: Stationery/art materials

Activity:

Talk/draw/write about the performance of Grug. Use open ended questions such as –

• What did you enjoy about the performance? Why or why not?
• What was your favourite bit?
• Who was your favourite character? Why? Take a vote!
• What do you remember?
• What did Grug eat?
• What did Grug do when his plants were being eaten?
• What happened when he went to the water hole?
• Who were his friends and how do we know that they were his friends?
• Do they know of any other books that have been made into a live performance or film? (eg. Matilda, Wizard of Oz etc.)
• Is there another book or book series you would like to see adapted into a live performance?

As a class, create your own Grug story by choosing a setting and dreaming up a problem for Grug to deal with. Brainstorm a whole list of solutions and ask children to respond in pictures. Create a class book that shows all of the solutions.

Learning Outcome Elaborations

4.3 Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another.

Pre-show Activity

Activity: Making Grug!

What you’ll need: A selection of Grug books. Craft items, glue, tape.

Have a range of the Grug books available for children to look through. Discuss the characters in some of the books, focusing particularly on Grug. What do we know about him based on his appearance, body language and facial expressions? Have children physically explore the different facial expressions/body language that correlate with different emotions/reactions (e.g. happy, sad, angry etc.)

Tell the children that they are going to create Grug and that they need to choose an emotion to portray in their work. Provide string/wool, dried leaves/grasses, paper, paints and other craft items available in the colours of Grug so that children can have a go at creating their own version of him. This could be in the form of a collage on cardboard or an upright model, perhaps using clean, household recycling items as the base.

Once complete, children can discuss the different meaning they get from the work of others.

Learning Outcome Elaborations

5.1 Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

5.2 Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts.

5.3 Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media.

Post-show Activity

Activity: Create Cara the Carpet Snake

What you’ll need: Art materials

Lead a group discussion and research into snakes, answering questions like:

• What do we know about carpet snakes?
• Where do carpet snakes live?
• What do you think they like to eat?
• Where would we find snakes like Cara?
• What do you do if you see a real snake?

Encourage the students to make their own carpet snakes out of paper. Allow children time to explore different ways before teaching them some useful techniques such as linking loops, rolling paper into tubes or using the concertina folding technique, described below.

Concertina folding:

• Prepare 3cm wide strips of different coloured paper.
• Choose two different colours.
• Join strips with glue or staples, at right angles.
• Fold each strip over each-other to create a concertina effect.
• Repeat folding the strips.
• Secure final fold with glue or staple.
• Cut a round piece of paper and stick to the end of the body to create a face, draw on eyes and other details.

Students can then use a combination of found and created materials to create a habitat for their carpet snake in the form of a diorama.

Learning Outcome Elaborations

5.3 Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media.

5.4 Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work.

Pre-show Activity

LITERATURE

Activity: A character’s point of view

What you’ll need: A selection of Grug books

Read a selection of Grug books that contain Grug and at least one other character (Cara, Snoot or incidental characters like the Snail, Crab, Worm, Fish and so on)

Ask students to comment on the stories.

• Which are their favourites?
• Who is the story about? The main character?
• What about the other characters?
• What do you think the other characters think about the situations they find themselves in?

Model the idea of telling the story from a minor characters perspective using one of the stories. Students can now do the same – considering the voice of the chosen character.

Things to consider:

• Will the response be written, role play, multi-model, drawings.
• Will the response be individual or a co-creation.
• The response will be in first person. What perspective is Grug written in? This will be a good time to introduce, remind or extend knowledge of perspective.

Content Description

Foundation:

Engaging with and responding to literature

• Respond to stories and share feelings and thoughts about their events and characters. (AC9EFLE02)

Creating literature

• Retell and adapt familiarliterary texts through play, performance, images or writing. (AC9EFLE05)

Year 1:

Engaging with and responding to literature

• Discuss literary texts and share responses by making connections with students’ own experiences. (AC9E1LE02)

Creating literature

• Orally retell or adapt a familiarstory using plot and characters, language features including vocabulary, and structure of a familiar text, through role-play, writing, drawing or digital tools. (AC9E1LE05)

Year 2:

Engaging with and responding to literature

• Identify features of literary texts, such as characters and settings, and give reasons for personal preferences. (AC9E2LE02)

Creating literature

• Create and edit literary texts by adapting structures and language features of familiar literary texts through drawing, writing, performance and digital tools. (AC9E2LE05)

LITERACY

Activity: Interview Grug!

