CREATING A CHARACTER HELPS UNDERSTAND EMOTIONS

Consider what children do when creating a character.

They must think about what the character is feeling, how that emotion might affect their voice, facial expressions and body language, and how another character might respond.

These activities give children opportunities to explore emotional communication.

This is particularly valuable because understanding emotions involves more than knowing the words happy, sad or angry.

Children gradually develop the ability to recognise more complicated feelings, interpret emotional signals and understand that different people can respond differently to the same situation.

Drama provides a practical way to explore those ideas.