Luna Learning Resource

Theatre Hullabaloo presents

LUNA

A magical first time theatre experience about friendship, the moon and being brave in the dark for 2 – 5 year olds and their families.

Devised and Directed by Sarah Argent from an original story by Miranda Thain Designed by Bek Palmer Music by Greg Hall Movement by Jem Treays Lighting Design by Jane Lalljee

© Theatre Hullabaloo, 2018

Learning Resource Guide Writers: Jane Thain, Kevin Lewis & Miranda Thain

Layout: Dorcas Pye

Cover Illustration: © Caroline Thaw

Photography: Kirsten McTernan

We encourage educators to reproduce portions of this Learning

Resource, but request that credit be attributed to Theatre Hullabaloo.

www.theatrehullabaloo.org.uk

Contents

Welcome to the Learning Resource Page 1 The Story of Luna Page 2-3 Lesson Plan 1 Page 4-5 Lesson Plan 2 Page 6 Lesson Plan 3 Page 7 Lesson Plan 4 Page 8 Other activity ideas Page 9 - 10

Welcome to the Luna Learning Resource

We hope that you and your children enjoy our production of Luna. To help you to broaden the

experience, we have prepared some related lesson plans and activities that we hope you will

enjoy in the classroom.

We believe that the experience of live theatre is an important one for young children in terms of

their emotional, social and creative development, but it is most effective when accessed within a

wider learning context with a teacher, shared with a parent or other children.

The vital contribution of foundation stage education lies in developing the range of

children’s learning experiences, to leave them confident, eager and enthusiastic learners.

A Curriculum Framework for Children 3 – 5 years

Each learning experience focuses on raising achievement with special emphasis on literacy and

numeracy whilst recognising the value of free play in an enjoyable and safe learning environment.

Key Aspects of Children’s Development and Learning

Specific Skills Learning Activities

Emotional, Personal & Social

Turn taking / sharing Social Skills Confidence / self esteem Understanding Others

Games Role Play Interactive Storytelling Songs/ rhymes Dramatising (animated storytelling) Word / letter games Illustrated stories Percussion Music Dance Puppetry Counting Games Different Materials / textures Painting / Drawing Sculpture / Collage

Communication & Language Listening Extending vocabulary Basic Literacy Appreciation of books

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

Nature / technology People & Places Basic numeracy

Expressive & Aesthetic Development

Colours/ Shapes Spontaneity Imagination / Curiosity

Physical Development & Movement

Rhythms Coordination

The Story of Luna

Billy is a little boy who is scared of the dark. He and his best toy friend, Pig, hate it

when the lights go out and they are left alone in bed.

The moonlight shines through Billy’s bedroom window and comforts him, so he talks

to the moon and Pig.

When the moon disappears behind a cloud, Billy and Pig notice the scary shadows

creeping up his bedroom wall.

An owl hoots outside his window, the floorboards creak in the hallway and there is a

snuffling sound by the window that Billy and Pig don’t recognise. They are afraid it

might be a monster, so they hide under the duvet hoping that soon they’ll get to sleep

and wake up when the sun is shining.

Up in the sky we see a light moving around. It is Luna who sees Billy and Pig together

and wishes that she has someone to play with. Although there are lots of stars, they

are different to Luna. She longs to play with the little boy and his pig who talk to her

every night through the bedroom window.

Luna hops onto a moonbeam and slides past the stars into Billy’s bedroom

where Billy and Pig are hiding under the duvet feeling scared in the darkness of night.

Luna’s light brightens up Billy’s room and he and Pig find Luna- a little girl, covered in

sparkles with huge, round eyes and a big curve of a smile.

Luna isn’t like any of Billy’s other friends. She likes making a mess of the bedclothes

and throwing Billy’s pillows on the floor and jumping on them. She sometimes makes

such a noise that Billy thinks she’ll wake everybody up.

Billy tries to teach Luna some things- like Pig’s song- the one they sing when they

can’t get to sleep- and how to make the bed again. Billy tells her about his favourite

food, macaroni cheese, and brings her a carrot to try, because they help you to see in

the dark.

Luna shares her moon drops with Billy. They tickle his tongue and go fizz! pop! in his

belly.

After much fun and games, Billy asks ‘Luna, where do you come from?’

Luna turns to the window and looks up at the sky. ‘But it’s so dark up there,’ Billy

says. ‘Don’t you get scared on your own?’ Luna gives a long, slow blink and grabs

Billy’s hand, pulling him upwards into the dark light.

The Story of Luna (Continued)

Suddenly they are flying above Billy’s house; skating on moon beams, singing with

the stars, being chased by comets, dodging asteroids as they hurtle past them. Billy

can’t believe how beautiful the night is from up in space.

Luna’s light shines brightest in the night sky as she whizzes about on the moonbeams

showing Billy her night-time playground. Billy holds tightly to Luna’s hand until, with a

skip and a leap, the pair land back in Billy’s bedroom.

