After school drama helps children develop these five important skills:
Communication and Language Skills
After school drama lets children experiment with language in different situations: whether it’s speaking aloud to an audience, conveying ideas to a group or taking on an impromptu character etc. By experimenting in these ways children can learn three things about communication and language. Firstly, they learn to communicate their ideas effectively to others. This crucial life skill begins developing in simple problem solving activities where students have to express their own ideas. Secondly, children learn to express themselves through language. This helps children articulate their personal feelings and thoughts to others. Finally, after school drama helps children learn to interact socially. Social interaction and building social skills is a key part of drama as children are encouraged to build friendships within their class groups.
Problem Solving Skills
Problem solving skills are one of the fundamental parts of drama. Problems are presented when producing or creating drama, such as small plays or skits. Students are placed in situations where they have to think critically and practically in order to solve problems and achieve a successful small skits or plays. Students also learn the importance of cooperation when working with other students in order to solve problems.
Building Imagination and Creativity
After school drama helps develop children’s imagination and creativity by making them think ‘outside the square’ when solving problems or working together. Children can be placed in situations they haven’t found themselves in before and have to find unique solutions to solve the problems. Such as, what would you do if your dog ran away? Or, what should you do if someone you don’t know knocks on the door while your parents are away? Or, someone is bullying you at school – what should you do?
Social Awareness
After school drama helps students explore different societal roles for example: a principal, teacher, parent and student. This exploration of societal role helps children develop understanding of respect and consideration for others. Children learn to place themselves in another person’s shoes in order to solve a conflict. This helps students understand how different people can feel and think in a given situation, which is a key life skill to develop in children.
Empathy
Empathy is an extension on building social awareness in children; students learn to identify the feelings, ideas and attitudes of other people. During activities in an after school drama classes, children have to put themselves in another’s shoes in order to make decisions and solve problems. Thus helping them learn to be considerate of others thoughts and feelings.