161 Activities too Good to Miss for ages 5-11

The following activities and discussion questions are taken from Encourage Media Literacy: 161 Activities too Good to Miss for ages 5-11, a booklet co-written by Martha Dewing and Constance Turner.

The activities are divided into questions and activities for grades K-3 and 4-6. Within each grade section, the questions address understanding the story, understanding the acting/animation and understanding the production.

FOR GRADES K-3
Understanding the story Direct children's attention to a well-known fairy tale. Look at plot, conflict, character and setting. Change one facet of the story, and discuss how this affects the story's outcome. For example, what if Cinderella hadn't lost her glass slipper, or if Hansel and Gretel had come to a kindly witch's house. How would this change the story? Have a student retell a favorite tale with one main fact altered.

Understanding the Acting/Animation Children enjoy the process of making their own flipbooks. Small white scratch pads from the five-and-ten-cent store are best since the paper is thin. Have the children plan what they are going to draw, and the stages of movement, such as a flower blooming, a child waving, or a person jumping. Using felt tip pens, the students will draw on the last page of the pad, then lay the next to last page over it and redraw the picture, changing the movement slightly.

Understanding the Production Explain to the children that when people produce films and videos, they make a storyboard. The storyboard puts together the different scenes from the story. Fold a large piece of paper in four parts and draw a story with a series of events. Have the children explain their storyboards to their classmates.

FOR GRADES 4-6
Understanding the story After reading a highly visual passage from a children's book, discuss with the students how this passage might be translated into a visual medium like a video program. Have them analyze whether or not a video could capture the writer's meaning visually. Discuss the strengths and/or weaknesses of books that are made into films or video programs

Understanding the Acting/Animation Comic strips provide an excellent vehicle for explaining point of view. Collect plenty of comics for each student to have a complete story (four frames usually). Direct the children to imagine photographing each frame instead of drawing it, discussing the position of the camera.

Understanding the Production A camera can zoom in on a person to give a close-up, which is called a headshot. If the object is to appear far away, the camera zooms out, giving a full top-to-bottom shot. Draw a favorite villain twice. Zoom in for a headshot and then zoom out for a top to bottom shot.