Welcome to PictureBookPlays

Welcome to PictureBookPlays, the interactive website designed to help you act out picture-book stories, either as a classroom activity or as a performance to an audience (or both!).

I’ve been acting out stories with children in schools and libraries ever since my first book was published twenty years ago, and now that I’m the Children’s Laureate I’m really keen to encourage this kind of drama. As well as being fun it increases children’s confidence and stimulates their imaginations, and for many it can be a route into books and reading.

The Videos tab will take you to some short demonstrations of children rehearsing and acting stories, with tips from one of our practitioners. The Books tab takes you to a selection of picture books which I think work especially well as dramatizations by a whole class. For each of these titles there are notes and suggestions, which in most cases fit neatly on to a sheet of A4 as I thought it might be useful to print them out and store in a binder.

The Resources section includes some downloadable masks, which could be used in several of the stories, to help children get into character, and there are also some notes about instruments for those keen to incorporate sound effects. Other Good Websites brings up links to relevant websites and publications – I want to pool as much useful information as possible, so do let us know about any other projects you think deserve a mention.

Perhaps the most important section is Your Suggestions. Send us your ideas and experiences of picture-book drama, and links to your own productions. Some of your suggestions we will incorporate in the main body of the website. I’m hoping that children will enjoy seeing themselves and children from other parts of the UK – and maybe all over the world – acting out their favourite stories.

Julia Donaldson