What you’ll need: Stationery for older students to write things down

Tell the students that when they see Grug they will be meeting a very famous character. The children can pretend that they are journalists getting ready to interview Grug. Discuss the following –

• What is an interview? Why interview someone?
• Watch or listen to a couple of interviews (look at shows made for young people such as BTN). Older students could read transcripts.
• What do you already know about Grug? How can this help you write your questions?
• What types of questions require detailed answers? Eg. avoid questions that result in ‘yes’, ‘no’ answers.
• What type of language will you use? Is Grug an adult or a child or neither? Do you need to be formal or like a friend?
• What would you like to find out?
• Will all of your questions be planned or will you make some up on the spot?

Explicitly show the children how to interview by either interviewing a child, another teacher or allow them to interview you. Encourage them to ask new questions based on what they hear.

Ask students to work in pairs or small groups to come up with questions that have for Grug. Compile these into a class list and keep them to use after you have seen the show. Older students can create or co-create their own interview.

*“Interview Grug Part 2” is in the ‘after the show’ section.

Content Description

Foundation:

Texts in context

• Identify some familiar texts, such as stories and informative texts, and their purpose. (AC9EFLY01)

Year 1:

Texts in context

• Discuss different texts and identify some features that indicate their purpose. (AC9E1LY01)

Year 2:

Texts in context

• Identify how similar topics and information are presented in different types of texts (AC9E2LY01)

• Literacy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Intercultural understanding

Post-Show Activities

LANGUAGE

Activity: Grug in Chapters

What you’ll need: A selection of books – Grug, interconnected short stories and simple chapter books. Stationery and/or computers.

Lead a discussion about the live performance of Grug.

• How many stories did you see? List them.
• How did you know when a new story started? How did you know it had ended?
• Did the stories have a beginning, middle and an end?
• How did the artists tie the stories together? Think about action, repeated motifs, set, music, structure etc.

Have a look at the different book options at hand. What do the students notice? Are the Grug books stand-alone stories? Do they interconnect? Find a chapter book and identify the chapters. Did the Grug performance team create chapters out of stand-alone stories?

As a class or in groups of five or more, choose another character from either the Grug books or the live performance. Explain that the students are going to create their own character driven book series. Each student will write and/or draw their own story about the chosen character. There will be a lot of room to invent! Prompts can be used here – perhaps in the form of setting, object or action suggestions. Ensure that the format is the same for each student so that eventually the stories can be put together into a hard copy or digital book.

Extension/Modification:

• More complex features can be explored with older students such as orientation, climax and resolution.
• Older students could create the stories for a younger audience and ask younger students to illustrate.

Content Description

Foundation:

Text structure and organisation

• Understand that texts can take many forms such as signs, books and digital texts. (AC9EFLA03)

Year 1:

Text structure and organisation

• Explore how texts are organised according to their purpose, such as to recount, narrate, express opinion, inform, report and explain. (AC9E1LA03)

Year 2:

Text structure and organisation

• Identify how texts across the curriculum are organised differently and use language features depending on purposes. (AC9E2LA03)

LANGUAGE & LITERACY

Activity: Interview Grug Part 2

What you’ll need: Interview questions from previous task, recording equipment.

*This activity follows on from “Interview Grug Part 1” in the ‘before the show’ section and could also connect with Drama Activity “What a character!”

The students have now read a selection of Grug books and also seen the show. They know a lot about Grug! As a class or in small groups, review the interview questions you created before seeing the show. Do you need to add, change or adapt any of the questions? You are aiming to get Grug to recount some of his experiences and also to share information about his life.

There are a number of ways to complete this task. Choose one or more of the following –

• Set up an interview scenario and take turns interviewing Grug with the interviewer using the set questions. Grug can improvise.
• Write or record Grug’s responses.
• Complete the interview through creating a script or recording the interview in some way (audio, visual).
• Refine and rehearse the interview for live performance in the style of a talk show.
• Students could improvise interviews with other characters from the book or the performance.
• Students could improvise interviews with the director, actors, designers of the show or even the writer of the books.

