Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We went to the Lewisville library this morning for story time. We have never been to this library but it was really cool. In the children's section, there is a dome in the ceiling that creates the most incredible echo from even a whisper. It was fun to talk under it but I don't understand why they put this in a library where you are supposed to be quiet. Nicholas and his friends got so excited hearing themselves echo that they started getting louder and louder until they were practically shouting, "ECHO!" right there in the library. Fortunately the doors to the program room opened and it was time to take our seats for the show.

We had gone with some friends from Montessori but ended up seeing many friends from the PTA there. Nicholas was excited seeing so many of his friends together. Some of the children sat on their Mommy's laps but Nicholas loved sitting on the floor and he even got to sit right next to his friend, Emma Rae.



The story was Goldilocks and the Three Bears, performed by The Story Time Theater. This is a travelling group of performers whose focus is to share the joy and excitement of live theater with children at an early age in an atmosphere where they can participate and play. It was definitely a fun way to present a story. There were only three ladies in the show and costumes were minimal. During the introduction, they discussed with the children about using their imaginations. They also discussed how they would do a performance that needed 5 people - three bears, a girl, and a storyteller, with only three people to perform. One lady played Goldilocks, one was the storyteller and the third lady acted as all three bears. She used a different hat and voice for each bear that she played. Each bear had their own persona and catch phrase too. Each time the lady put on the Papa Bear hat, she would say, "Grumble, growl, grumble!" before saying her lines and she encouraged the children to say it with her. The Mama Bear and baby bear also had special lines when the lady put on their hats as well.

I love shows like this that encourage the children to interact with the performers. While Mama Bear was making porridge, she carried the pot around the audience and asked children to add their own ingredients. Children pretended to throw in cookies, juice, more cookies, butter, potatoes, and mushrooms. Interesting combination they came up with! The children were also encouraged to make sounds and hand signs for things in the show like the fire on the stove, rain in the woods, hammering a chair, and more.

Once the bear family discovered Goldilocks in their house, the performers talked to the children about how many things Goldilocks had messed up in the house and asked them what she should do about it. The children decided that she needed to fix everything she had messed up. So the children helped to make another pot of porridge, they told Goldilocks to find a TV remote control that she had knocked off of Papa Bear's chair, they each pretended to pull out a hammer out of their pocket and then pretended to help hammer Baby Bear's chair back together. It was great having a little lesson about fixing things and helping out thrown into such a fun show.



Afterwards we went to McDonald's with our friends for lunch and a little fun on their indoor playground. Nicholas is napping right now and I hope he gets lots of rest because we have a special surprise for him tonight...