Most preschoolers are too young for learning dialogue and stage direction. One method to teach preschoolers acting is by reading a children's book out loud. While reading the book, encourage students to act out the book's story. Some possible children's books are the “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper, “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss and “Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes.” Another acting activity is having the children act out as their favorite animals. Once the children have done this, the teacher may assign an animal to each student, who in turn must pretend to be the animal.
Puppet theater allows children to watch colorful and lively characters act out a story. With materials such as paper lunch bags or socks, preschool students can create their own puppet characters. To make a paper lunch-bag puppet, draw the puppet's face at the bottom of the bag; the flap at the bag's bottom serves as the puppet's mouth. Crayons and markers are good for drawing on the puppet. The mouth on a sock puppet is the end of the socks (where the toes go). An option for paper lunch bag or sock puppets is adding wiggly eyes to the puppets face, rather than drawing the eyes.
Teachers can designate a school day as “Costume Day,” where their preschool students come to class in their favorite costumes. Over the course of the day, allow students to act in their costumes. Sometimes, wearing costumes makes children more comfortable in pretending to be their character. Since preschoolers are not apt in creating their costume, teachers will experience a better costume turnout if they let their students know several weeks in advance. The notice gives the preschoolers' parents time for finding a costume.
Some teachers do not have a vast amount of experience in the dramatic arts. Bringing in a guest artist or performing troupe exposes preschoolers to aspects of drama their teachers are not able to provide. For preschoolers, guest artists usually offer workshops consisting of drama games, which encourage children to act and learn proper acting techniques in the process. At the end of the workshop, some guest artists perform in front of the class. Possible guest dramatic artists for preschool classes are puppeteers, dancers and actors.