Nightly News
This just in: Dressing up and putting on a news show is a great way to get crafty and practice public speaking.
MATERIALS:
- Paper clips (for lapel microphones)
- Dress-up clothes (to play the part of a well-dressed anchor)
- Poster board/paint/markers (for background visuals)
- Kitchen table (aka, "news anchor desk")
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. First assemble a news team of one or more children. Assign subject specialties: local news, national news, the neighborhood, weather, sports, pet adoptions, entertainment, a this-day-in-history highlight. What else? Kids can feel free to take on more than one subject to cover all the news!
2. Challenge kids to unearth the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of their story. What will make the audience pay attention and want to stay tuned? Have kids write out their report and then do a second draft as bullet points. This way they'll have notes to refer to as they're delivering the news but their eyes won't be locked on the paper.
3. Practice before the camera rolls. And encourage the kids to include dramatic inflection, spicy adjectives and raised eyebrows. Hey, they could even make cue cards to hold over or under the camera (yes, it's a good idea to tape the report for posterity and hilarity!).
4. For pizazz, have the kids come up with a news hour theme song. It's easy to do with a chorus of "dun-dun-dun dundundun" as though something monumental is occurring.
5. Time to get dressed and appear as a professional... dad's blazer, mom's silk scarf. Slick back that hair and clip on your lapel microphone!
And in 3, 2, 1... "This is the Nightly News Report with your anchors..."
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