Lesson Plan: Lesson 6 – Mime Foundations

Age Group: K1 and K2 (3 to 5 years old)
Class Size: 10 children
Duration: 60 minutes
Focus Area: Freeze control, space awareness, and silent storytelling through body and face

Learning Objectives:

• Children will be able to show clear starting and finishing statues on count cues.

• Children will be able to travel silently while keeping a safe personal bubble.

• Children will be able to tell a tiny story without words using body and face.

Materials Needed:

• Floor markers for freeze spots

• Visual aids for “statue” shapes and personal space bubbles

• Soft instrumental music for silent movement practice 

• Props for mime storytelling (e.g., scarf, empty box, toy cup)

Procedures:

5 min Warm-up: Body + Breath

Purpose: To settle the group, awaken body awareness, and prepare breath for silent movement.

• Lead gentle stretches: reach arms up, roll shoulders, shake out limbs. Use imagery like “stretch like a balloon” or “freeze like an icicle.”

• Guide belly breathing: place hands on belly, breathe in slowly through nose, exhale gently through mouth.

• Invite children to practice short “freeze breaths”—inhale, hold still, exhale slowly.

15 min Technique Focus 1: Begin/End Statues and Freeze Control

Purpose: To help children create clear start and stop shapes with body control.

• Introduce the idea of a “statue” as a frozen pose that begins and ends a mime.

• Demonstrate a simple statue pose (e.g., arms up, one foot forward) and hold it for 3 counts.

• Invite children to copy the pose and freeze on a count cue (e.g., “1-2-3-freeze!”).

• Practice transitioning from movement to freeze and back again with music cues.

• Reinforce stillness: no wiggling, no talking, just quiet breath and strong shape.

15 min Technique Focus 2: Space Sharing and Silent Traveling

Purpose: To help children move silently and respectfully through shared space.

• Demonstrate silent walking: soft feet, slow steps, no sound.

• Invite children to walk around the room while keeping a safe personal bubble.

• Use visual aids or props to show how close is “too close” and how to adjust.

• Practice walking past others without touching or interrupting their movement.

• Reinforce awareness: eyes open, body calm, space respected.

• Possible imaginative scenarios:

  • Gardeners watering plants in a shared garden

  • Butterflies fluttering around flowers

  • Kangaroos hopping gently in a park

  • Astronauts floating in space

  • Penguins waddling across an icy field

  • Cats tiptoeing through a quiet house

10 min Guided Application to Exam Task (Tiny Story Mime)

Purpose: To apply freeze and travel techniques to a short silent story.

• Introduce a simple mime story (e.g., picking up a toy, drinking from a cup, blowing a balloon).

• Model the story using clear beginning and ending statues, silent travel, and expressive face.

• Invite children to try the story one by one or in pairs, using their own gestures and expressions.

• Guide children to start and finish on cue, and keep silent throughout.

• Suggested stories for performance:

  • Starting as a curled-up seed → slowly stretch arms and legs to grow → ending as a tall flower

  • Beginning with hands covering eyes → peek through fingers and look around → ending with arms wide open

  • Starting crouched like a cat → crawl forward and stretch → ending stretched like a yawning lion

  • Beginning with hands on hips → pretend to walk and discover something → ending with hands clapping

  • Starting with tiptoes and finger to lips → sneak around and find a surprise → ending with a surprised jump

10 min Performance + Feedback

Purpose: To build performance confidence and reinforce technique through observation and feedback.

• Invite children to perform their tiny mime story from beginning to end.

• Observe freeze control, silent travel, and expressive storytelling.

• Offer specific feedback: “Your freeze was so strong!” or “I could see your story just from your face!”

• Reinforce calm starts and finishes with count cues and posture reminders.

• Suggested simple mime stories:

  • Opening a present and reacting with joy

  • Planting a seed and watching it grow

  • Catching a butterfly and letting it go

  • Building a sandcastle and watching it fall

  • Sneaking a cookie and getting caught 

5 min Calm Close

Purpose: To help children wind down and leave the session feeling calm and proud.

• Lead a gentle “statue and melt” exercise: freeze on cue, then slowly melt to the floor.

• Invite children to lie down or sit quietly while listening to soft instrumental music.

• Thank children for their effort and preview the next lesson: “Next time, we’ll use our mime skills to become animals in a story.”

Extension Ideas:

• Use props to inspire mime stories (e.g., scarf = wind, box = treasure).

• Practice freeze control during transitions (e.g., freeze before lining up).

• Reinforce space sharing with a “bubble walk” game—who can move without popping anyone’s bubble?