Explore! – Class 4 Arts Chapter 5 Notes & NCERT PDF

Introduction

The Theatre section of Bansuri is guided by Vidushaka, a unique character from traditional Indian theatre. The teacher's note explains that in Sanskrit theatre the Vidushaka connected scenes, often with humour and antics, and could take any form the situation needed. Here he is the children's friend who introduces theatre ideas. He welcomes them back with "Swagatam my little stars!" and first asks them to recall what they did with last year's ideas: storytelling and role-play, body language, and using everyday objects in new ways (improvisation).

Chapter 5 is about exploring. In theatre, "exploring" means "finding out": finding out more about a story, how the audience liked the show and how to make it better.

What's in this Chapter

Scene 1: Building individual focus. Theatre is teamwork. Everyone supports each other, solves problems together and shares success. But each member must also put in effort and stay focused. If you are not clear about your own part, you cannot help others when they are in trouble.

Activity 5.1: "Ram says…". This group game tests individual alertness. Follow an instruction only if the teacher says "Ram says" first. For example, on "Ram says walk in a circle", start walking. If you hear just "look up", do not do it; keep doing the previous action. At the basic level, instructions include walk, jump, make a happy face, make an angry face, walk like an elephant or sniff like a dog. At the advanced level, groups of four to six make shapes such as rectangles, triangles and circles, or letters of Hindi, English and regional languages. They can also act out scenes like a flock of birds pecking seeds or a Panchatantra tortoise walking in the forest.

Vidushaka's funny story. At a workshop, Sunita teacher said, "Ram says, pat your head and rub your belly at the same time." Chaos followed! Then she shouted "Now clap your hands!" and half the group clapped by mistake. Raju kept patting and rubbing for a full minute after everyone stopped and said, "Well, Ram didn't say stop!" He was right.

Activity 5.2: Wild walks and animal antics. Walk around the room as your favourite animal or bird and freeze in its position when the teacher claps. Alternatively, the teacher picks a chit with an animal's name and everyone walks like it. At the basic level, you secretly become an animal, copying its speed, eating and sleeping style, and friends guess which animal you are. The book's example is that a sloth is slow and a dog is relatively fast. At the advanced level, groups behave as herds or flocks, interacting with friendly and unfriendly animals and escaping danger.

Panchatantra exercises: tiptoe past the lion's cave, then run when he wakes; or, as a deer, plan an escape from the lion to save the baby deer.

Key Ideas

Activities from the Book

Words to Learn

Tips for Parents & Teachers

Common Mistakes