Earlier this year a friend of mine, Nancy, started her own business called Nancy Byrne Theatre Arts, teaching dance and theatre skills to youngsters aged 3 years and over. This lady has the most amazing talent and her enthusiasm and rapport with the children is second to non! I was delighted when Nancy asked if I would like to be involved by providing occasional craft workshops to fit in with the theme of her full day workshops.

For my first session I was asked to help the children design and decorate masks which could be worn later that day for their mini performance of the Lion King. We used paper plates and card to make a variety of animal faces including elephants, monkeys, zebras, etc. The kids had a lot of fun and did a great job of the masks. I was so pleased I hung around to see the show as it went down a storm with the mums and dads who came to watch!

This morning I held another session for Nancy, working with two groups of youngsters, and we had great fun designing and creating sock puppets to be used in a theatrical performance later in the day. The kids each chose their colour schemes and decorations and, with a bit of help, set to sticking everything together. One of the girls showed great initiative and set herself up as the resident hairstylist, snipping and styling the woolly locks for those who fancied something a bit different for their puppet! Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for the performance this afternoon but I am sure they all had a terrific time and I will have to check out Nancy’s Facebook page to see how it went.