If you are studying The Nutcracker Ballet with your homeschoolers this year, planning some activities around the story can help to make learning more fun and memorable. Whether your kids prefer crafts, creative movement, music appreciation or language arts, it should be easy to incorporate other disciplines in order to form a comprehensive learning unit.
Nutcracker Crafts
Nutcracker craft ideas are plentiful and will give your homeschoolers the opportunity to learn in a creative, hands-on way. The kids can work together to create life-size dolls using construction paper, working to mimic Drosselmeyer's dolls in Act I. They might also color printouts featuring the Mouse King, Clara, the Nutcracker or the Sugar Plum Fairy. Cotton balls can cover pieces of white paper with pine cones placed on top to create a Land of Snow that miniature dolls or figurines can play in.
Creative Movement
Purchase a soundtrack of The Nutcracker Ballet and talk with the children about how different speeds and intensities of music make people want to dance and move differently. Watch the ballet, taking note of how the dancers move as the music changes. Next, listen to the soundtrack with your homeschoolers and instruct them to dance to the music, changing how they move as the tempo increases or decreases, and as the volume rises and falls.
Music Appreciation
Watch the orchestra while viewing The Nutcracker Ballet, having your homeschoolers write down all the different instruments they see being played. Visit your local music store and have an expert talk with your children about how people learn to play different instruments. Your children may even be allowed to try one or two different kinds of instruments to see what it is like to play them.
Language Arts
The story of the Nutcracker takes place as a dream sequence when Clara dozes off to sleep. Talk with your homeschoolers about what dreams are and then ask them to spend some time writing about a dream they have had. When they are finished writing, help them create story boards portraying their dream and ask them to share their dream with family members and friends.
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