Coyote has been resting after his party at the library last month. Barb McCrie has invited us to return to St. Pat's with Coyote and friends next Thursday afternoon to entertain, educate and inspire 122 children in their library in two seatings.
Go! Coyote! Go!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Coyote plays at the Library February 21, 2009
Coyote Shadow Puppet Plays and Stories Feb. 21, 2009 2-3p.m.
At 1:45 the library was ready to host a Coyote shadow puppet show with storytelling, a game and crafts. The puppet stage, projector, scripts and characters were lined up and ready for performance. Three craft tables had been set up by Courtney, Jacie, Ariel and Margaret with in-house made stamps to match the characters in the plays and stories. Pre-cut craft paper, pre-cut beading string in many colors, baskets of feathers, colored wooden beads, glue, scissors and hole punches were evenly distributed over the tables. All the necessities to create individual wall hangings were in place. A round table close by displayed copies of Earl color your own story books in three parts that were available to color immediately and/or to take home. The books were produced in-house, all stories written by Margaret, book 1 illustrated by Hilary and books 2&3 illustrated by Carol. A photo booth with Charley the mascot was ready for photos to be taken home.
As 2:00 approached families arrived, signed in and were greeted by Carol Low from the Swift Current Friendship Center and Margaret. A total of 25 children and 20 adults enjoyed 3 puppet shows, a game and a story followed by a very active craft session and social time.
Margaret introduced the program and characters to the audience. Then Margaret and Manisha presented the first play, Coyote and Mouse, a short delightful tale in which Mouse gets the upper hand on Coyote and tricks him. Encouraged to join in with Mouse the audience enthusiastically called out Yellow Behind the Ears to Coyote’s great agitation. A game followed which promoted a character from a junior fiction library book called Black Nell. Margaret asked the children to find Nell hiding among the bookshelves in the children’s area and to return to the carpet as soon as they each find one. 28 laminations of the Nell image with the book title and author printed on the reverse side had been hidden in the 15 minutes prior to starting the program. Those who found more than one were quite willing to share with friends who had not found any. This activity provided 5 minutes open time to set up scripts and acetates for the next play, And Me, Coyote.
Margaret and Manisha presented And Me, Coyote after a short introduction by Margaret to the Aboriginal culture’s Creator whose name is World Maker. This creation legend was well received by a very attentive audience of adults and children. They enjoyed the talking animals as well as Manisha’s singing in her role as World Maker.
A short East Indian Mouse Tale was introduced by Margaret and told by Manisha. The circle of children were invited to share their own story and some adult members of the audience did. One father shared his love of the popular Harry Potter stories and in particular the character Bilbo.
In the final play, And Me, Coyote part 2, presented by Margaret and Manisha the audience finds out what Coyote does after his big sleep in the sun. After his animal friends create a lop-sided poorly made human figure, Coyote assists World Maker in creating human beings. (The plays were written from old legends by Margaret and illustrated by Hilary and Kyle.)
The audience was then introduced to Carol Low from the Friendship Center who had graciously baked two cake tins of bannock to share. The children were also quite interested in seeing ‘behind the screen’ and enjoyed moving the acetate images around on the projector to see the effects.
The craft activity which followed was a bee-hive of activity for the remainder of the program as Courtney, Jacie and Ariel assisted in the tying of strings and beading. Many children also worked with the Earl color your own story books. Adults clustered around the round table for an informal social time as jerky and blueberries were passed around.
The photo booth generated mixed reactions as some children were hesitant to pose with Charley, Carol’s coyote. Kyle and Hilary managed to capture a lot of pics of willing participants. Using the display window as a booth provided a unique thrilling moment.
Parfleche envelopes, originally made of rawhide and used to carry jerky on the buffalo hunt, were given to children as they were leaving. They were made by Margaret and colored and beaded by Jennifer in the weeks leading up to the program.
