Children Are Never Too Young for Theater

On March 23, I visited the Owings Mills Jewish Community Center to observe a theater class for preschoolers. On this rainy day, tiny children entered the playroom full of energy. They were there to dance, play pretend and move their bodies.

Stacey Needle taught the class for 2-5 year olds as an experiment: the Jewish Community Center had never hosted a theater class for children this young.

Needle has 10 years of experience teaching "Mommy and Me" classes to the younger age group, though, so she was prepared. Needle generally teaches theater classes for ages 4 and up, though, so the drama class for 2-year-olds was a bit of an experiment.

And theater classes as a whole were new to the Jewish Community Center. "We've offered a variety of parent/child classes for more than 25 years, but theater  performance is a first," says Sharon Seigel, the center's Parent/Infant/Toddler Coordinator. The two arranged a demo class to gauge interest in a potential session of classes.

Was it true that a person is never too young to enjoy theater? Could preschoolers as young as 2 understand the concept of acting?

Needle started out with something they could certainly understand: how to freeze like a statue. Once the kids had practiced "freezing like a statue, quiet as a mouse," they moved for the rest of the class. They were eager and willing.

"We want to make sure our bodies are all warmed up before we start," Needle explained.

Soon there was plenty of opportunity for wiggling: heads, hands, arms, hips, legs, and (the most popular) whole bodies. The kids sang short scales and made siren noises. That led to the hokey pokey and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

The children imitated different animals and things while singing "The Wheels on the Bus," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "Old MacDonald." The familiar songs provided a nice link between things the children already knew and this new thing called "theater."

Then it was time for another game, "I am a Magician." Needle, our magician, turned the children into one animal after another. After freezing like statues, they pretended to be frogs, tigers, snakes, and fish.

Needle was armed with plenty of activities to keep her students' attention. They made faces for different emotions. They danced to different tempos of music. They read a Dr. Seuss book, My Many Colored Days, which related color to feelings.

Needle believes that expressing emotion with one's body is a skill that benefits all age groups. It's a tool that can be tailored to younger children through music, dance, and play.

Pumpkin Theatre offers classes and summer camps for children in locations in Owings Mills, Towson and Baltimore City. "One great thing about teaching drama," Needle says, "is that an empty room is all I need."

Needle, a Pikesville resident, is active in many aspects of Pumpkin Theatre: director, performer, and box office manager, as well as teacher and writer of their education study guides. 

For registration information for Pumpkin Theatre's children's classes and camps, please visit its website and click on Children's Programs. Current offerings include the creative drama class for 4-5 year olds at the JCC.

Stacey Needle has taught family life education classes at the Jewish Community Center for more than 10 years. The center offers activities and classes for adults and children, often encouraging participation together as families.

Please visit the Jewish Community Center's website to explore its extensive programming. The center is open to both members and nonmembers, and attendees do not have to be Jewish.

Jeannette Ortt is a freelance writer and a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she studied art and Slavic languages and literature