I find it quite unfortunate that schools do Shakespeare all wrong these days! They literally throw high schoolers right in with no prep and expect them to understand the crazy language that nobody speaks nowadays. What is up with that? Well, I found a solution early on in my children’s education, and now they love when we study Shakespeare (we try to do one play per semester). Yes, you can teach Shakespeare for kids of all ages. The key is the “Shakespeare Can Be Fun” series by Lois Burdett.
Why Do Shakespeare for Kids?
Shakespeare is a staple of many English classes. The stories are also well-known and are even the basis of famous movies such as “The Lion King”. If nothing else, it is important to introduce children to the storylines and some of the quotes that are often referenced so they will understand their origins and context. These plays are a great introduction to the different genres, and a glimpse into Shakespeare’s time.
About This Series
Lois Burdett is a teacher in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, who teaches her young students Shakespeare. These students also happen to be the illustrators of her “Shakespeare Can Be Fun” series. Lois has transformed Shakespeare’s words into rhyming couplets. The rhymes and simpler language make it a whole lot easier to follow what is happening, and her students even write their own notes or journal entries from the characters’ points of view.
Each play is around 60 pages, so it is possible to sit down and read it in one sitting. We actually break it up into 4 days, reading about 15 pages per session. This works well for various ages and attention spans.
How We Make It Fun!
After each session of reading, the kids and I each secretly choose a character that was in the section we had read and then we draw that person. Usually we add a speech bubble as well, for fun. After we draw in secret, we reveal our characters. By the end of the play we have quite a display:
The other thing we like to do when we finish the entire play is to present a scene in some way. For some examples: we wrote our own script and performed a scene from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; we did a filmed scene with Barbies for “Much Ado About Nothing”; most recently, we did tableaux to present “Hamlet”. I told the kids they had to show the story of Hamlet in 5 tableaux (these are shown in no particular order):
Where to Find Shakespeare for Kids
We discovered these books initially at our library. Unfortunately, the library only owned 2 or 3 of the plays. After reading the ones we had available, I decided it was worth the investment and I started collecting them. Amazon is my go-to place for these, and they’re less than $10 a piece! Clicking here will get you to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and you should be able to find the others from there. Happy reading!
Looking for other fun learning activities for your kids? Check out my Great Wall of China or history battles.
You can also check out my historical dolls posts that will walk you through how to make some cool historical figures out of felt! Free patterns are included. I have Gandhi and Sacagawea, with more on the way (I have a Shakespeare one in progress!)