Content Description

Foundation:

Text structure and organisation

• Understand that texts can take many forms such as signs, books and digital texts. (AC9EFLA03)

Creating Texts

• Create and deliver short spoken texts to report ideas and events to peers, using features of voice such as appropriate volume. (AC9EFLY07)

Year 1:

Text structure and organisation

• Explore how texts are organised according to their purpose, such as to recount, narrate, express opinion, inform, report and explain. (AC9E1LA03)

Creating Texts

• Create and deliver short oral and/or multimodal presentations on personal and learnt topics, which include an opening, middle and concluding statement; some topic-specific vocabulary and appropriate gesture, volume and pace. (AC9E1LY07)

Year 2: 

Text structure and organisation

• Identify how texts across the curriculum are organised differently and use language features depending on purposes. (AC9E2LA03)

Creating Texts

• Create, rehearse and deliver short oral and/or multimodal presentations for familiar audiences and purposes, using text structure appropriate to purpose and topic-specific vocabulary, and varying tone, volume and pace. (AC9E2LY07)

• Literacy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Ethical understanding

Pre-Show Activity

EXPLORING & RESPONDING

Activity: What is theatre?

What you’ll need: For extension activities – paper/photocopies, labels, magazines, scissors, glue, pencils.

Let the children know that they are going to see Grug and that it is a theatre performance! Lead a class discussion about theatre and live performance. This could be started as a think/pair/share or as a small group task to begin with.

• What have you seen before? Make a class list.
• Where have you seen live performance? Make a class list.
• Why do people go to see theatre? (eg. Entertainment, to learn, to be challenged).
• Why do people make and perform theatre? (eg. To tell a story, to teach, to express an idea).
• Think about a show you have seen. What did you see on stage? Make a big list to introduce vocabulary such as character, actor, audience, set, props, puppets, music, sound design, light, dance, voice.

Extension/Modification:

• In pairs, draw or create a theatre setting with labels (words or pictures) and ask another group to populate the setting with the labels. The setting could also be a photocopy or a pre-drawn image by the teacher.
• Using old magazines, paper and glue, ask children to create a collage of a moment of performance. This could be based on something they have seen or completely made up. Explain the finished product to a friend. This could be the start of a writing exercise too.

Content Description

Foundation:

• Explore how and why the arts are important for people and communities. (AC9ADRFE01)

Year 1 & 2:

• Explore where, why and how people across cultures, communities and/or other contexts experience drama. (AC9ADR2E01)

DEVELOPING PRACTICES AND SKILLS

Activity: What a character!

What you’ll need: A selection of Grug books

Spend some time exploring some Grug books. Talk about how Grug is a character. What do we know about characters? Characters have personality, background and motivation.

Choose one or two books to focus on and work through the following questions, using examples from the books either as a class or in small groups –

• What sort of personality does Grug have?
• Where did Grug come from?
• What does Grug want and why?

Characters have ways of speaking and moving. Ask children to lay down on the ground and close their eyes. They are Grug. Take them through an imaginary day being Grug (or you could read one of the books and ask them to react). Use these prompts as a guide:

• Wake up like Grug and stretch. Get out of bed.
• How does Grug move? How does he feel so early in the morning?
• What does he want for breakfast? How does he feel before and after eating? Make and eat breakfast like Grug.
• What will Grug do today? Call out an activity that Grug does in one of the books and ask the children to ‘perform’ this. Ask them how they feel in different situations.
• Move about and meet other Grugs. What does Grug’s voice sound like? Is he happy to meet other Grugs? Is he talkative or shy?
• Grug is really tired from a hard day. Time to go back to the burrow and curl up to sleep.

Modification/Extension:

• Call out the feelings and emotions identified and children respond with their faces and bodies.
• Create a scenario where Grug experiences three different emotions. They can base this on a book or completely invent it. Eg. Grug goes fishing (excited), he catches a fish (happy!), the fish falls off the hook (disappointed!). Act these out.

Content Description

Foundation:

• Use play, imagination, arts knowledge, processes and/or skills to discover possibilities and develop ideas. (AC9ADRFD01)

Year 1 & 2:

• Use the elements of drama and imagination in dramatic play and/or process drama. (AC9ADR2D01)

• Literacy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Intercultural understanding

Post-Show Activity

CREATING AND MAKING

Activity:  Move like Grug and his friends!

What you’ll need: N/A

Who were all of the characters in Grug?

Either as a whole class or in smaller groups, write a list of movements each character made. How would you describe these movements? What do they communicate to the audience or to the other characters?

Moving from one side of the room to the other, use the list to prompt children to move as the characters. Use the descriptions the class has already come up with. Eg. dawdle like Grug, slither like Cara, glide like Snail, crawl like Crab, inch like Worm.

