Nativity Plays for Children: Celebrating Christmas through Movement and Music - Softcover

These simple Christmas plays in rhyming verse, with music, lyrics and directions for movement, are ideal for kindergarten and other early years settings up to the age of six or seven. The easy-to-follow plays build on well-known nativity stories to create a joyful and memorable Christmas experience for educators, parents and children alike. The book presents a basic 'core' version of each play, with plenty of optional additions for older children. It also contains tips for creating props and simple costumes. An invaluable tool for anyone keen to celebrate the nativity creatively with the children in their care. *We are hoping to produce a musical CD to accompany this book in 2015.*

Wilma Ellersiek, born in 1921, was a teacher of music, movement and speech at the Stuttgart Music Academy, as well as a stage director of opera and drama. Her research into the effects of rhythm, movement and language on the young child led to the development of the first gesture games. After she retired from the Academy, she created many more of these games, which are interconnected play-units woven of rhyme, rhythm and music. Kundry Willwerth was a Waldorf kindergarten teacher for over 30 years. For the last 20 years she has devoted herself, together with her husband Lyn, to translating Wilma Ellersiek's books, playing the games with children in her care and presenting workshops throughout North America and internationally. She is also the founder and artistic director of Magic Garden Puppets, a marionette theatre company in central New York state.