The participants were fully engaged for 1 ½ hours as the crafting and social time extended well beyond the 3:00 time frame. The co-operation between all library staff members made this a successful program. Much appreciation is extended to all involved either directly or indirectly.
Weaver’s Report
Margaret Lottridge
At 1:45 the library was ready to host a Coyote shadow puppet show with storytelling, a game and crafts. The puppet stage, projector, scripts and characters were lined up and ready for performance. Three craft tables had been set up by Courtney, Jacie, Ariel and Margaret with in-house made stamps to match the characters in the plays and stories. Pre-cut craft paper, pre-cut beading string in many colors, baskets of feathers, colored wooden beads, glue, scissors and hole punches were evenly distributed over the tables. All the necessities to create individual wall hangings were in place. A round table close by displayed copies of Earl color your own story books in three parts that were available to color immediately and/or to take home. The books were produced in-house, all stories written by Margaret, book 1 illustrated by Hilary and books 2&3 illustrated by Carol. A photo booth with Charley the mascot was ready for photos to be taken home.
As 2:00 approached families arrived, signed in and were greeted by Carol Low from the Swift Current Friendship Center and Margaret. A total of 25 children and 20 adults enjoyed 3 puppet shows, a game and a story followed by a very active craft session and social time.
Margaret introduced the program and characters to the audience. Then Margaret and Manisha presented the first play, Coyote and Mouse, a short delightful tale in which Mouse gets the upper hand on Coyote and tricks him. Encouraged to join in with Mouse the audience enthusiastically called out Yellow Behind the Ears to Coyote’s great agitation. A game followed which promoted a character from a junior fiction library book called Black Nell. Margaret asked the children to find Nell hiding among the bookshelves in the children’s area and to return to the carpet as soon as they each find one. 28 laminations of the Nell image with the book title and author printed on the reverse side had been hidden in the 15 minutes prior to starting the program. Those who found more than one were quite willing to share with friends who had not found any. This activity provided 5 minutes open time to set up scripts and acetates for the next play, And Me, Coyote.
Margaret and Manisha presented And Me, Coyote after a short introduction by Margaret to the Aboriginal culture’s Creator whose name is World Maker. This creation legend was well received by a very attentive audience of adults and children. They enjoyed the talking animals as well as Manisha’s singing in her role as World Maker.
A short East Indian Mouse Tale was introduced by Margaret and told by Manisha. The circle of children were invited to share their own story and some adult members of the audience did. One father shared his love of the popular Harry Potter stories and in particular the character Bilbo.
In the final play, And Me, Coyote part 2, presented by Margaret and Manisha the audience finds out what Coyote does after his big sleep in the sun. After his animal friends create a lop-sided poorly made human figure, Coyote assists World Maker in creating human beings. (The plays were written from old legends by Margaret and illustrated by Hilary and Kyle.)
The audience was then introduced to Carol Low from the Friendship Center who had graciously baked two cake tins of bannock to share. The children were also quite interested in seeing ‘behind the screen’ and enjoyed moving the acetate images around on the projector to see the effects.
The craft activity which followed was a bee-hive of activity for the remainder of the program as Courtney, Jacie and Ariel assisted in the tying of strings and beading. Many children also worked with the Earl color your own story books. Adults clustered around the round table for an informal social time as jerky and blueberries were passed around.
The photo booth generated mixed reactions as some children were hesitant to pose with Charley, Carol’s coyote. Kyle and Hilary managed to capture a lot of pics of willing participants. Using the display window as a booth provided a unique thrilling moment.
Parfleche envelopes, originally made of rawhide and used to carry jerky on the buffalo hunt, were given to children as they were leaving. They were made by Margaret and colored and beaded by Jennifer in the weeks leading up to the program.
The participants were fully engaged for 1 ½ hours as the crafting and social time extended well beyond the 3:00 time frame. The co-operation between all library staff members made this a successful program. Much appreciation is extended to all involved either directly or indirectly.
Weaver’s Report
Margaret Lottridge
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)