When children reach the middle grades of elementary school, they start looking forward to the performances at school arts festivals and learning presentations! It’s a great chance to create wonderful memories together through activities like chorus, theater, and dance.
Many teachers and students probably wonder, “What kind of performance should we do?” Here, we introduce recommended ideas for school arts festivals and learning presentations.
It’s important to come up with ideas that make the most of your class’s unique character.
Work together through discussion and create a presentation that everyone can enjoy while showcasing your class’s individuality!
- Recommended Plays and Musicals for Cultural Festivals, School Festivals, and School Performances
- Ideas for Performances That Inspire Laughter and Tears: Perfect for Upper Grades at School Arts and Learning Showcases
- [Idea] A roundup of recommended performances for lower grades at school arts festivals and learning presentations
- Ideas for stage events and attractions that will liven up a school festival
- Hidden talents even elementary school kids can do! A collection of performance ideas that will liven up any event
- [One-Shot Gag] A roundup of sure-fire skits that will definitely get elementary school kids excited!
- [Elementary School Rec] Recommended Games and Performances for a Fun Party
- [Middle School] Cultural Festival Attractions: A roundup of popular exhibits, games, and stage performances
- Performances that liven up an elementary school thank-you party! A collection of ideas everyone can enjoy
- [For Elementary Schools] Recommended Exhibits and Recreational Activities for a Cultural Festival
- Recommended performances for elementary school thank-you parties: carefully selected games and skits that will liven things up!
- Classic plays performed by elementary school students: recommended works roundup
- Performances for a farewell party for sixth graders: from funny skits to moving ideas
[Elementary School] Recommended Performance Ideas for Lower-Middle Grades at School Arts and Learning Presentations (1–10)
samurai period drama
I don’t think many elementary school kids watch period dramas, but a “period drama” production seems like an idea that would go over very well with grandparents’ generation.
In period dramas, good and evil are clearly defined, so the stories are surprisingly easy for children to follow.
It’s also amusing to see kids play the stereotypical crooked magistrate because of the fun contrast, and they’d probably be thrilled to practice the classic sword-fighting scenes.
Period dramas can be a great chance to learn about history and Japanese culture, so if a regular play isn’t generating much excitement, definitely consider making this your project.
Rhythm Dance
The music we hear in everyday life each has its own rhythm, which makes the joy of sound stand out even more.
This activity focuses on those rhythms and encourages expressing them through free movement.
Even if everyone’s movements are different, you can see individual personalities and build excitement; it’s also recommended to try giving the movements a sense of direction to create unity.
A clear approach might be to first choose a theme song and let everyone move their bodies freely, then have everyone try out the movements that were especially good or most common.
line dance
There are many types of dance, but line dancing is especially captivating.
Even just moving in a single horizontal line looks striking on stage.
And movements where dancers alternate positions, synchronized poses, and callouts really get the audience excited.
English play
To communicate with people around the world, English has become indispensable, hasn’t it? Instead of focusing on reading and writing, how about trying an English play that emphasizes speaking? Performing a play while speaking English tests your ability to concentrate on doing two tasks at once.
To make it easy for the audience to follow, we recommend choosing a well-known story, like a folktale, and letting them notice how much the impression changes when it’s performed in English.
Slide presentation
It’s important not just to keep what you’ve learned to yourself but also to share it with others; doing so can motivate you to deepen your learning.
This piece focuses on how to present your learning—specifically, using slides to capture your audience’s attention.
If you cram every detail you researched into your slides, they become hard to read, so it’s best to show only the broad points and explain the details verbally.
Let’s think about how to balance slides and speech, and how to make sure people will listen.
rakugo play
Rakugo is often thought of as a storytelling art performed by a single seated storyteller, but how about turning it into a stage play? Since rakugo stories are already structured like dramas, they’re perfect for events like school plays.
As a part of Japanese culture, they also offer a chance to learn about spoken language and historical context, making them a highly valuable presentation in those respects as well.
[Hand-Sign Dance] Swallow
![[Hand-Sign Dance] Swallow](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KuQP5N2z68U/sddefault.jpg)
Let’s try singing YOASOBI’s “Tsubame” with a hand-sign dance that uses sign language-like movements! Released digitally in 2021, this song was chosen as the theme for NHK’s SDGs-related program “Hirogare! Irotoridori” and was also featured on “Minna no Uta.” The lyrics carry a message encouraging us to cherish not only our own family and friends, but also the animals and plants that live in nature.
Just singing it can move listeners’ hearts, and adding sign language-like gestures will convey that message even more strongly.
It’s a perfect theme for middle elementary students who are starting to learn about society and the environment.
