Charades

Source: Games Without Music For Children
Category: GAMES FOR THE SCHOOLROOM



Preliminary.--Everyone knows how fond children are of representing
ideas by action. It is for this reason that charades are recommended
here. It will, of course, be necessary for the teacher to assist and
suggest, but the children soon acquire confidence, and their acting,
being perfectly natural, is often remarkably good.

A very simple little charade is given as an example.

The children who are to take part go out of the room for a few minutes
with the teacher. We will suppose the word chosen is

TEA-CAKE

ACT I.--The teacher is to be the 'mother' and the rest are children. The
'mother' enters and sits down; presently the children come trooping in
from school and gather round her. She asks what they have been doing at
school, each one tells her something about its work or play, and then
one child asks, 'May we have tea, mother, please?' 'Yes,' says the
mother, 'go and take off your hats and we will get it ready.' (End of
Act I.)

ACT II.--The tea-table is prepared (see Game No. 1, which is similar)
and the children sit down to tea. (The 'guessing' children should be
told to listen carefully to what is said during tea.) One child asks for
the cake to be passed, another for bread and butter, and so on. (End
of Act II.)

ACT III.--In the last act the whole word is to be given. The children
pretend to have a baker's shop (see 'Shopping Game,' No. 6), one child
keeps the shop, and the rest come to buy. One asks for a loaf, another
for rolls, a third buys a tea-cake, and so on.

Bricks and tablets may be used for the loaves and cakes, or they may be
made in the clay-modelling lesson and kept for this game.

Finding the word.--The children who have been listening are now asked
to guess, and may be encouraged by remarks, such as, 'Think of the first
act, and what the children said to their mother.'

'Remember the tea-table and what was said there.'

Some of the words thus obtained may be written on the blackboard, words
for each act being put in separate columns.

'Now what did the baker sell?' In this way the answer is soon obtained.

It is well worth while to help the children to learn how to play
charades, because it makes such a pleasant home-play for them in wintry
and wet weather.

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