We started our play acting by imagining that we were growing trees. First, we were the seeds in the ground, buried in the earth, until we were watered and began to grow and break out of the ground and develop branches and reach up to the sky and the sun. It was a good beginning exercise. It was simple, and it got the kids to focus and to start using their imaginations.

I used a couple of storybooks to help with our play acting, and it seemed to be very successful. I read to the kids Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems and That's Not Funny by Adrian Johnson. As I read the books, we paused to act out scenes from the stories: roaring like monsters, being sneaky, laughing, being silly, and whatever else the stories might inspire. The kids were very attentive to the stories and enthusiastic to play act, and I was able to regain their attention each time we returned to the stories.

I finished the class up by tossing out a bunch of hats and accessories and letting the kids play make-believe with them. They were firemen and soldiers and movie stars and magicians and super heroes and whatever else their imaginations inspired them to be.

Now that we are on our fourth class together, the kids have become very comfortable with me. Sometimes too comfortable, and I have to reassert my position as their instructor and not their plaything. But the kids have come out of their shells and are willing to play along with my suggestions and seem to have a genuinely good time.