Shadowplay theatre workshop

This volume proposes shadow games to play with children at school and structured programmes which follow didactic guidelines in order to provide tools and outlines to guide teachers in the realization of a workshop programme with primary school pupils. This will help them develop narrative skills in an inclusive perspective, activating logical-inductive thinking and imaginative and fantastic thinking at the same time.

The programme is articulated in three parts:

• the first part analyzes the theoretical reasons of the workshop and explores the didactic implications and the goals of skill development;
• the second part gets to the heart of the project, investigating some essential points such as times, spaces and objectives;
• the third part illustrates activities and games to choose from for teachers to build their own workshops.

Finally, a rich Appendix presents the support sheets for some specific activities and observation grids for observing and evaluating learning.

Communicating with shadows
The Shadowplay Theatre, with shadow images at its essence, interacts and communicates with other languages. What sound does a raging dragon make? How is it possible to express the movement of a static shape? What words does an angry king use? The narratives needs of completing the shadows lead this language to enrich itself and interconnect with other languages, such as the sound-musical one. The Shadowplay Theatre, therefore, enjoys a mixture and the relationship between multiple communicative codes: visual, consisting of shadow images, verbal, kinesthetic and sound. From an educational point of view, this form of art is an important opportunity to give dignity to the hundreds of languages ​​which children are carriers of and to the different forms of communication present in our culture.