The Art of Entertaining Children
The Art of Entertaining Children
Entertaining children is excellent fun provided you love dealing with cheeky hecklers who are completely unpredictable, and will do anything to get attention. It is important to remember is that if you attempt to impress them, however brilliant you are as a magician, acrobat, stilt walker, or juggler, they will quickly lose interest, because all they see is definitely an adult doing something clever they can’t do, and there is nothing unusual about this. However there are two stuff that children really enjoy: the first is stories, and also the other is clowning.
magician
Children live in a world of imagination where everything is believable, and many things can happen, and they love wild imaginative stories about pirates and tropical islands, ghosts, trolls, witches, knights, cowboys, heroes, princesses, warlocks and dragons.
Plus they love slapstick. Any situation by which an adult falls flat on his face, arrives at his bum, or receives a custard pie in the face is simply hilarious when you are six years old.
When you combine the two, then you have a piece of children’s theatre which will enthral and excite children of all ages, so start with a good narrative; it doesn’t matter whether it uses a traditional theme, and all sorts of pantomime is based on fairy stories. Now include some slapstick. It doesn’t matter how silly, and the more predictable the better. If the audience can see that a pompous fool is about to fall over and land inside a pool of muddy water, it is even more enjoyable when it happens.
Now add in some magic. Allow it to be look casual or accidental so the performer looks unmanageable, despite the fact that he is carefully manipulating the situation. Let the children upstage you, make sure they are feel like they are in charge of the situation, and they will laugh and remember the show for a long time.
Children's Entertainer
© Mike Rawlinson 2011-07-30
http://www.professorparadox.co.uk