Play around with pace, timing, levels, shape. Think about other movements. Call out situations for the students to respond to which might change their movement quality (eg. you are being chased by a predator, you are trying to find food, you are heading off to a party, you are travelling over rough ground and so on).

Modification/Extension:

• In small groups, with each character represented, come up with a movement piece using these movements.
• Come up with a small dialogue to go with the movement.
• Use the movement qualities to create a class poem to add to the movement and perform to another class.

Content Description

Foundation:

• Create arts works that communicate ideas. (AC9ADRFC01)

Year 1 & 2:

• Create and co-create fictional situations based on imagination and/or experience. (AC9ADR2C01)

PRESENTING AND PERFORMING

Activity: Puppets!

What you’ll need: A range of craft material – toilet rolls, thick pop sticks, rubber/cotton gloves, socks, pipe cleaners, material, beads etc.

Discuss different types of puppets you saw in the show and any others that you may know and look at examples online or in books  – eg. finger puppets, glove puppets, hand puppets, rod and arm puppets, stick puppet.

Choose one character from Grug. Design your puppet on paper first. Consider –

• What materials are available?
• How will your puppet move. What type of puppet will you make?
• Do you need one or two people to move your puppet.
• How big does your puppet need to be. Tip – for this task small puppets will work best.

Make your puppet! Modify if necessary!

Modification/Extension:

• In groups of 3-4, use different characters to come up with a short scenario for the puppets to act out focussing on Setting (where are they?), Time (what time of day is it?) and Situation (what is happening?)
• Perform your puppet shows for each other and other classes. You could also film them or use the puppets to create stop motion!

Content Description

Foundation:

• Share their arts works with audiences. (AC9ADRFP01)

Year 1 & 2:

• Share their drama in informal settings. (AC9ADR2P01)

• Literacy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Intercultural understanding

Pre-Show Activity

SCIENCE INQUIRY:

Activity: Grug’s garden

What you’ll need: A copy of Grug and his Garden, clear cups or jars, paper towel, black construction paper, seeds.

Read the book Grug and his Garden. When Grug gets hungry, he grows his food. Take students outside and ask them to observe a number of different plants. How does a plant begin? How does it grow? How does it die?

Lead a discussion to see what students already know about the life of plants. Identify the gaps and pose questions to individuals or small groups for them to research.

Following the discussion, work with students to conduct the following experiment. They are going grow a plant of their very own, just like Grug.

Follow this procedure:

• Each child has a clear plastic cup (or plastic free glass jar).
• Cut strips of black construction paper (approx. 10cm x 15cm).
• Line the cup or jar with the black paper.
• Stuff paper towel into the cup to hold the paper up against the sides.
• Next – place 3 to 4 seeds, for example kidney beans, between the black paper and the side of the container.
• Water the paper towel.
• Keep the paper towel damp, but not flooded.
• Put plants in a light sunny position.

Watch and observe the beans wrinkle as the water softens the seed coat. Keep watching as they sprout, grow roots and stems. Students are able to observe all of this happening right through the clear container. Have them record their observations and measurement of the changes and discuss why they think these things are occurring.

Modification/Extension:

• Before carrying out the experiment, the students could co-design or plan the process allowing them to predict what might happen.
• Photos could be taken to record the process and used as part of a final report.
• This could be combined with art, drawing cross sections of plants in earth.

Content Description

Foundation:

Planning and Conducting

• Engage in investigations safely and make observations using their senses. (AC9SFI02)

Communicating

• Share questions, predictions, observations and ideas with others. (AC9SFI05)

Year 1:

Planning and Conducting

• Suggest and follow safe procedures to investigate questions and test predictions. (AC9S1I02)

Communicating

• Write and create texts to communicate observations, findings and ideas, using everyday and scientific vocabulary. (AC9S1I06)

Year 2:

Planning and Conducting

• Suggest and follow safe procedures to investigate questions and test predictions. (AC9S2I02)

Communicating

• Write and create texts to communicate observations, findings and ideas, using everyday and scientific vocabulary. (AC9S2I06)

• Literacy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability

Post-Show Activity

SCIENCE UNDERSTANDING

Activity: Pond Life!

What you’ll need: N/A

Ask children if they recall the moment in the show when Grug went fishing.

