K2 Drama – Term 1
Stories & Rhymes
Lesson 7 – The Little Red Hen
Learning Aim:
 Students will make relevant suggestions and recall events from stories to re-enact
storylines.
Introduction to Topic:
 Warm-up game: See Resource 4 for some ideas.
 Remind students of the story of Henny Penny – can they remember the characters?
What animal was the main character (Henny Penny)? What happened in the story?
What kind of hen was Henny Penny (clever/silly/hasty/etc)?
 Before reading the story of The Little Red Hen, tell students that you will be sharing a
story about another hen and some other animals. Show cover and see if anyone knows
the story. If you don’t have a book, there are 2 versions of the story in Supplementary
Resource – Lesson 7 – The Little Red Hen stories.
 Read the story and add suitable voices for the animals. Emphasise the key words;
“NOT I” and “THEN I WILL”. Get students to join in with this refrain & encourage them
to use appropriate voices for the animals.
 Talk about the different animals in the story and come up with a few characteristics for
each one – in the story how are these animals described? Lazy?
 Using these characteristics, mime how they might walk, talk, sleep etc.
Main Activity: Mime and Movement
 Act out The Little Red Hen story using masks (Supplementary Resource – Lesson 7
– Little Red Hen masks).You would need to have these ready to go and later on if
there is time, the students can make their own. It’s ok to have multiple characters for
each role or you could pair stronger students with quieter ones.
 Discuss as a class and come up with actions and voices for each character;
Key Vocabulary:
Additional Activities:
 See Resource 2: Words
 See song book for additional songs
from story
 See resource book for more warm up games.
Reflection/Story:
 Read the story again or ask students to act out the story in their own words.
Closing:
 Carpet time: ask children what they have learnt today.
 Sing the song
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Kindergarten Curriculum – K2 Drama
Term 3
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K2 Drama – Term 1
Stories & Rhymes
Resources:
 Resource 1: Little Red Hen characters
 Resource 2: Words from story
 Resource 3: Activities and drama games
 Resource 4: Character masks
 Resource 5: Song
 Resource 6: Additional activities for discussion
 See also Supplementary Resources
Websites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrS9eFnyNmc
The Little Red Hen – Josh Katzman
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Kindergarten Curriculum – K2 Drama
Term 3
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Resource 1: Little Red Hen characters (depending on version of story)
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Term 3
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Resource 2:
Words from
story
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Term 3
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Resource 3: Little Red Hen activities & drama games
Here are some questions to explore the end of the Little Red Hen with the students.
o What would you have done if you had been Little Red Hen?
o
How do you think the Little Red Hen felt doing all of the work by herself?
o
How do you think the Little Red Hen felt when all the animals wanted to eat the bread she had
made?
o
Why do you think the hen said the other animals could only eat the bread if they promised to help
her next time?
o
How do you think the animals would have felt if the Little Red Hen told them they could not help
to eat the bread?
o
What lesson did the animals learn? Do you think they will be more willing to help out next time?
Why or why not?
o
How would the story be different if all the animals had agreed to help the Little Red Hen?
Range of drama ideas for using the story of the Little Red Hen with students
All of these examples can be used with any story
Story circle
Sitting in a circle each person tells a short part of the Little Red Hen story and then passes the story
on to the next person to continue. A toy chicken can be passed around to give status to the storyteller
and to put them in charge. If a child struggles with their section of the story the teacher can freeze
the game and ask another to help them out. This technique can be used to retell a story that children
know well. It can show how many different variations there are of famous stories.
Whoosh: Physicalising a story
Everyone sits in a circle to begin. The children become the characters and the objects in the Little
Red story you tell it. It encourages the children to listen carefully to the storyteller and interact
spontaneously with their peers. The children sitting in the circle become the audience when they are
not in the centre taking part. It is an active introduction to a story in which everyone is able to take
part, works well with large groups and it is a practical and speedy method of exploring a story.
Stories in a box
Some of the significant events, places and characters from the Little Red Hen story are represented
by an object and placed in a box or tin. As the story is told the storyteller gets each object out as the
moment or person or event it represents is mentioned. This could be teacher led or be a free play
activity left for children to use as they want. Try observing the children as they play. Do they order
the story or use the repetitive language? Do they begin to change it or add different animals?
Creating Story Places in the Classroom
Whilst working on the story of the Little Red Hen, you can designate an area to transform into the
farm. Simply re-arranging the furniture and building with the children their version of it can be a very
useful way of building belief in a fictitious context. Cardboard boxes could be used to represent the
different places that she travelled to. Each one could be decorated and cut so it opens out like a
doll’s house.
