Jeff and I have been discussing how some of the Red Co. seemed a bit shaky on the background of what we are doing. This came to a head at the last event, when one of our members was stumbling through the RedCo. history and finally turned to me and said "We're Lancastrian, right?". BIG OOPS......

I knew we had to do something to fill everyone in, but didn't think a long, boring lesson would cut it. I came up with the idea of doing a "play" with everyone acting a part while I narrated.

At the last meeting, I drew a big, kid's map of the English Channel showing England, France, Burgundy and Germany on my driveway with orange sidewalk chalk. I made aluminum foil crowns for all of the major players, and inscribed the crowns with their name in black marker. Jeff got to play RedCo. Captain with a colander helmet, and Hugo held a broom while representing the Red Company.

I pushed and pulled everyone around the map as I narrated, and encouraged everyone to act out their part in sterotypical fashion- Henry acted like a looney, Charles the Bold kept "kicking" the French out of Burgundy ("Stay back you froggy bastards"), Margerite cradled her costrel/baby in terror as she watched Henry lose it.

The results were hilarious, we all had a fun time, and moreover, everyone GOT IT. We'll be doing this at every meeting, until I no longer have to narrate and everyone knows all the parts. We plan to add dates, factoids and players as we go along.

This approach really worked for us- so well in fact that we plan to get goofier props and incorporate our "pageant" into our kid's educational programs! It worked so well I thought I'd share this approach with everyone.

Gwen

I agree about video-taping it. I could see that sort of thing really getting kids attention.

Might be useful as a teaching aid to middle school kids - give them a role, explain "their" situation in terms they can understand, and voila, they gain some INSIGHT to a political situation 5 centuries old, and understand the personal aspect of politics then current.