• What were all of the living things that he found in the water hole?
• Were there any plants?
• Has anyone been to a water hole?
• What sorts of things happen at a water hole?

A pond is a water hole but sometimes people make them in their yards or in parks.

• Does anyone have a pond in their yard?
• Has anyone been to a pond?
• What did you see?

As a class, make a big list of all of the plants and animals children think of that might live in ponds (fish, crabs, frogs, tadpoles, snakes, weeds, lily pads etc.)

Create either a 2D picture or a 3D model of a pond (cellophane works wonders!) and label all of the features of a pond or water hole.

Modification/Extension:

• Children could research particular animals and plants using the classification system.
• Children could research how all of the essential elements of a pond interact and depend on each other.
• Children could consider what are the dangers to a healthy water hole or pond.
• The class could walk to the school yard, local creek or wet land to look at a water environment in action and make observations (written and drawn).

Content Description

Foundation:

Biological Sciences

• Observe external features of plants and animals and describe ways they can be grouped based on these features. (AC9SFU01)

Year 1 & 2:

Biological Sciences

• Identify the basic needs of plants and animals, including air, water, food or shelter, and describe how the places they live meet those needs. (AC9S1U01)

• Numeracy
• Critical and creative thinking

Pre-show Activity

DEVELOPING PRACTICES AND SKILLS

Activity: Grug’s Garden Part 1

What you’ll need: A copy of Grug and his Garden, various images of garden design (gardening books, magazines or online resources), craft and natural materials for collage, cardboard, glue, scissors.

Read the book Grug and his Garden as a class. Once complete return to the double spread page that shows Grug’s garden layout. Have a conversation about what the children can see:

• What types of plants can you see?
• How has he arranged these plants? (Columns? Lines? Rows?)
• What colours do you see?
• What shapes do you see?
• What do you like? What could be improved?

Explain to the children that designing a garden can be very artistic and is a bit like making an artwork. You have to think about how different plants sit together in terms of colour, shape, height, texture.

Show the students a variety of craft items, and also natural materials (like dried plants, sticks, soil etc.) before explaining that they are going to create a collage of a garden, focussing on colour, shape, height, texture.

Before they make the garden they must plan it first, using paper and pencils. Once the design has been done, collage away!

Modification/Extension:

• Younger students could work to a pro-forma.
• Magazines could be used, as could paint/pencils.
• Instead of creating a flat collage, this could be presented as a diorama.
• It could be created as an individual, in small groups or as a whole class.

Content Description

Foundation Year

Developing Practices and Skills

• Use play, imagination, arts knowledge, processes and/or skills to discover possibilities and develop ideas. (AC9AVAFD01)

Year 1 & 2:

Developing Practices and Skills

• Experiment and play with visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials. (AC9AVA2D01)

• Numeracy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability

Post-show Activity

CREATING AND MAKING

Activity: Grug’s Garden Part 2

What you’ll need: Pencils, paper. Images and time lapse videos with roots visible shown as a cross section (readily available online).

Discuss Grug’s Garden. What did they see? What did they notice? What do they know about what happens under the ground when a plant is growing. Share some time lapse videos of plants growing with the cross section visible.

Either using found images or plants in clear jars (as per Science activity #1) allow the children to observe. Discuss contrast, light and shade, line and texture. Highlight the contrast between the below ground and above ground parts.

Using grey lead, allow the children to draw what they see, focussing on the elements above, trying to make the image as real as possible.

Modification/Extension:

• Quick sketches can be made, followed by a good copy.
• Different materials can be used – pencil, paint, ink, charcoal.
• Images can be enlarged, coloured, cut up and re-organised to abstract the image.
• The underground section could be a white marker, chalk, crayon etc. on black paper and the reverse for the above ground part.

Content Description

Foundation Year:

Creating and making

• Create art works that communicate ideas. (AC9AVAFC01)

Year 1 & 2:

Creating and making

• Use visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials to create artworks. (AC9AVA2C01)

• Literacy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability

Pre-show Activity

INTERACTING WITH OTHERS

Activity: Grug is kind!

What you’ll need: A copy of Grug and his Garden.

Read Grug and his Garden. Lead a discussion and pose the following questions –

• What problems did Grug face in this story?
• How did he overcome them?
• When Grug found out that someone was eating his garden, how did he react? Was he angry? Was he surprised? Was he curious?
• How would you describe his actions towards the snail?