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Kindergarten Curriculum – K2 Drama
Term 3
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Still Image or Freeze Frame
This is the creation of an image/freeze frame using a group or pairs of children to capture a particular
moment from the story. They could chose which animals they want to be based on the numbers in
their group or they could decide on an activity that the animals are doing when they meet Little Red
Hen.
Hot Seating
Try interviewing the Little Red Hen or the animals from the story. The class can decide what they
want to ask you when you’re in role beforehand.
Soundscaping
To develop atmosphere and build belief, children can create the sounds belonging to the farm, and
chorally build the atmosphere with you as conductor. You can play with volume by using a stick to
lower or raise up. You could story-tell the break of day on the farm and all the animals waking
up. Ask children to groups themselves into similar animals.
Physicalising a farm
Using a big piece of blank paper and some big chalks or pens ask the children to help make a class
map of the farm. Start with the places and animals in the story of the Little Red Hen and then ask
them to add their own ideas.
Use a picture of a farm as a stimulus and ask the children to become the different places on a farm.
They can become buildings, animals, or features on the landscape. Take a volunteer on a walk
through the garden, or let a child be the guide.
Role play
Role-play can take many different forms and serve as many purposes. As well as feeding the
imagination and encouraging empathy, it is a powerful way of developing social skills. As well as the
more formal role play situations in the classroom it is good to make room for role play where the
children themselves have set the context and it is up to the adults to gently observe and support the
learning.
But imaginative play is more than children having fun. It has a crucial part to play in their intellectual
and social development. The ability to make one thing stand for another, to picture things that are not
there, are critical features in the growth of both thought and language.
Considerations for the Early Years practitioner during role play:
o Hold back and observe the learning, styles of learning and creative development before
intervening. In this way you can be sure that your intervention is not crushing the story they are
telling or enacting. Your role can be to extend or challenge in a focused way if you have been
watching an encounter.
o
Ask focused, open ended, not closed questions. Role play does not have a right answer.
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The Imagination Game
Bring out a ‘prop’, which can be anything – a tube, a plastic plate, a basket or anything that can be
transformed into something else using the power of the imagination. Pass it around the group (not a
whole class) sat in a circle. Each child takes turns to come up with an idea of what it can be by
demonstrating it or telling.
The Story Basket
Use a basket of props and have the children pick out one at a time and use it to add to the next part
of a made up story. You can pick the first thing to begin the story but ask the children questions so
that they first generate who it belongs to or where it might have been found or indeed what it might
be. This is something that can be alongside a theme. If you wanted to create a circus story then you
might pick related objects like a clown toy, a red nose, an animal or a bit string or rope.
The Mime Mat
Have a mat or a marked out space on the floor and allow each child the opportunity to act something
or pretend to be something and allow the other to guess. This works best with some preparation
around mime. A good warm up for this is a game called ‘What’s in the box? You imagine a box and
place it in front of you, open it up and carefully mime taking something out and using it. You can
produce a hair brush or a banana or maybe a pair of shoes. When the group have had the chance to
call out what they think it is you put it back, close the box and take it to the next person who would
like a go. All of the above works well around a theme – animals or circus perhaps.
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Kindergarten Curriculum – K2 Drama
Term 3
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Resource 4: Character masks
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Term 3
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Resource 6: Song
The Little Red Hen’s Song
This is the way I plant the seed, plant the seed, plant the seed.
This is the way I plant the seed,
So early in the morning!
Other verses:
Water the wheat
Cut the wheat
Go to the mill
Make the dough
Bake the bread
Eat the bread
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Kindergarten Curriculum – K2 Drama
Term 3
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Resource 7: Additional activities for discussion
Reread The Little Red Hen and generate a discussion about the events in
story, possibly by asking a few of the following questions…
 How would you describe the cat, the goose, the pig, the dog, the
mouse? (depending on the version of the story you use)
 What words can you use to describe the little red hen?
 How do you think the little red hen felt doing all of the work by herself?
 How do you think the little red hen felt when all the animals wanted to
eat the bread she had made?
 Why do you think the hen said the other animals could not eat the
bread?
 How do you think the animals felt when the little red hen told them they
could not help eat the bread?
 What lesson did the animals learn? Do you think they will be more
willing to help out next time? Why or why not?
 How would the story be different if all the animals had agreed to help
the little red hen with the work?
Brainstorm with students small ways that they could help others and show
that they care – whether it is helping at home or in the classroom.
Writing Activity
Write “I will help ____” sentences. You can start by writing ones from the
animals in the story; for example “I will help bake bread” (the cat).
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Kindergarten Curriculum – K2 Drama
Term 3
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