story performances with exhibitions

The Tree of Life

Story performance and interactive exhibition

• Age range: year 2 primary, KS 2, 3, 4
• Timetable: one hour performance for up to 250 students then each class visits the interactive exhibition for at least 30 minutes
• Exhibition space: a room or hall of at least 100 square metres

Cost:

For one day including performance, exhibition and teaching resources

State schools, grant-subsidised price: £400
(£1.60 per student with an audience of 250)

Private schools or commercial bookings: £600
(£2.40 per student with an audience of 250)

The Tree of Life storyday starts with a one hour storytelling of an Iraqi wonder tale, including song and music, followed by a fifty piece interactive exhibition which retraces the story through images, sounds, music, smells, handling objects and text. The exhibition includes a section introducing the country of Iraq and its main religion, Islam.

The performance tells of a prince who travels to the tree of life, wins its fruits and struggles with the consequences. It offers a light-hearted and absorbing narrative that never fails to enchant even the most reluctant listeners, working on different levels of meaning for different ages. The performance includes Arabic song and music using Oud (Arab lute), tabla, duff (hand drum) and flute.

The interactive exhibition retells the story using interactive exhibits, handing objects, Arab music, scents and images, designed to engage all learning styles. The section on Iraq and the Islamic faith includes images and objects to put the story in context.

We also provide five activity boxes which teachers can take back to their classrooms for the day. These contain puppets, masks and hats for role play, Arab drums for drumming practice, headscarves for scarf tying practice and sheets for Arabic writing.

The storyday comes with a set of teaching resource materials including plot summary, main characters, text and images from the exhibition and suggested ways of working after the storyday. There is also a set of pictures of 20 scenes for the story that can be used to create a text or customised storybook.

The Tree of Life was piloted in 23 Oxfordshire schools and received glowing endorsements from students, teachers and head teachers. To read teachers’ and children’s comments click here.

For information and bookings call 01865 790050
or e-mail sarah@storymuseum.org.uk