Brainstorm as many solutions to Grug’s problem as possible and then have a conversation about which solutions student’s prefer.

Think about the problem from snails perspective. Was he also very hungry? Do you think he was stealing? Or was he just doing what snails do?

Ask students to work in small groups to create a role play about a problem that they can relate to.  Come up with 2 solutions – one being selfish and the other being kind and generous. Discuss the outcomes. 

Content Description

Foundation:

Interacting with others

• Practise personal and social skills to interact respectfully with other. (AC9HPFP02)

Year 1 & 2: 

Interacting with others

• Identify and explore skills and strategies to develop respectful relationships. (AC9HP2P02)

• Literacy
• Personal and social capability

Post-show Activity

MOVING OUR BODIES

Activity: Move like Grug!

What you’ll need: N/A

Discuss the many different ways Grug moved in the live performance. Make a list of descriptive words which could include words like shuffle, roll, tip and so on. Remind the students of the different chapters in the story to jog their memories.

Ask the children to find their own spot in the room. Call out the words for children to respond to. “Everybody shuffle….”, and so on. Come together in a circle and choose six words. Ask a few children to show their examples and choose one movement for each word. Refine these movements so that there is precision. Show the children how you might join these together into a movement phrase. In small groups children can put the movements in any order to come up with their own phrase. Remind them that the phrase needs to travel.

Ask three or four groups at a time to show what they have done, moving from one side of the room to the other.

Modification/Extension:

• This could be adapted into a dance, with movement and phrases added to one another. Add music!
• Experiment by putting different movements into different body parts (Eg. can you make your hands roll?).
• Play with pace – do some things very fast (sprint) or very slowly (sustained).
• Follow this same sequence of events focussing on Cara the Carpet Snake.

Content Description

Foundation:

Moving our bodies

• Practise fundamental movement skills in minor game and play (AC9HPFM01)

Year 1 & 2:

Moving our bodies

• Practise fundamental movement skills and apply them in a variety of movement situations. (AC9HP2M01)

• Numeracy
• Personal and social capability

Pre-show Activity

MEASUREMENT & STATISTICS

Activity: Make an outfit for Cara

What you’ll need: Tools for rulers (tape measure, ruler, string, wool), materials, sewing equipment or glue guns, craft items.

Activity #1:

Read some books that feature Cara the carpet snake. Have a conversation about her appearance. What do you notice?

Using ideas of scale, can you compare Cara to other objects in the image and estimate how long she is from tail to the end of her body (stop when you reach the head!). What is her girth (circumference)?

Look up other real species of snake and record the average length.

Can you graph this information? How does Cara compare to other snakes? You can use words or images of snakes on your graph!

Activity #2:

Can you design and make an outfit for Cara? Using measurement and scale, plan an outfit considering her length and girth (circumference) and also what colour and design she might like!

You can do all or some of the following:

• Draft a design individually, in pairs or in a small group.
• Create a hard copy or online poster of the design
• Scale Cara up or down or is her ‘real’ size workable?
• Create a dressmakers pattern in paper, with proper measurements and symbols
• Make the outfit using scrap materials! Do you need to make a Cara too?!

Content Description

Foundation:

Statistics

• Collect, sort and compare data represented by objects and images in response to given investigative questions that relate to familiar situations. (AC9MFST01)

Measurement

• Identify and compare attributes of objects and events, including length, capacity, mass and duration, using direct comparisons and communicating reasoning. (AC9MFM01)

Year 1:

Statistics

• Acquire and record data for categorical variables in various ways including using digital tools, objects, images, drawings, lists, tally marks and symbols. (AC9M1ST01)

Measurement

• Compare directly and indirectly and order objects and events using attributes of length, mass, capacity and duration, communicating reasoning. (AC9M1M01)

Year 2:

Statistics

• Acquire data for categorical variables through surveys, observation, experiment and using digital tools; sort data into relevant categories and display data using lists and tables. (AC9M2ST01)

Measurement

• Measure and compare objects based on length, capacity and mass using appropriate uniform informal units and smaller units for accuracy when necessary. (AC9M2M01)

• Numeracy
• Critical and creative thinking

Post-show Activity

SPACE

Activity: Grug’s Soccer Ball

What you’ll need: A soccer ball, paper, glue, scissors, measuring tools, computers.