It was then that Billy had a terrible thought – where was Pig? In all the excitement of

their space adventures he hadn’t thought once about Pig.

Billy rushed to Pig and gave him a big hug. ‘Pig, I’m so sorry that I left you. Luna and I

went to space and saw moonbeams and comets and then we went to the moon and

looked at all the darkness in space. It was amazing, and I wasn’t scared at all. But we

missed you, Pig. You would have loved the stars.’

Luna and Billy play with a moonbeam while Pig watches. Then Luna shows Billy and

Pig how they make shadows on the wall when they get in between the wall and light.

Suddenly Billy realises that shadows aren’t scary after all.

Billy holds onto his old friend and looks at his new friend. ‘I think Pig’s tired now and

wants to go to sleep,’ says Billy as his head settles on the pillow.

Luna looks up at the stars from the window. She knows it is time to go home. Billy and

Pig are sleeping soundly. She blinks slowly and smiles at her new friends, then jumps

on a moonbeam and shoots back into the sky.

Foundation Stage Lesson Plan 1 Link to Curriculum Framework

IMAGINED

ENVIRONMENTS

Communication and Language; Expressive and Aesthetic

Development; Emotional, Personal and Social; Physical

Development and Movement.

Objective The children will respond to a series of events related to the play

Luna, using their bodies.

Method Children use their imaginations to react in a real way to the idea of

‘going on an adventure’.

30

Minutes

Warm up activity

Make yourself as big as you can, as small as you can, as tall as you can, as wide as

you can.

Main Activity

Remind the children that, in the play, Billy and Pig climb out of bed and travel round the

room pretending they are on an adventure.

Ask each child, with their favourite toy, to lie down and close their eyes.

Ask them to listen carefully to the sounds they can hear coming from outside of the room,

and then to the sounds coming from inside the room.

Tell the children they are going to take their toy on an adventure. They must take care of

their toy.

Play some atmospheric music – you can download some examples from Theatre

Hullabaloo’s website

Ask the children to open their eyes and very quietly get up from their pretend beds and start

their their adventure with their toy.

Main Activity Continued

Encourage the children to move slowly at first. Suggest they are climbing up a steep hill.

Ask the children to have a look around when they get to the top. What can they see? What

can they hear? What can they smell?

Next they come to a beach. It’s a hot, sunny day. Perhaps they’d like to have a swim. Will

their toy swim too? Or should they find a safe place for their toy while they enjoy their swim?

It’s beginning to get windy. The wind is blowing rain clouds across the sky.

Tell the children there’s a cave at the bottom of the cliffs along the beach. As the rain begins

to pour down the children and their toy-friends take shelter in the cave.

It’s quite dark in the cave but the children and their toy-friends bravely explore the cave

together.

At the back of the cave they find a door. Slowly, they pull the door open and step into a

magical land.

What do they see there? What can they hear? What can they smell?

Ask the children to climb back into their beds and snuggle up with their toy.

Ask them to think about where they went and what happened during their adventure.

Ask the children to talk about their adventure.

Success Criteria

Children use their imaginations to express a range of physical and emotional

reactions to their adventure.

Foundation Stage Lesson Plan 2

Link to Curriculum Framework

Expressive and Aesthetic Development; Emotional,

Personal and Social; Physical Development and

Movement.

PAINTING

THE STORY

Objective Mirroring their partner’s actions

Main Activity

Ask the children how Billy and Luna make each other understand what to do.

Billy uses words and actions to help Luna know, for example, how to make the bed.

Billy does something. Luna copies. Sometimes Luna copies so quickly it is as if she and

Billy are looking in a mirror as they make the movements together.

With the children sitting in pairs and facing each other, number or name all the children

either 1 or 2 / Billy or Luna.

Explain that first children numbered 1 or named Billy will make slow movements with their

hands and arms and children numbered 2 or named Luna, who will be watching very

carefully, will copy the movements.

Ask the leaders to make slow movements so their partner can copy and move almost at

the same time, just as if they were looking in a mirror.

After a little while the children change over and the children numbered 2 or named Luna

lead the mirroring.

When they finish, ask the children to talk about how they got on.

Did they find that making quick movements made it hard to mirror their partner’s

movements?

Did they get better at copying the movements after they had been doing it for a little

while? Billy and Luna did!

Success Criteria Children use their observational skills and focused concentration so that

they can reflect accurately physical movements made by their partner.

10

Foundation Stage Lesson Plan 3

Link to Curriculum Framework

Communication & Language; Expressive & Aesthetic

Development.

OBJECT PLAY

3 - 5

Years

Objective

The children use and extend their vocabulary to communicate

information to Luna

Method

The children find ways of explaining to Luna what a range of

everyday items and actions are, how they are used or what they

mean.

30

Minutes

Resources

Image cards with word description below:

apple, glass of water, pencil, spoon, fork, toothbrush, door, window, T-Shirt, jumper, ball,

pillow, bed, dog, cat, bird, rain, snow, sunshine, beach, breakfast, family, school/nursery,

playing, sleeping, feeling sad, feeling happy, feeling scared.

Main Activity

Whole class or small groups

Teacher / Adult = Luna

Each child has an image card and has to explain to Luna what their item is, how it is used

or what the image means.

The Children effectively communicate descriptions of purpose and use of every day

items or actions.

Foundation Stage Lesson Plan 4

Link to Curriculum Framework

Communication & Language; Emotional, Personal

and Social; Knowledge and Understanding the World.

SHARE YOUR DAY

3 - 5

Years

20 Minutes

Objective

The children use and extend their vocabulary in talking about

their day’s activities.

Main Activity

Remind the children that Billy and Pig are best friends. Billy tells Pig all about his day at

Nursery School, and Pig tells Billy all about the things he does at home when Billy is at

Nursery school.

Ask the children to imagine what sorts of things Billy would tell Pig that he has done at

Nursery. The children will know from their own experiences the types of activities they

would do in a typical day at Nursery.

But what types of activities would Pig do when Billy isn’t there?

The following questions should help to start the children’s ideas and imagination to flow.

When Billy is at Nursery, does Pig play with the other toys? Does Pig have a best friend

toy? What sorts of games might Pig and the other toys play? Do they leave the house

and go on an adventure? Where do they go? What happens?

In pairs- one child pretending to be Billy, the other pretending to be Pig- each tells the

other about the things they did that day.

Then the children swap roles and repeat the activity.

Success Criteria Children use their knowledge and imaginations to talk confidently about daily activities.

Other Activity Ideas

Sing Twinkle, twinkle little star, then learn Pig’s Song to sing with your friends

Twinkle, twinkle little pig

You are small and I am big

Up above the world so high

Like a super-pig in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle little pig

You eat chocolate

And I eat macaroni cheese.

Make shadow pictures on the wall with your hands or your favourite toy.

Do some moonlight dancing – to the music of Claire de Lune – Debussy

In small groups- talk about what you think it’s like on the moon.

Think about the type of house Luna lives in on the moon. What moon food does Luna eat?

What does Luna drink? What games does she play on her own/with the stars? What’s her

favourite story? Are there any other creatures on the moon? What’s Luna’s favourite place

on the moon? What is the moon made of?

What would you give Luna as a present? Draw a picture of you giving Luna your

present.

What would Luna give Billy as a present? Draw a picture of Luna’s present to Billy.

What would Luna give Pig as a present? Draw a picture of Luna’s present to Pig.

Mysterious Moon

People all over the world have celebrated the moon for thousands of years. When you look

at the moon, what do you see? Did you know that children who live in Europe and the United

States imagine they see a man when they look at the moon? Children in Japan and India

see a rabbit, and children in Australia see a kitten.

Moon festivals are celebrated in many societies. The Chinese Moon Festival is held during

the Harvest Moon – the full moon that rises in mid-autumn – and many Celtic and Native

American Festivals are also held at this time to give thanks for the harvest.

The moon is primarily made out of rock with a small iron core. It creates no light of its own,

but reflects the sunlight. The shape of the moon seems to change during the month because

the sunlight strikes the moon at different angles as it travels through space.

Other Activity Ideas

Moon Facts The Moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite. A natural satellite is a space body that orbits a

planet, a planet like object or an asteroid.

The average distance from the Moon to the Earth is 384,403 kilometres (238,857 miles).

The Moon orbits the Earth every 27.3 days.

The effect of gravity is only about one fifth (17%) as strong on the surface of the Moon

compared to the strength of gravity on the surface of the Earth.

The first person to set foot on the Moon was Neil Armstrong.

Although research is continuing, most scientists agree that the Moon features small amounts

of water.

The Moon is very hot during the day but very cold at night.

Moon Jokes

How does the man-in-the-moon cut his hair?

Eclipse it

What holds the moon up?

Moonbeams

What do moon people do when they get married?

They go off on their honeyearth

What do you call a clock on the moon?

A lunartick

Moon Books

Read some other books about the moon together. Here are some of our favourites...

I Took the Moon for a Walk by Carolyn Curtis and Alison Jay – A magical adventure about

a little boy who takes the Moon for a walk. Good bedtime reading

Moon Dreams by Gleb Toropov – A lovely picture book about the night time antics of

different animals

Moon Dreams by Ruth Martin – A good bedtime book about a little girl who wonders where

the moon goes during the daytime

The Boy Who Climbed to the Moon – For older children, a great story from David Almond

about a boy’s journey into the sky to see if the Moon really exists.

© Theatre Hullabaloo, 2018

Learning Resource Guide Writers: Jane Thain, Kevin Lewis & Miranda Thain

Cover Illustration: © Caroline Thaw

Photography: Kirsten McTernan

We encourage educators to reproduce portions of this Learning Resource, but

request that credit be attributed to Theatre Hullabaloo.

www.theatrehullabaloo.org.uk