Little Splatters

A group of preschool aged children converged on the Little Splatters performing arts class in Malta last Thursday to role play, tell stories and prepare for a show that they will perform at a special event in the coming future.

"We are walking them through the basics of roleplaying," Kathy Bagley, proprietor of the ArtSpot and instructor of the Little Splatters, said prior to the day's class. "We started out last week by showing them pictures of the farm. As they are coming in and getting settled, we have an idea for them to draw in crayon which we hang up every week."

After drawing, the group of children played a game with an imaginary ball, throwing it back and forth to each other.

"The ball changes each time," Bagley said. "It can be a balloon or a bowling ball and they have a lot of fun with that and we use it as an icebreaker."

Following the icebreaker are sing-along songs, idea sessions about what sounds animals make and what the animals would say if they could speak to the children.

"That is what acting is all about," Bagley said. "You are portraying and trying to give the audience an impression. We use puppets to help the kids on getting the animals to talk."

On Thursday, the children drew pictures of barns, sang Old McDonald, tossed around the "magic ball", continued the story with the talking animals and then heard a story Bagley wrote in which she gleaned information from the prior meeting of the Splatters Kids.

"The story also has questions I ask them to say 'what do you think, where would you take the story next'," Bagley said. "Then each of their ideas goes into the story and we then role play the story and decide where the story will go the next time we meet."

In doing research for the Little Splatter performing arts classes, Bagley said that she discovered that children ages 3 through 6 will, if given the chance, sit and watch the same cartoon or show over and over again. Bagley said that they do so because children at that age are not aware that the show will never change but rather continue watching to see if something different happens.

"They see the possibilities that a character could do X, Y or Z and it keeps them thinking about how the story could change," Bagley said.

One of the goals the Little Splatters are currently working toward is performing a play for the Phillips County Historical Society's Historical Walk on Sunday, September 13 at the H.G. Robinson House.

"So we are going to start talking about the people who are in our history here in Phillips County," Bagley added. "We are going to pick five characters and then perform a little skit at the event. We are going to be the opening act. The kids who are showing up here every week are going to be our actors."

Children at the event last Thursday were Kiaryn Mobley, Shaun and Shelby Snellman and Nolan Moore.

Shelby admitted that her favorite part of the day was playing with the pretend bowling ball and Nolan said that the ball didn't knock anyone over as "it was just pretend."

"My favorite part was when I was playing puppets," Nolan added. "Because I like playing puppets. I was a pig ...actually, I'm a little pig."

The Little Splatters pre-school performing arts classes are held every Thursday at the ArtSpot from 10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. for children ages six and younger. Currently, Little Splatters are focusing on "The Farm," but the theme of the classes changes every few weeks. Starting in August, the Little Splatters will focus on Montana History and in mid-September, the classes will focus on "The Circus."

For more information on the Little Splatters contact Bagley at 654-1523 or via email at [email protected].