Ask the students if they remember Grug and Cara playing soccer in the show. Soccer is a great sport but the ball is also an amazing design! Ask the students to imagine a soccer ball. Can they recall what one looks like? Have a brainstorm about what they can see…

• What colours?
• What shapes? What are the shapes called? How many sides do the shapes have?
• What patterns can you see?

Show them a real soccer ball and if necessary add or edit your brainstorm.

Create a class vocab list and do some research if answers are not known! (eg. circle, polygon, pentagon, hexagon, vertical, horizontal, diagonal).

Using a 2D circle on paper or on a computer based drawing app, students can add the shapes and lines. How will they manage the curved edges?

Modification/Extension:

• This could be done using paper and collaging the shapes on the ball.
• Using a balloon or another round object, can a 3D ball be created.
• Explore spatial concepts (parallel, opposite, curved, straight etc.)
• Name, classify and describe a variety of 2D and 3D shapes.
• Use this task to introduce tessellation. Allow some free pattern making using pre-cut shapes.

Content Description

Foundation:

Space

• Sort, name and create familiar shapes; recognise and describe familiar shapes within objects in the environment, giving reasons. (AC9MFSP01)

Year 1:

Space

• Make, compare and classify familiar shapes; recognise familiar shapes and objects in the environment, identifying the similarities and differences between them. (AC9M1SP01)

Year 2:

Space

• Recognise, compare and classify shapes, referencing the number of sides and using spatial terms such as “opposite”, “parallel”, “curved” and “straight”. (AC9M2SP01)

• Numeracy
• ICT capability
• Critical and creative thinking

Pre-show Activity

EXPLORING AND RESPONDING:

Activity: Music and atmosphere

What you’ll need: Some pre-prepared video clips of film/TV that show a link between music and atmosphere, an assortment of music that create an atmosphere (music written specifically for film works well).

Discuss with the class that movies, TV shows and live theatre use music to help build the feeling of what is happening. Show a short film or excerpt from a TV show/film (Bluey, any Pixar or Disney animation will work well here) that shows at least one atmospheric shift that uses music (eg. fear to calm, adventure to danger, suspense to relief).

Discuss with the class:

• What are the characters moods? How do we know? Does this change?
• What helps us (the audience) know what the characters are feeling?
• What is atmosphere? Come up with a definition.

Show the clip again with the sound down. Ask the children if they felt the same things watching it. Lead this into a conversation about music and atmosphere. Make a big list of different atmospheres.

Ask students to lay down on the floor with their eyes closed. Play pieces of music to them and then ask what they feel when they hear it. What atmosphere does it help create?

Modification/Extension:

• For older students you can point out the difference between atmosphere and mood.
• Using instruments or voices, ask students to create compositions or soundscape.

Content Description

Foundation:

Exploring and responding

• Explore how and why the arts are important for people and communities. (AC9AMUFE01)

Year 1 & 2 :

Exploring and responding

• Explore where, why and how people across cultures, communities and/or other contexts experience music. (AC9AMU2E01)

• Literacy
• Intercultural understanding

Post-show Activity

DEVELOPING PRACTICES AND SKILLS

Activity: Doing the Grug!

What you’ll need: Various items of music with different rhythms.

Play a piece of music that has a strong 4/4 rhythm.

Listen to it, maybe in a circle, and as a class and clap each beat (1,2,3,4 and repeat). Are the claps/beats even?

Remember Grug’s dance?

• Right foot out
• Left foot out
• Turn around
• Hug yourself
• Shake your right leg
• Shake your left leg
• Jump and shout – “I’m doing the Grug!”

In small groups or as a class have some people do the dance and some clapping.

• How many claps or beats for each move?
• Can you somehow write this down?
• How might you do that?

Let the children come up with their own ideas even if they don’t work that well!

Play another piece of music that has a different rhythm, maybe a waltz. Clap the beats. In small groups come up with a eight phrase dance that goes with this beat. Maybe base your dance on how Grug or Cara move. You could also think about other animals in the show and how they move (worm, snail, fish, crab).

Modification/Extension:

• Add the group’s phrases together into a longer class dance.
• Rehearse the dance, costume up and perform for another class or school event.

Content Description

Foundation:

Developing practices and skills

• Use play, imagination, arts knowledge, processes and/or skills to discover possibilities and develop ideas. AC9AMUFD01

Year 1 & 2:

Developing practices and skills

• Develop listening skills and skills for singing and playing instruments. (AC9AMU2D01)

• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability