The Queen Frog's Wedding

Pre 5 Storytelling, Dance, Music and professional development was the focus of a recent project to come from the Creative Education Arts Team (CREATE) at Dumfries and Galloway Council.  The Queen Frog's Wedding involved a range of professional artists who helped to bring alive the culture of the Annandale and Eskdale area of Scotland for the children, their teachers and nursery nurses.  Two performances took place on 24 November 2005.

Winifred Dickie, a teacher at Lochmaben Nursery, shares her experience with the project. 

'I think it is fair to say that all Nursery Staff who attended the initial meeting in June with CREATE wondered what on earth they were letting themselves in for! A project involving music, dance and drama with over 330 pre-school children seemed a daunting task.

Doubts were largely dispelled however during two days in September when we met the professionals - Franzeska, Paul, Ali, Dawn and Fiona. We all agreed that as far as CPD was concerned, these two sessions rated amongst the very best. We returned to our centres keen to put into practice their methods and ideas.

From the outset it was clear that the specialists were very knowledgeable about the needs of young children and were able to relate easily to them.   We in Lochmaben looked forward greatly to their visits and, thanks to their enthusiasm and expertise, the children grew in confidence and participated eagerly in singing, music- making, dance and drama.

The songs which were composed by Paul were so catchy that it wasn't long before parents commented that their children were singing the Queen Frog songs at home. In response to requests, we made copies of the music available to the parents.

As the performance day grew nearer, the doubting Thomases amongst us wondered if we could really pull this off but we were reassured that it would be alright on the night and it was! The performance was a resounding success! Everyone who was present could not help but be impressed with the confidence of the children and the enjoyment of being part of this unique and very worthwhile event.'

 Winifred Dickie, Lochmaben Nursery Class Teacher